Wonder Woman reaction
I finally got to see it - it was a bit of a rush to get there because the people I was going with wanted to see it at an earlier showing than I'd first sugested. So, I arrived in the middle of the trailer for the Justice League movie feeling flustered, frankly.
My head and my heart aren’t entirely in accord about this film, all right? My heart is jumping up and down that Princess Buttercup got to fight and I saw a superheroine movie and that made me smile. My head thinks there were problems and is a bit irked with Marvel for not getting on and giving me a (better) superheroine movie.
So we started with me going ‘oh, girl with sword movie! COOL.’ Then there was Hippolyta’s speech about the history of everythin and it made no sense, and I thought the way the action scenes were filmed were a bit pretentious at times, and it still wasn’t always clear what was going on. Even though AMAZONIAN FIGHTING YAY!
But I liked Diana’s sense of responsibility to the world - I mean what were the Amazons doing for man locked up on the island, Hippolyta? And yes, she was naïve and callow, but her big heart (getting diverted to coo over babies <3) and attitude were refreshing. At the same time, I thought the big shield move was a lift from the Avengers (and Natasha, because she isn’t a demi-god, is so much more admirable - and Gadot has a wee look of Johanssen in the face and the huskiness) and then there was the Buffy move with the sword. So, there was a sense of familiarity even as we were watching, well, Wonder Woman’s origin.
I liked Diana a lot, and sympathised with what she wanted to achiever.
I am a little mixed about her relationship with Steve. I think they made good play of her agency and competence, and his back and forth on realising and respecting that, figuring out when to be protective of her naivete, when he was being overprotective or prioritising his mission or admitting she was plain distracting. He was always doomed after teh fade to black, with the bookending emphasising the DCU movies are Diana/Bruce. (Although I’m OTP Clark/Lois, I can see why Clark/Diana would work, although she needs her own links to humanity, and after the island, I want that to involve lots of women.) And the casting of Pine meant he couldn’t just be a love interest, and Steve Trevor wasn’t just one, and although the film was ultimately about Diana, more often than not, the woman is a love interest in this type of film, so why couldn’t the man be?
But I also don’t want to rant about that, because Gadot is an inexperienced actress, and there were some bits where she was good and some bits where she was shown up, whereas Pine has comic timing and helped carry the story. At this point, I have to say Lucy Davies was marvellous as Etta and MUST be in Wonder Woman 2. Because I’m happy for there to be one. (But the baddie should be a woman.)
They held back the theme tune well, and used Diana’s weapons honourably well (except they never explained the gauntlets - I never read the comics or watched the TV show, so really, all I know about WW is by popcultural osmosis). The lasso developed from being introduced jokily to becoming useful to being very striking. Her fighting approach was so refreshing - defending, and when she was attacking or offensive, it was different. Although I found us hearing the previously muted conversation with Steve corny and note that Diana mainly parroted him, I thought that having the final fight be about her choice - to join Ares or reject him in her grief and rage was better than fight CGI monster and destroy a city, and that’s where cutting to Steve’s sacrifice added something.
And now her base of operations is in Paris? So cool, as was watching her put the tiara on. My heart sang at that and for all the girls and boys that will see that. Really, I want to draw a heart around Diana, but for them to correct all the issues in the script etc. They basically made Ares who he was for a twist, and because David Thewlis can convince one of almost anything (except Ares was talking bunk). So, while I’m not sure it was much better than the DCU movies, I’m more excited about seeing more of it.
This entry was originally posted at http://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/282973.html.
My head and my heart aren’t entirely in accord about this film, all right? My heart is jumping up and down that Princess Buttercup got to fight and I saw a superheroine movie and that made me smile. My head thinks there were problems and is a bit irked with Marvel for not getting on and giving me a (better) superheroine movie.
So we started with me going ‘oh, girl with sword movie! COOL.’ Then there was Hippolyta’s speech about the history of everythin and it made no sense, and I thought the way the action scenes were filmed were a bit pretentious at times, and it still wasn’t always clear what was going on. Even though AMAZONIAN FIGHTING YAY!
But I liked Diana’s sense of responsibility to the world - I mean what were the Amazons doing for man locked up on the island, Hippolyta? And yes, she was naïve and callow, but her big heart (getting diverted to coo over babies <3) and attitude were refreshing. At the same time, I thought the big shield move was a lift from the Avengers (and Natasha, because she isn’t a demi-god, is so much more admirable - and Gadot has a wee look of Johanssen in the face and the huskiness) and then there was the Buffy move with the sword. So, there was a sense of familiarity even as we were watching, well, Wonder Woman’s origin.
I liked Diana a lot, and sympathised with what she wanted to achiever.
I am a little mixed about her relationship with Steve. I think they made good play of her agency and competence, and his back and forth on realising and respecting that, figuring out when to be protective of her naivete, when he was being overprotective or prioritising his mission or admitting she was plain distracting. He was always doomed after teh fade to black, with the bookending emphasising the DCU movies are Diana/Bruce. (Although I’m OTP Clark/Lois, I can see why Clark/Diana would work, although she needs her own links to humanity, and after the island, I want that to involve lots of women.) And the casting of Pine meant he couldn’t just be a love interest, and Steve Trevor wasn’t just one, and although the film was ultimately about Diana, more often than not, the woman is a love interest in this type of film, so why couldn’t the man be?
But I also don’t want to rant about that, because Gadot is an inexperienced actress, and there were some bits where she was good and some bits where she was shown up, whereas Pine has comic timing and helped carry the story. At this point, I have to say Lucy Davies was marvellous as Etta and MUST be in Wonder Woman 2. Because I’m happy for there to be one. (But the baddie should be a woman.)
They held back the theme tune well, and used Diana’s weapons honourably well (except they never explained the gauntlets - I never read the comics or watched the TV show, so really, all I know about WW is by popcultural osmosis). The lasso developed from being introduced jokily to becoming useful to being very striking. Her fighting approach was so refreshing - defending, and when she was attacking or offensive, it was different. Although I found us hearing the previously muted conversation with Steve corny and note that Diana mainly parroted him, I thought that having the final fight be about her choice - to join Ares or reject him in her grief and rage was better than fight CGI monster and destroy a city, and that’s where cutting to Steve’s sacrifice added something.
And now her base of operations is in Paris? So cool, as was watching her put the tiara on. My heart sang at that and for all the girls and boys that will see that. Really, I want to draw a heart around Diana, but for them to correct all the issues in the script etc. They basically made Ares who he was for a twist, and because David Thewlis can convince one of almost anything (except Ares was talking bunk). So, while I’m not sure it was much better than the DCU movies, I’m more excited about seeing more of it.
This entry was originally posted at http://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/282973.html.