Wonder Woman
Jun. 2nd, 2017 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
practicalcatJust got back from seeing the Wonder Woman movie on opening day! I need to remember to go to more matinee showings, my ticket was way less expensive than usual.
Over all, it was a good movie. Very solid, and Gal Gadot did Diana justice. Also, they made that desaturated color palate work for them, because that really emphasized the contrast between Themyscria and Man's World. Plus, Diana popped when she was the only one dressed in colors on the screen. I really hope that it does well and we get more super hero movies with female leads.
I also appreciated that we had middle-aged Amazons. Like, holy shit, ageless immortal women who DON'T look like they're in their twenties?! GASP. And I liked that we got the Perez origin of the Amazon's coming out of the sea. I do wish that, if Antiope was going to be name-dropped as one of the Amazons, they'd done more with her. If we're not going to have the Bana-Mighdall, do a bit more with her please?
Which leads me into my complaints, I suppose:
1) Was it strictly necessary to write "the fall of Satan" with Ares and Zeus in the roles of Satan and the Judeo-Christian god? Rhetorical question, because no, it was not. It also wasn't necessary to kill off all the gods. It struck me as either lazy writing or a lack of faith in the audience. Also, incredibly rude to the Hellenistic Pagans in the audience: sure, SOME things are going to get fudged, but there's "fudging things" and there's "slapping the names on a Judeo-Chrstian story".
2) It's sad that I have to ask this about the fucking Wonder Woman movie, but can we maybe have more significant characters who are FEMALE?! We had Diana and mini-boss Dr. Poison, then Etta as support cast and the Amazons were out of the movie as soon as Diana sailed away from Themyscria. One of Steve's merry band could have been a woman; it's not like women haven't been dressing as men and going off to fight wars since for fucking ever. It would have been nice if Diana's "I believe in love" had been inclusive of her mother and all the Amazons and Antiope (who's headpiece Diana is wearing) and not just "Steve Trevor said he loved me before his suicide mission".
3) While I feel like this was a good super hero movie, I'm not sure it was a very good Wonder Woman movie. Gal Gadot did great, but the storyline was very much focused in on "Diana and Ares punch it out", which...yes, Diana is basically born to go toe-to-toe with Ares even in the comics, but we never saw her trying to redeem her villains, and that's a big thing for the character. She believes in love and compassion and bringing her enemies back from the Dark Side. She's Luke fuckin' Skywalker here, and this is her solo movie. We needed a moment where Diana reaches out to an enemy; not just where she cleanses everyone of Ares' taint. I felt like we almost got that with Dr. Poison in that final fight, but "doesn't squish Dr. Poison with a tank" isn't the same thing as "shows compassion for her enemies". I really feel like we missed out on that.
This is a bit nitpicky, but I also feel like Ares was able to say a few things he shouldn't have while wrapped in the Lasso of Truth. I'm thinking specifically of the "I am the god of truth" line; that's a pretty big out-right falsehood, and even if it's a lie he believes, the Lasso should point out that it's horse-pucky. Also, no way should that asshole be able to do jack shit with lightning.
Like I said, overall it was good and I'll probably go see it a second time with Andrew so we can discuss it together. But yeesh, there were some missteps.
Over all, it was a good movie. Very solid, and Gal Gadot did Diana justice. Also, they made that desaturated color palate work for them, because that really emphasized the contrast between Themyscria and Man's World. Plus, Diana popped when she was the only one dressed in colors on the screen. I really hope that it does well and we get more super hero movies with female leads.
I also appreciated that we had middle-aged Amazons. Like, holy shit, ageless immortal women who DON'T look like they're in their twenties?! GASP. And I liked that we got the Perez origin of the Amazon's coming out of the sea. I do wish that, if Antiope was going to be name-dropped as one of the Amazons, they'd done more with her. If we're not going to have the Bana-Mighdall, do a bit more with her please?
Which leads me into my complaints, I suppose:
1) Was it strictly necessary to write "the fall of Satan" with Ares and Zeus in the roles of Satan and the Judeo-Christian god? Rhetorical question, because no, it was not. It also wasn't necessary to kill off all the gods. It struck me as either lazy writing or a lack of faith in the audience. Also, incredibly rude to the Hellenistic Pagans in the audience: sure, SOME things are going to get fudged, but there's "fudging things" and there's "slapping the names on a Judeo-Chrstian story".
2) It's sad that I have to ask this about the fucking Wonder Woman movie, but can we maybe have more significant characters who are FEMALE?! We had Diana and mini-boss Dr. Poison, then Etta as support cast and the Amazons were out of the movie as soon as Diana sailed away from Themyscria. One of Steve's merry band could have been a woman; it's not like women haven't been dressing as men and going off to fight wars since for fucking ever. It would have been nice if Diana's "I believe in love" had been inclusive of her mother and all the Amazons and Antiope (who's headpiece Diana is wearing) and not just "Steve Trevor said he loved me before his suicide mission".
3) While I feel like this was a good super hero movie, I'm not sure it was a very good Wonder Woman movie. Gal Gadot did great, but the storyline was very much focused in on "Diana and Ares punch it out", which...yes, Diana is basically born to go toe-to-toe with Ares even in the comics, but we never saw her trying to redeem her villains, and that's a big thing for the character. She believes in love and compassion and bringing her enemies back from the Dark Side. She's Luke fuckin' Skywalker here, and this is her solo movie. We needed a moment where Diana reaches out to an enemy; not just where she cleanses everyone of Ares' taint. I felt like we almost got that with Dr. Poison in that final fight, but "doesn't squish Dr. Poison with a tank" isn't the same thing as "shows compassion for her enemies". I really feel like we missed out on that.
This is a bit nitpicky, but I also feel like Ares was able to say a few things he shouldn't have while wrapped in the Lasso of Truth. I'm thinking specifically of the "I am the god of truth" line; that's a pretty big out-right falsehood, and even if it's a lie he believes, the Lasso should point out that it's horse-pucky. Also, no way should that asshole be able to do jack shit with lightning.
Like I said, overall it was good and I'll probably go see it a second time with Andrew so we can discuss it together. But yeesh, there were some missteps.
