So, apparently WW is pretty good.

[Callate]

I saw it tonight, and quite enjoyed it. Solid tone, good performances, and it builds up enough "credit" to take the audience through moments that might otherwise seem mawkish or corny. There are a few bits that suffer from CG character physics, but mostly the spectacle works pretty well, and it even managed to surprise me a little a couple of times.

I'd recommend giving it a look.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Eh I have yet to see anything that truly makes the New 52 that abysmmal.

One of the greatest travesties of the New 52. That and the raping Amazons, the entire Finch run, awful character re-imaginings (Like Mr. Freeze), the time compression, and a seemingly intentionally confusing continuity (Particularly Batman's and Green Lantern's). The New 52 was pretty bad.

It would be easier to list the things in 52 that were not abysmal:
- Swamp Thing
- Animal Man
- The first arc of Wonder Woman

That is about it...

Swamp Thing and Animal man somehow managed to hook me, despite my distate for zombies, gore, and horror. First Swamp Thing anything I've ever read and I loved it!

I also recall Aquaman and Batman and Robin being pretty good.

And who is that supposed to be?

 

[Zhukov]

And who is that supposed to be?

Amanda Waller I believe.

Yeah.

Where is your god now?

 

[Bob_McMillan]

And who is that supposed to be?

Amanda Waller I believe.

Yeah.

Where is your god now?

I have no idea how they explained her current Viola Davis look in the comics.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

And who is that supposed to be?

Amanda Waller I believe.

Yeah.

Where is your god now?

I would feel offended at this but than again I never liked Amanda Waller because she is a vain *****, so I don't care they made her all sexy and stuff.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

Eh I have yet to see anything that truly makes the New 52 that abysmmal.

One of the greatest travesties of the New 52. That and the raping Amazons, the entire Finch run, awful character re-imaginings (Like Mr. Freeze), the time compression, and a seemingly intentionally confusing continuity (Particularly Batman's and Green Lantern's). The New 52 was pretty bad.

It would be easier to list the things in 52 that were not abysmal:
- Swamp Thing
- Animal Man
- The first arc of Wonder Woman

That is about it...

Swamp Thing and Animal man somehow managed to hook me, despite my distate for zombies, gore, and horror. First Swamp Thing anything I've ever read and I loved it!

I also recall Aquaman and Batman and Robin being pretty good.

And who is that supposed to be?

See? She isn't even recognizable! That'd be Amanda Waller.

For whatever reason, DC decided Waller needed to be thin and hot. I get that they wanted to give her a more combat oriented role, but in doing so they erased part of what made her unique. Basically every other female hero and villain falls under the supermodel umbrella. It's very rare to see characters that break that mold and Waller was (and is since Rebirth) one of the few.

 

[Super Cyborg]

I thought the movie was pretty good, considering how Super Hero movies are usually. The tone and pacing was on point for the most part, and there was some pretty solid action sequences. Yes, the climatic fight with Wonder Woman was below standards, but Marvel has done a number of climaxes that were not terribly great, so I can give this one an easy pass when everything leading up to it was solid.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

And who is that supposed to be?

Amanda Waller I believe.

Yeah.

Where is your god now?

I have no idea how they explained her current Viola Davis look in the comics.

It was a reboot, and they didn't. Her extra pounds went down the memory hole right along side a couple of Batgirls and Wally West.

 

[Natemans]

And who is that supposed to be?

Amanda Waller I believe.

Yeah.

Where is your god now?

I would feel offended at this but than again I never liked Amanda Waller because she is a vain *****, so I don't care they made her all sexy and stuff.

Amanda Waller's a *****, but that's kinda the point. She's this giant workaholic who works so hard to get the things she wants her way no matter the cost. Its kinda understandable too based on her backstory. The whole skinny thing is stupid.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

And who is that supposed to be?

Amanda Waller I believe.

Yeah.

Where is your god now?

I have no idea how they explained her current Viola Davis look in the comics.

It was a reboot, and they didn't. Her extra pounds went down the memory hole right along side a couple of Batgirls and Wally West.

Actually, she is back to her "normal" self (she kinda looks like Viola Davis. Her actor in Suicide Squad). That's what I meant, she no longer looks like a super model. They brought back Wally too, but at least they tried explaining it. With Waller, it was just BOOM she doubled in size, got shorter, and aged two decades. Without any explanation as far as I know.

 

[Dragonlayer]

I have one very important question that will determine whether or not I will give this film a chance.

Are the German soldiers portrayed as a competent and legitimate threat, or as cackling yet utterly ineffectual proto-Nazis who are going to use radioactive moon-rock super-weapons to blow up the world and exist only to be effortlessly beaten up by Wonder Woman?

Well since you're in the wrong era I can say for sure they ain't Nazi or Proto-Nazis. If what you are asking is are the Germans in this movie portrayed in the same way as Hydra's soldiers are In Captain America, i.e all sleak, highly weaponized, black shining armour fighting for the 'cause', then no, they are portrayed as what they were an army made of hungry, battle tired people fighting for a cause they neither really know about or understand.

As for the movie itself, slow paced, not anywhere enough action, when their was action it was pretty decent with the close quarters stuff in Veld (mid way through the movie) being amazing. Not grim dark like the previous DC movies it had one or two dialogues that were a bit cringy but nothing anywhere near as stupid as MARTHA and after the utter cluster fuck of a plot form B vs S it was nice to have a simple straight forward bad guy vs good guy plot.

Only really down side being it's another DC movie that ends with an utter cluster fuck of lighting, explosion, debris and carnage all taking place at night and that the action was a bit too little and a bit too spaced out and over way way to quick.

I used the term "proto-Nazis" as a moral barometer, whereby media villains who are emphatically not connected to the Third Reich in any way go on to behave as pointlessly evil as them anyway, just to jackhammer the point into the audience's faces about who to root for. For example, see SS Oberstgruppenfuhrer Tavington of His Majesty's Redcoats casually shooting unarmed wounded, innocent civilians and then locking entire villages inside churches and burning them alive in The Patriot, because apparently America in 1776 was actually the Eastern Front, 1944. So basically what I'm asking is, does the film go out of its way to showcase the horrors of war as entirely deriding from the devilish Hun? And also whether the German soldiers can fight for shit, or are just feldgrau punching bags for Wonder Woman to dispatch with ease and a quip.

Also! You snipped out my name on your reply post so I didn't actually get this as a notification, I had to go looking through the forum manually, like some sort of pre-industrial crazy person!

 

[Dragonlayer]

I have one very important question that will determine whether or not I will give this film a chance.

Are the German soldiers portrayed as a competent and legitimate threat, or as cackling yet utterly ineffectual proto-Nazis who are going to use radioactive moon-rock super-weapons to blow up the world and exist only to be effortlessly beaten up by Wonder Woman?

Spoiler

The main German villain, General Ludendorff, does seem to come across as someone who desperately wants to be the Red Skull - even going so far as to kill one of his captains who makes a perfectly legitimate observation - an act I'm fairly confident in the German Army of the Kaiser's time would have been a one way trip to the gallows by way of a swift court martial. However he and Dr. Poison are outliers (seriously; one weak scene is the pair of them doing this evil laugh thing that's straight out of the Boris and Natasha Badinov playbook) and while it is cathartic to see them fight to liberate a village in France I personally never got the impression that the poor bastards in the other trench were mustache twirlers.

Again, that's only my impression based on my first showing. I'm going again and perhaps with a more critical eye I'll pick up more but I like the idea that the movie closes on.

Spoiler

Hmmm, I suppose they *have* to have the evil German villain and throw in some idiot executions of his own troops for good measure....wait wait wait, hang on! Why do they have to do that!? Why is Wonder Woman fighting against the Germans when, I assume that as an Amazon, she shouldn't have any cultural/political affinity with the Entente whatsoever? Aren't they supposed to be sealing themselves off from the rest of the world?

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Spoiler

Hmmm, I suppose they *have* to have the evil German villain and throw in some idiot executions of his own troops for good measure....wait wait wait, hang on! Why do they have to do that!? Why is Wonder Woman fighting against the Germans when, I assume that as an Amazon, she shouldn't have any cultural/political affinity with the Entente whatsoever? Aren't they supposed to be sealing themselves off from the rest of the world?

Because Steve Trevor is American, and in WW1 the Americans fought Germany.

Of course, I'm still not sold on changing the setting to WW1 instead of WW2, but I've heard enough good things I'm going to give it a shot.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I have one very important question that will determine whether or not I will give this film a chance.

Are the German soldiers portrayed as a competent and legitimate threat, or as cackling yet utterly ineffectual proto-Nazis who are going to use radioactive moon-rock super-weapons to blow up the world and exist only to be effortlessly beaten up by Wonder Woman?

Spoiler

The main German villain, General Ludendorff, does seem to come across as someone who desperately wants to be the Red Skull - even going so far as to kill one of his captains who makes a perfectly legitimate observation - an act I'm fairly confident in the German Army of the Kaiser's time would have been a one way trip to the gallows by way of a swift court martial. However he and Dr. Poison are outliers (seriously; one weak scene is the pair of them doing this evil laugh thing that's straight out of the Boris and Natasha Badinov playbook) and while it is cathartic to see them fight to liberate a village in France I personally never got the impression that the poor bastards in the other trench were mustache twirlers.

Again, that's only my impression based on my first showing. I'm going again and perhaps with a more critical eye I'll pick up more but I like the idea that the movie closes on.

Spoiler

Hmmm, I suppose they *have* to have the evil German villain and throw in some idiot executions of his own troops for good measure....wait wait wait, hang on! Why do they have to do that!? Why is Wonder Woman fighting against the Germans when, I assume that as an Amazon, she shouldn't have any cultural/political affinity with the Entente whatsoever? Aren't they supposed to be sealing themselves off from the rest of the world?

Like I said, the movie is by no means perfect. Ludendorff would probably have ended up a hero of the Nazi party in the DCEU. As for her motivation to side with Entente, the first contact she had with the Germans was

Spoiler

them storming her island to kill Steve Trevor as a spy (which is fair enough on its own) but they act with no caution whatsoever coming ashore on an island that they have literally passed through a magic fog to reach. So in short; they kill dozens of people Diana has known for five thousand years including Antiope; her aunt, the general of the army and the one who trained her in secret until Hippolyta allowed her to train formally.

For what its worth, while she does basically hand the German's their arses in the fight scenes, she's NOT dropping quips like Buffy the Vampire Slayer while she's doing it and there is little to visually distinguish the British and German troops other than their uniform. They all look haggard, tired and confused: they fight as well as they can but fact is Diana is a massive force multiplier. It would be like giving the British at Rorke's Drift the equipment of a modern infantry regiment.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

I saw it tonight, and quite enjoyed it. Solid tone, good performances, and it builds up enough "credit" to take the audience through moments that might otherwise seem mawkish or corny. There are a few bits that suffer from CG character physics, but mostly the spectacle works pretty well, and it even managed to surprise me a little a couple of times.

I'd recommend giving it a look.

I'll echo this, pretty much exactly how I felt.

I just want to add that I actually laughed a few times, in a DC movie! And at the parts of the film that I was supposed to laugh at, no less!!

 

[BrawlMan]

I love the Wonder Woman movie, and it met my expectations. I give it a huge recommendation to DCU fans or non-fans alike. My overall feeling of the DC Universe films are this: loved Man of Steel, liked Batman V. Superman (though the directors cut makes the film more enjoyable for me), and Suicide Squad I am really mixed about. My biggest sticking point that the third movie had obvious and unnecessary edits and re-shoots. SS also made me hate Waller more than I could ever imagine.

 

[jklinders]

Not a fan of DC in general but I watched it yesterday and it's legitimately good.

Nice setup, good cast, great acting...middling writing. Action scenes were well done. Still a little too much emphasis on weird camera light filters but I can get over that. Good movie on its own and will give any sequel a fair shake. I'm still not down with Justice League though. I just can't make myself give too much of a shit about the whole DC expanded universe.

 

[wizzy555]

Yep it's pretty good. It falls over on the ending in my opinion but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying the rest of it.

Spoiler

They wrote themselves into a corner, everyone expects Ares but they establish they don't need Ares, but what the heck Ares anyway

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

For example, see SS Oberstgruppenfuhrer Tavington of His Majesty's Redcoats casually shooting unarmed wounded, innocent civilians and then locking entire villages inside churches and burning them alive in The Patriot, because apparently America in 1776 was actually the Eastern Front, 1944.

Not wanting to derail the thread but as a historian I was compelled to add this small bit:
Tavington's character was based (loosely) on Banastre Tarleton, cavalry officer and all around asshat. Among the accusations made against him were 1) ordering his men to bayonet the bodies of the enemy for 15 minutes after a battle to ensure no survivors, 2) ordering an 8 year old's throat to be slit because the kid might reveal his cavalry's movements to the colonials, and 3) when at a British officer's soiree he was heard to claim that he had "lain more women in America than any other British Army officer." To which another officer was heard to say "Don't you mean raped more women?"

As an aside note:

I had to go looking through the forum manually, like some sort of pre-industrial crazy person!

Hey Rom, when did you come back to 21st century Earth and make an account? (please tell me that was actually the character you were referencing)

OT: I've heard a lot of good things from reviewers whose opinions and analysis I respect. I'm going to try and catch this one in the theaters.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Girlfriend wanted to see it for her birthday...she was hyped to see a female superhero movie.

It's...a fairly mediocre film, all told. The writing is middling to poor. The antagonists lack substance and personality, and the ones that appear on the surface to be interesting (such as Dr. Poison) are quickly revealed to have no depth. The penultimate villain is ludicrous...both in casting choice and visual appearance...and feels airlifted in from an older, stupider era in comic book films. The pacing is all over the map, with some sections dragging unnecessarily and others getting shoved through at breakneck speed. This leads to some major character dilemmas occurring and then being resolved in a matter of mere minutes. The music is pedestrian and generally failed to either excite or provoke emotion. The major pathos beats were largely signposted and consequentially fell flat. At times, the film veered perilously close to bog standard formula. On the flip side, it manages some light humor much MUCH better than the achingly self-conscious attempts at same in the woeful Suicide Squad.

What does elevate it is Gadot, who puts out a completely star making turn as the titular hero (it's a real word, no pun intended). She commands every scene she's in, and manages to effortlessly sell an utterly ludicrous character...the true test of any comic book film star. She's the female approximate of Chris Evans' fantastic Captain America. When the movie is successful, it's almost invariably because she's bringing emotion and texture to it through her expressive acting.

It's a performance that deserves a far better film assembled around it, frankly. Following Marvel's lead and forcing a uniform style on all these films and directors was a big mistake, and does this one no favors. Snyder's style is very flashy, very slick, very "Rule of Cool", and while there are some nicely choreographed action bits it all feels a bit too glossy and superficial. Gadot's performance by contrast feels very grounded and human, and the subject matter (the Great War and the terrible cost in human lives and suffering) merited something less glib and flashy. I'd love to see Gadot essay this character in a film like Logan...not so much as in "a film where she's old and bitter and beat to shit", but a film that isn't afraid to leave the stylistic conventions of its medium behind and concentrate on telling the best story possible.