While I thoroughly enjoyed this film, I do think it had some hiccups.  While I think it’s having a Marvel-type effect on audiences [but finally for a DC film], meaning, people loving it for it finally being here, I do not feel as if the love is unwarranted.  I’m thrilled it’s getting accolades, but I do think it was overrated.  And when I say “overrated,” I don’t mean in the way that “Frozen” is overrated, but more along the lines of, “Oh, hai, this got a 97% on RottenTomatoes when it’s more like an 88%.”  I haven’t sussed out just yet where I would place this on the scale of super hero films, but just know that I felt it was worth my sixteen bucks.  Akin to Captain America meets Pygmalion with a dash of Superman, maybe, “Wonder Woman” is a film that gets it [mostly] right.  

Note: At the very bottom of this is some additional commentary, but it is spoilery.  From a story standpoint, I wanted to add some notes to what I felt was wrong, and why I deducted points from WW.

Before I get into the ins and outs of this films, there are several things that simply must be noted:

• I’ve been anxiously anticipating this film for a good, long while. While initially slated for a winter release, I’m glad it was moved to the summer, suggesting that the studio believes and supports the film, and ultimately that they think it will make as much money as “one of the boys.”
• The theme song gets me pumped the F UP. It is by far the BEST super hero theme to date. I don’t even know what any of the other heroes’ themes even are…
• This made me want to dust off my Wonder Woman cosplay again, or even better, get a new one to match Gadot’s.

It should also be noted how important that Wonder Woman be a success: “Catwoman” and “Elektra” were so terrible and irredeemable that WW would have been hard pressed to fuck up, but there was still room in there for that to happen.  Still, glad it wasn’t.

I went to the theater, got my seat, and after the trailers, I was surprised to note the applause at the opening DC credits.  I can’t recall the last time I heard applause, let alone before the movie even begins.  Especially considering, this film is not Marvel.  Oh there is totally a stigma against DC Films, my friends. But I think the ball is finally back in their court now.

The film begins with Bruce Wayne delivering a package to Diana, returning her something that she’d lost.  If you’ve seen “Batman v. Superman,” you can probably guess what the object in question is, but… The bulk of this film takes place during WWI, though it begins on an island hidden away on earth.

Diana is raised by loving, if somewhat naïve mother with good intentions Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and an aunt, who was the fiercest, badass, general warrior in history, and Antiope (Robin Wright) excels in this.  So much so, that I think there should be a film entirely dedicated to her rise, and her wins of war.

GIVE ME THAT ANTIOPE PREQUEL, STUDIO HEADS.

Anyway, the island in which these Amazons all live, are finally discovered by man, giving Diana her first contact with humanity.

Including love interest, Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine)–a man who is “above average.”  Can I just say how I kind of giggled on the inside about having a Captain Steve in this film?  While I know it’ll never happen, I’d love for Diana to cross paths with Steve Rogers one day.  I think they’d have a lot in common, or at least, a lot of understanding for the other.

But I digress.

Some of my problems with the film—there were some times during battle where Gal just looked pretty, and not like she was wholly engaged. Keep in mind, I grew up in the Xena days. It just didn’t’ look like her face was engaged with what her body was doing all the time.  Maybe that’s a weird nitpick, I dunno, but there it is.  She’s Wonder Woman—I want her to revel in her fierceness.  It gets better once she… “becomes,” but leading up to it, it had the tendency to jar me out of some cool fight sequences.  In addition to that, I think there was too much CGI—when the faces look like a video game, that also takes me out of it.  Director Patty Jenkins offered up some stellar scenes and amazing displays of movement of a body in action, but then these overly digitized faces showed up in the middle of it.  Maybe they needed more money or something, or a different way of doing those action scenes, I dunno, but I feel as if it were a problem that’s fixable in the next film.

On the tail end of the film, Diana says, “Only love can save the world,” which is a message that resonated [with me] today in the world in which we are forced to endure.  We have an Aires that walk among us and want to watch the world burn…

I long for a Wonder Woman to save us all—accompanied by an army of Amazons.

SPOILERY COMMENTARY

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• Her aunt should have lived; her mother should have died. Then she should have become queen, and given Diana her crown, and told her to go into the world “to become who she is meant to be” as opposed to keeping up the lie, letting Diana live in the dark, and not properly preparing her for what was to come.  First mistake.
• Even if she couldn’t hear was Steve was telling her, the significance of him giving her that watch, in spite of her newness to this world, the significance should not have been lost on her; she’s not stupid. It made me mad that they made her act like that.  Like, come on, son.
• Called Aires identity from the moment I saw him. That isn’t necessarily a spoiler…but I wasn’t sure where to put that one.
• Who is her mother? Like, we know Zeus made her as a weapon—the God Killer—but how?  I’m guessing that story about being made of clay was a lie, unless that was the truth, and the reason behind her existence was the actual lie…I just want clarification, is all, and that bothered me as well.  I mean, this is an origins film; I want to know the deets on her full origin.
• That horrible Nazi, Dr. Poison, should have been taken out.  That irked the F outta me.

_{Originally posted at houseoffangirl.com.}