(spoiler alert) short review of wonder woman (spoiler alert)

This was an unexpected and unscheduled stop at the movies tonight.

My mother had fallen asleep before my uncle could call and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do next.

Work on my book? Get a snack since dinner left me a little hungry? Get to sleep early even though I wasn’t yet tired?

None of the above it seems.

As I was walking by a TV I saw an ad for Wonder Woman. A couple brain cells jumpstarted and off to the web I went. As it turned out, there was a showing about 30 minutes later. Being a seat snob though I wasted a few minutes starting the ticket purchase to see what seats might be left. To my wonder there seemed to be one seat in an ideal location that I would be willing to sit in. Not wanting to pay the fee for the honor of buying it online I took the risk of actually driving to the theater and buying the ticket there. The biggest risk being that someone in that short span of time could have also bought that exact seat and I’d be out of luck. There was one more seat in the 3D Imax at the Regal Short Pump location showing that was less ideal but still doable. I was fortunate though that my seat of choice was still there. Fee saved!

For the opening, the theater was woefully empty. The majority of the openings of movies I really want to see are packed and I’m thankful for the reserved seat option. The biggest problem I had with the theater was that for that costly of a seat price the seats were narrow and uncomfortable. I found myself squirming on and off during the movie trying to find a comfortable position.

Moving on and a repeat that there are spoilers coming up.

Overall I really liked the movie. For a DC movie they are getting something out there that I hope will also resonate with audiences and show DC how a better movie should be made compared to some of the not as good movies released in the last… well… ever? That’s not fair. I did like Superman Returns. Batman vs Superman was passable. And against the view of the general public I liked Green Lantern.

The movie had a good pace and the time shifts flowed well. The characters themselves were mostly good. The close supporting actors were pretty unnecessary as far as the story goes. Those three extra guys could have been lost and with a little rewriting I can’t I would have missed them. They were just there taking up space with the occasional bone thrown to them just to make it seem like they were useful.

Another basic set of issues I had were with the use of CGI and continuity. There was one CGI where she is using her lasso and she looks way too fake with her quick motions. They needed to have cleaned up that part of the movie. The CGI otherwise didn’t catch my attention.

I also noticed once or twice where it seemed they missed the continuity of a scene. You know, where they say “stop” and have to restart with everything in place or they are reshooting and will splice it back together later. The scene where the two main characters are being given beer after saving the town. I thought I saw her grab a drink and put it on her left but then in the left scene it looked like she was holding it and putting it on her right. And then… it looked like there were three glasses for two people. Maybe I missed something in that part.

Last few things I can think of right now.

They saw the chemicals are highly explosive and he shoots them in the air to explode them so they don’t drop on people. So… couldn’t you have used one of your explosives like you did in the rest of the movie and just blow it up on the ground thus saving you from having to die? I missed something there unless there was a concern about killing others from the explosion. Of course, it was used to help Diana kick butt so maybe they needed it to move the story along.

Second to last. The sword. What the fuck? She raids this building for items from the gods. She picks up the lasso, the shield, the classic wonder woman armor and the sword. Everything gets use as a cool god item but the sword ends up being a piece of junk. Why the hell was it there in the first place? Was it a joke from the gods? Someone felt the need to put a fake weapon there? Did her mother and zeus do the nasty in that spot and instead of a picture of Diana all they could think of was a sword instead? Who knows. They threw it away just to make a point about Diana being a god herself although Ares was pretty stupid. She can’t get to you so why stay so close to her? Probably the plight of the villain just like stupid superheros announce they are getting ready to capture you.

The last issue was the ending. Not just that there was not extra scene like in the marvel movies but the actual end of the movie where she leaps from the building and is in an endless jump forward in fighting position. She heard some explosion sound but I didn’t see anything. Couldn’t they have thrown in fireworks or something to explain it? Maybe they did and I missed it. I would have preferred that if they were going to do the fight pose to just let her jump and free frame it, then meld it back into the comic wonder woman for some nostalgia.

Oh well. I paid to see it, not to make it.

Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

-SFA

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