Wonder Woman

I'm so relieved that Wonder Woman did well at the box office. Had it bombed or been terrible like Catwoman and Electra, Hollywood would have decided that all female superheros (and perhaps all women directors) were too risky to try again. Not that I haven't seen internet trolls trying to downplay the box office as disappointing anyway.

Still, I don't like DC movies in general since they adopted that unrelenting grimdark style--dark in terms of content and in terms of draining all color out of the images. So I watched Wonder Woman in 2D to make sure I wouldn't get that darkening from 3D glasses, and I was so grateful for the bright, beautiful scenes on Themyscira. It's a shame that so many other scenes take place at night or in foggy conditions, leading to muted colors. I would have preferred more vivid color, more often.

SPOILERS BELOW


I enjoyed seeing the racially diverse Amazons, and I loved how all their fight scenes were filmed as amazing athletic feats, rather than being sexualized. It felt like a real world of proud warriors, and I loved that they used the lasso on Steve Trevor when interrogating him. Later on, I also loved the way Wonder Woman used the lasso when fighting too.

I'm not sure I liked the backstory about Ares corrupting mankind and the Amazons being created by Zeus to fight back. Maybe I've been watching too much Lucifer, but the whole story about the jealous son who hates his father's creations--that sounds more like the Bible's accounts of Satan being a fallen angel who refuses to kneel to humanity. I did like the twist about Ares's identity. I guessed quickly that Diana was mistaken about Ludendorff being Ares; I knew that her killing him would do nothing, though I didn't guess who Ares really was until he showed up in Belgium. He must have recognized Diana as soon as they met in London, and he planned to get her to the warfront to show her the ugliness of humanity. Very good misdirection.

As for Steve Trevor's sacrifice, I think I don't mind him dying. The chances of him surviving to the present day to meet Diana again are low, and I wouldn't want them to do that Steve Trevor Jr thing, like they did in the TV show. Let him die a hero now, rather than hang around like Peggy Carter, always with the shadow of Captain America over her.

I still don't think I'll watch the Justice League movie at all because of the DC style. I would rather have a solo Wonder Woman sequel, or even a new TV show if possible.