We *finally* have a Wonder Woman movie
Jun. 2nd, 2017 01:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sffcorgiIt's just taken 40 years - or, if you want to count from when other heroes first got non-print entertainment representation, 70ish. TV? Superman, late 50s. Batman, mid-60s. Wonder Woman? Late 70s, and badly handled by the executives. This doesn't even count the Timmverse animated series, in which the fellows each had one (or more) long-running weeklies and Diana only got Justice League and OVA movies.
Was it worth the wait? No, in that this should have happened during the Salkind-Burton wave; yes, in that it's the best thing the deZackurated DC has released, far and above, easily, etc. etc. etc.
How much did I enjoy it? I have to confess - I'm conflicted. I knew too much going in. I wanted to be overwhelmed and I wasn't, but it wasn't the movie's fault.
I did greatly appreciate the fact that they ticked off on essential things without making it look like the fanboy list Orci and Kurtzmann used to "write" their Star Trek revision. Perez's multiracial Amazons? Check (Philippus is in the end titles!!). Etta being plump and funny without being a fat joke? Totally check. Just enough fish-out-of-water? I'd say so.
My brain got totally hung up on their revisionist mythology; by the end of the movie, it's much clearer why they did things this way, and I can't fault them for that tidiness, but it gnawed at me. I'm still actively resenting the inclusion of Zeus, even if it was important in this version. No spoilers. The Zeus thing wormed in from some extremely mistaken comics writers — originally, Zeus was Cassie 'Wonder Girl' Sandsmark's father, which lent her her different powers to Diana and Donna's. Then they made the Amazons into serial homicidal rapists and Dr. Marston started spinning steadily enough to power New York City. How did it turn into the story of Diana and Those Poor Abused Amazon Sons?
Thankfully, the script doesn't go down that fetid hole.
There's several discussions about the choice to move this back in time from WWII to WWI (see Fat Man on Batman: Kevin Smith Reviews Wonder Woman for one) so I don't need to rehash that when others have done well by the thesis already. There's so much in that period that they could dwell on, and maybe if we're very good, we'll get some flashbacks to post-war Diana in subsequent movies.
This is a beautiful film. Great cinematography, locations, pacing... I wish we could have seen more of the detail they put into Themyscira (Patty Jenkins says there's no 'missing scenes' for the DVD) but maybe there's featurettes about the Amazon warrior band (see Wonder Woman: How real-life athletes united to populate the film's badass Amazon nation) — I'd love to see something about Robin Wright's experiences — and the costume design in general. The No-Man's-Land scene is a great reveal, and a good demonstration of Diana's will and ability. It keeps building up to her final fight - and has a conclusion right out of the comics, really.
I couldn't help to notice that despite the efforts to avoid overlapping Captain America overmuch, one of the parts of the climax of the movie has a guy named Chris playing a guy named Steve running full-tilt to capture the enemy's extra-large high-tech aircraft filled with bombs. Sometimes ya can't win for losing.
I'd love to discuss anything about this with anybody.
Was it worth the wait? No, in that this should have happened during the Salkind-Burton wave; yes, in that it's the best thing the deZackurated DC has released, far and above, easily, etc. etc. etc.
How much did I enjoy it? I have to confess - I'm conflicted. I knew too much going in. I wanted to be overwhelmed and I wasn't, but it wasn't the movie's fault.
I did greatly appreciate the fact that they ticked off on essential things without making it look like the fanboy list Orci and Kurtzmann used to "write" their Star Trek revision. Perez's multiracial Amazons? Check (Philippus is in the end titles!!). Etta being plump and funny without being a fat joke? Totally check. Just enough fish-out-of-water? I'd say so.
My brain got totally hung up on their revisionist mythology; by the end of the movie, it's much clearer why they did things this way, and I can't fault them for that tidiness, but it gnawed at me. I'm still actively resenting the inclusion of Zeus, even if it was important in this version. No spoilers. The Zeus thing wormed in from some extremely mistaken comics writers — originally, Zeus was Cassie 'Wonder Girl' Sandsmark's father, which lent her her different powers to Diana and Donna's. Then they made the Amazons into serial homicidal rapists and Dr. Marston started spinning steadily enough to power New York City. How did it turn into the story of Diana and Those Poor Abused Amazon Sons?
Thankfully, the script doesn't go down that fetid hole.
There's several discussions about the choice to move this back in time from WWII to WWI (see Fat Man on Batman: Kevin Smith Reviews Wonder Woman for one) so I don't need to rehash that when others have done well by the thesis already. There's so much in that period that they could dwell on, and maybe if we're very good, we'll get some flashbacks to post-war Diana in subsequent movies.
This is a beautiful film. Great cinematography, locations, pacing... I wish we could have seen more of the detail they put into Themyscira (Patty Jenkins says there's no 'missing scenes' for the DVD) but maybe there's featurettes about the Amazon warrior band (see Wonder Woman: How real-life athletes united to populate the film's badass Amazon nation) — I'd love to see something about Robin Wright's experiences — and the costume design in general. The No-Man's-Land scene is a great reveal, and a good demonstration of Diana's will and ability. It keeps building up to her final fight - and has a conclusion right out of the comics, really.
I couldn't help to notice that despite the efforts to avoid overlapping Captain America overmuch, one of the parts of the climax of the movie has a guy named Chris playing a guy named Steve running full-tilt to capture the enemy's extra-large high-tech aircraft filled with bombs. Sometimes ya can't win for losing.
I'd love to discuss anything about this with anybody.
