In this age of self-serious, grimdark superhero movies, this is... not a huge exception. But it does one thing differently there: it has a lot of understated humor mixed in with all the serious. Wonder Woman - Diana Prince - is a Fish out of Water when she leaves her homeland behind and lives in the world everyone else lives in. And that's played up as a source of humor many times, but also more seriously at other times. Seeing her adapt to "normal" life is fun, and I won't spoil any of the jokes, including the ones I heard many people laughing at. The humor is not a constant, though, and fades away as the overall mood changes later on.
This movie has character. I actually liked the characters and found them interesting, likeable, and fun to watch. Wonder Woman's changing reactions as her idealism is questioned, as she learns things that were hidden from her, and as she sees how people react to the horrors of war, and the way all these revelations affect her, brings her very much to life and makes her a fun, dynamic character who does more than simply kick ass and take names.
Speaking of kicking ass, the action scenes are great. Slow-mo is used to emphasize a move before we see its impact, and the fights and action are very well choreographed. I loved watching the action scenes, and I can say that about few movies.
The movie does use the annoying Hollywood "gray and blue" muted color filter, but at least it uses it for a reason - to separate the colorful world of Wonder Woman's island with the horrors of World War I. I still don't care for that choice, but I can respect the movie's choice to use it to represent the difference between the two "worlds".
Speaking of the WWI setting, there is a cast of other people who play a major role in the movie - the fighter pilot Wonder Woman rescues, who serves as a constant companion with much character development of his own, and the crew he assembles for a mission in the war. That crew is fun to watch, and it's fun to see the difference between their espionage and standard combat, and Wonder Woman's acrobatics and kickass combat. Usually in movies like this, it's men who have the super combat skills and women who do the espionage and sneakiness, but here it's the other way around.
Some people have remarked that you can subtly tell the movie was directed by a woman, since the camera doesn't linger on the Amazon-esque outfits Wonder Woman and the other ladies from her island wear, and it's funny, because it never occurred to me that the outfits were sexualized. Maybe because the camera doesn't linger on them! :P
Anyway, I had a fun time. It's a nice mix of comedy, darkness, action, adventure, espionage, drama, and some very well choreographed fight scenes. I hope this movie does really well.
A fun time with a movie that does a lot of things right
In this age of self-serious, grimdark superhero movies, this is... not a huge exception. But it does one thing differently there: it has a lot of understated humor mixed in with all the serious. Wonder Woman - Diana Prince - is a Fish out of Water when she leaves her homeland behind and lives in the world everyone else lives in. And that's played up as a source of humor many times, but also more seriously at other times. Seeing her adapt to "normal" life is fun, and I won't spoil any of the jokes, including the ones I heard many people laughing at. The humor is not a constant, though, and fades away as the overall mood changes later on.
This movie has character. I actually liked the characters and found them interesting, likeable, and fun to watch. Wonder Woman's changing reactions as her idealism is questioned, as she learns things that were hidden from her, and as she sees how people react to the horrors of war, and the way all these revelations affect her, brings her very much to life and makes her a fun, dynamic character who does more than simply kick ass and take names.
Speaking of kicking ass, the action scenes are great. Slow-mo is used to emphasize a move before we see its impact, and the fights and action are very well choreographed. I loved watching the action scenes, and I can say that about few movies.
The movie does use the annoying Hollywood "gray and blue" muted color filter, but at least it uses it for a reason - to separate the colorful world of Wonder Woman's island with the horrors of World War I. I still don't care for that choice, but I can respect the movie's choice to use it to represent the difference between the two "worlds".
Speaking of the WWI setting, there is a cast of other people who play a major role in the movie - the fighter pilot Wonder Woman rescues, who serves as a constant companion with much character development of his own, and the crew he assembles for a mission in the war. That crew is fun to watch, and it's fun to see the difference between their espionage and standard combat, and Wonder Woman's acrobatics and kickass combat. Usually in movies like this, it's men who have the super combat skills and women who do the espionage and sneakiness, but here it's the other way around.
Some people have remarked that you can subtly tell the movie was directed by a woman, since the camera doesn't linger on the Amazon-esque outfits Wonder Woman and the other ladies from her island wear, and it's funny, because it never occurred to me that the outfits were sexualized. Maybe because the camera doesn't linger on them! :P
Anyway, I had a fun time. It's a nice mix of comedy, darkness, action, adventure, espionage, drama, and some very well choreographed fight scenes. I hope this movie does really well.