WonderWoman Review

What I liked: There were lots of things to like. I like the Amazons. I like that they jump off cliffs and do flips and shoot 5 arrows at once. It does become rapidly apparent that they should upgrade their arsenal but doing flips with a mini gun is a) not a cool looking as doing flips with a sword and b) pretty dangerous. That's probably why the Terminator and the Punisher don't do flips. They just stand there. And they don't have fun split skirts. Yet. Wonder Woman has some pretty awesome fight scenes. My personal favorite involves her taking down a tank. The one at the end is bigger but the tank is cooler. I like the way they used her lasso of truth. It is a pretty effective interrogation tool but also quite handy in a fight and it doesn't look too cheesy. But possibly better than Wonder Woman's awesome fight scenes is her character. She is full of idealism and hope. The recent trend with superheroes is to humanize them by giving them massive character flaws. Wonder Woman is able to be relatable while maintaining her goodness and faith in humanity. That belief in others is itself a less overt superpower than her flying or shooting lightning; she brings out the hero in the people around her. Impressively, all of the supporting characters get to be heroes. I liked her learning to dance in the village, but I would argue that the guy does not know how to dance. I like her walking around London with her sword and shield. I liked that her boots had convenient shin guards and knee pads for all the sliding she did. I liked the secretary. The next time I plan a secret blackops mission I want her running communication "Have a lovely time dears." I like that the magical paradise island is an overnight boat trip from London; the British Channel has never looked so inviting.

What I didn't: I have a number of concerns about this movie. First and foremost, how does Dr. Poison's mask stay together? are the pieces magnetic? How does the whole thing stay on her face? Did she design it? Really it is cool and sleek but not metalic enough to be futuristic, not nice enough to be life like, and not creepy enough to be freaky. Also, if she is creating an evil poison gas that doubles as an incendiary, what is the point of it also being acidic? Do you have to be able to melt the gas masks if you are also going to blow them up? And if the thing blows up does it matter if it blows up in the air, on the ground, or under the ground? When did they start making airtight conference rooms? This seems like a bad plan. It also seems like if you can see light under the door, the room isn't actually airtight. When it comes to Wonder Woman, her fight scenes were really cool but was it really necessary to freeze the frame for us to get a good look at her mid air. It wasn't even slow motion, just frozen. I guess they were trying to channel the comic books but they did it way too much. I wasn't that impressed with her love story. Asking why she fell for Steve Trevors is like asking why Superman loves Lois Lane but it still seemed like a stretch. The bad guys were much scarier when they were being sneaky. When they were showing off their evil power it seemed both like over kill and slightly anticlimactic. "You're facing down Wonder Woman and the best you can come up with is horns? really? oh ok add lightning that's totally unexpected." And why do the heroes keep reminding us that we don't deserve them? Batman: I'm the hero they need not the hero they deserve. Wonder Woman: They don't deserve heroes, but it doesn't matter what they deserve, it matters what you believe. Does this mean that we do deserve Superman?

Who should watch this? People who like superhero movies. People who like explosions and lightning.

Would I watch it again? Yes, planning on it.