Saw the movie today finally and loved it. First great DC film in the DCEU in my opinion. Not a perfect film, but a great film. Very pleased.
Man of Steel was a good start, and I liked it, but at the same time it was just as divisive as Batman v Superman. I was disappointed in BvS whereas I did like MOS, but was slightly disappointed and wished it could have been better, because honestly, Superman deserves better. Suicide Squad or Wonder Woman were DC's only chances of bringing hope and optimism in the films and I think Wonder Woman did that. Suicide Squad was messy.
Could Batman v Superman have been any more miserable and realistic than it needed to be? And Wonder Woman just wasn't. That was relieving.
Wonder Woman had charm...oh and she smiled. There was chemistry. There was character development. Things I wanted to see with Superman. Snyder seems too keen on realism at the expense of theater. Why can't Superman make a joke, smile, and why can't Lois have a little more personality and be funny like we've known her to be? Everyone is too straight in the film, there's hardly any light to the movies...we can't there be Jimmy Olsen?
It isn't humor on the whole that Snyder's two DC films have been lacking, but I guess the spirit of Superman. Wonder Woman smiles in this film, she's heroic, and she's honored among people. Why can't they do the same with Superman?
I have faith that the DCEU films will get better. Hopefully Justice League will too. I'm not too worried about Aquaman and I am optimistic about the film, but what I'm more worried about in the DCEU is whether Justice League will be good. Seriously, if Justice League bombs...then the DCEU will be done, and there won't be any more DCEU films for at least 20 years, or never...and Wonder Woman will have been the only good DC film that succeeded in the franchise only to have ended so shortly after 6 films....versus Marvel's successful 20+ films.
But it's looking more and more likely that Justice League will be good, and I hope it does.
This film managed to be a standalone without relying on cameos or references and tying everything to the other DC films. One of the things I was worried about before seeing the film was it being a flashback film...and also being just like the first Captain America film.
This film managed to tell its own story without focusing on the events of BvS. Still, I could have gone without the email from Bruce Wayne. The film may have had some similarities to The First Avenger but in comparison, I thought Wonder Woman was better. In regards to Wonder Woman being a flashback film, though it wasn't the film's intention, I was also worried the film would be kind of like the first Captain America movie, where it felt more like just a filler film to set up the Avengers, but in this case, the Justice League. But I didn't feel that was the case with Wonder Woman.
The first Cap film I felt rushed toward the ending a little, and the film wasn't that long. Once they flash-forwarded to the present day in 2011, I felt like the film could have taken itself maybe a little more seriously. Once Rogers had donned the standard Cap suit, there wasn't that much time to go with before the film was going to end. After his Cap suit debut in the montage, they get to the train sequence, then the final showdown with Red Skull, and then it was over.
Wonder Woman I felt almost suffered the same trend. Although the film was over 2 hours long, I felt the climax emerged rather quickly and was slightly rushed. Some of the solo hero Marvel films except Iron Man didn't do to well at least in their first run. Thor, Ant-Man, Cap (was kind of meh). Ant-Man tries to do what it can with a little bit of humor, set-up the character, go through his training, and it reaches the climax considerably early, and the whole film felt incredibly short.
Back to WW though. Great acting. Despite the cliches which I think many of us saw coming, Wondie's aunt dying in her arms...but at least the acting wasn't bad. Great directing...maybe too much slow-mo, but they were very well done. Great characters. Lovely moments. Plenty of humor. I do have to watch this movie again. 4 out of 5.
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