Wonder Woman, Movie Review

My wife bought tickets in advance to see Wonder Woman. For people who don't know my wife this doesn't mean much. But for those who do, this is big. My wife is not into geek culture, and for her to want to see a comic book hero movie tells me there is a lot of expectation. In short, we enjoyed the movie and I recommend it. However, expectations are double-edged. I know others who had expectations for Wonder Woman and felt let down by the production. It really came down to what was expected.

Wonder Woman is a character driven story. The hook at the beginning of the movie ties in with the last DC movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which for one friend was the first nail in this movie's coffin (they brought forth their dislike of that movie and started applying it). Once the tie in is made, we are taken back into Diana's origin. The first section of the movie shows her growing up and training. Because she grew up in isolation from the rest of the world, this is not an action sequence.

The fight scenes are restrained. This is not to say there aren't any, there are, and they do some amazing special effects. But, the scenes play out in a shorter time frame than other movies in the genre. This allows for the story to move along and cover a lot without getting so closely tied into how the fight went.

Characters are portrayed for the time frame of the movie. Two people who expressed their displeasure of the movie was because to them Diana wasn't the character they grew up with from the Justice League cartoons. They wanted a strong, intelligent leader. Instead you are presented with a naive woman who is discovering the larger world of men after four years of World War I. She is still presented as a strong woman upholding the ideals she has grown up with, she is faced with the atrocities of war. She is forced to face her own standards and come to a decision of what she is willing stand, and fight, for.

The characters are true to themselves throughout the movie. The on-screen work of acting, directing, editing, all worked well together to present character who are relatable and gain the sympathy of the viewer. Several people I know expressed how the story presented brought them to emotional states, drawing them deeper into the characters and the movie. Good acting is needed for this to work and actors need good writing.

The story is well written. I noticed some wonderful foreshadowing that set up later parts of the movie. Along with that there are false leads and a good twist that kept me guessing. I had an idea of what was coming, but not enough to make the ending obvious.

The thematic elements were carried throughout the movie. This is one of those elements of story that lies beneath the storyline. It gives the story a feeling of wholeness. When we left the theater that is what I had. Yes, I know there is another movie coming with Wonder Woman, hopefully more than one. But, this story stands on its own.

We did not leave the theater on an adrenaline high, or fatigue, from the past paced action movie that many of come to expect from a comic book based movie. We left on a high from feeling good that there is a chance to overcome the bad in the world and do something worthwhile to help one another.

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