I caught the movie last Friday and boy was it good! I'm sorry if I'm blowing the entire mystery of this entry to bits by disclaiming so early in that this movie is amazing!
I've watched many blockbusters recently and one just disappoints me more than the other. Even the stuffs from Marvel weren't able to pump me up as much as Wonder Woman had - and no, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the heroine is a female.
There's so much hype (and rightly so, given the rarity of matters) around all the feminist stuff, the female directors, strong female cast and blah blah blah. Those are all great but the heart of what made this film good was really just very talented individuals putting a ton of effort into doing something great! Never for a moment during the movie did I ever stop to think, "Hey Wonder Woman is so kickass because she's a woman!". I think she's kickass because she's a strong-willed warrior that didn't allow anything to stop her from doing what she think is right. And of course, having superhuman strengths and an arsenal of kickass-y weaponry helped hehe.
One thing a lot of hype seemed to missed out mentioning is the incredible pacing of the story.
I love catching movies on the big screen. It could be the fact that I haven't yet (and don't intend to) invested in a theater class set of home entertainment systems and thus the lackluster home viewing experience. But I absolutely adore going to the movies, setting time aside for the audiovisual experience and just immersing myself in the movie. There are very few things I like more than losing myself in a good story. And I would pay to experience that.
I desperately want to laugh, cry, cheer (internally) and lose myself in the story and when a movie doesn't allow any of that, I get annoyed. And there haven't been many movies that have been able to achieve that of recent months.
I love how the story started with Diana's childhood and how it build up the amazing world of the Themyscira. The colours, texture, and intricacy of the architectures on the island were such candy for the eyes!
The fight scene on the beach was glorious! The slow-motion horse riding scene with the Amazonian warriors riding into the sand was so beautiful yet powerful I could almost cry. How can strength look so feminine and beautiful at the same time ?! My hats off to the entire cast and production crew for putting in so much effort to morph into all these athletic Amazonians. Of course, I knew most of them were already practicing martial arts or heavyweight sports like boxing before they started the film but all of them still had to undergo intensive horse-riding and strength training to become Amazonian warriors.
I also loved the light hearted moments in the movie that allowed the audience to get to know more about the princess behind Wonder Woman. The script writer and director managed to somehow weave all of them together without any awkwardness. When I first watched the trailers, I was very skeptical and worried they would overdo things. I wasn't sure how the movie would portray a strong woman who is also beautiful, righteous and full of empathy. I was worried they'd delegate an iconic female superhero into a mere bombshell or some mindless rage warrior who was all power without brains. I was glad to be proven wrong.
The little moments of Diana eating ice cream, chasing after babies and struggling with the rotating door was downright hilarious and cute. It showed an innocent and pure side of her that I believe is in every female.
Another highlight of the show would have to be Steve Trevor - the man who led Wonder Woman out of the island and into the war. I admit I was expecting the character to be a flop (I know nothing about the WW franchise). I expected Steve to be entirely overwhelmed by Diana, weak, under-developed and entirely irrelevant to the storyline. But he turned out to be entirely opposite of my expectation and was somewhat pivotal to the development of Wonder Woman and the entire storyline.
If Woman Woman represented innocence and justice. Then Trevor is definitely on the other side of the see-saw. A pragmatic figure that echoes the weariness and helplessness of the world with a voice of reason that directly collides Wonder Women's idealistic justice. I felt that Steve's honesty about his lack of answers to the injustice of the war and acknowledgment of everyone's guilt gave a deeper meaning to Diana's unfaltering hope. I really like characters like Steve Trevor that while being imminently weak and afraid, still made the choice to fight. It's not what you were born as but who you decide to be.
His actions echoed his sentiments that doing good (pardon my paraphrasing, my memory is hazy now) " has nothing to do with whether they deserve it or not, but what you believe in". Yes, it's not about whether the person you helped is deserving or not, it's about having the heart to be the bigger person. That is true kindness.
As someone who knew close to nothing about the WW world and barely caught any trailers before the movie, the final battle with Ares was a pleasant surprise. I don't know why I was naive enough to think the movie would have stopped with the German general, like, I knew the war wouldn't stop with just killing one man but I kinda thought the movie would just end with a disappointed but matured Wonder Woman. I obviously wasn't thinking things through.
The battle sequence, martial arts choreography all the way to the CGIs and colour toning was just impeccable! Gal Gadot is so perfect as an Amazonian warrior princess! She looked so strong, so tough and yet so innocent all at the same time. I'm especially happy that the producers and directors didn't choose a bombshell like they did with Lynda Carter. I have nothing against the lovely actress but times have changed - target audiences for these movies don't just include men anymore. And having smaller boobs with tougher bodies just made so much more sense for Wonder Woman. I'm also thankful the costume designers worked on a Greek + gladiator look for the new Wonder Woman costume. Metal armor just made so much more sense than a bright red and blue star spangled bunny suit sans the bunny.
Many of the scenes like Diana jumping through the clock tower and Ares carving out his face from his molten helmet was just amazing. It might be due to the fact that I don't watch that much stuff but that few sequence was pretty original to me.
I also love how the story gave time to illustrate the absurd unfairness woman faced. How even being inside a room full of men was deemed *gasp*, catastrophically wrong. Every single time she was there, they'd start her line with someone asking "why is a woman here?". I loved how they didn't degrade her into some spineless bombshell nor did they turn her into a crazy feminist - she at her core was just a strong, intelligent, good-hearted woman who knew what had to be done when it had to be done. She never used her powers to make other people feel small, but if anyone tries to bring her down, she made sure to stand her ground.
I can't wait to watch the movie again, maybe I'll treat myself to another session of it at the theaters. Obviously, this entry is just my simple movie-watcher opinion with no affiliation nor intent to cause harm or insult. I hope nobody gets offended by anything I said, if you do ... I suggest you get over it.
Have you watched the movie yet? share with me your opinions by leaving a comment!
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