Wonder Woman- Blog project #2

 

This was an easy choice for me- out of all the movies I have seen recently, this one has stood out the most. I am a huge movie goer, my boyfriend and I take advantage of AT&T's ticket Tuesday (one free movie ticket every Tuesday!), so we end up seeing most of the new movies as they come out.

 

I was never a fan of Wonder Woman before this movie. I didn't read the comics nor have I seen any previous WW movies, but I heard raving reviews of this new movie and I literally could not wait to see if it lived up to the hype. When I got on Twitter one of my old friends from high school had re-tweeted a movie review that her boyfriend had done about WW, and it made me that much more excited to finally see this film.

Edison Crawley, the boyfriend/movie reviewer that I spoke about just a second ago, posted this review of Wonder Woman: https://themidnightshowingblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/the-true-genesis-of-justice-wonder-woman-review/
Just to get an idea of how he felt, here's a little excerpt from his review, "We need a hero who embodies peace love and wisdom with a little old school flare. Gal Gadot as Diana Prince is that embodiment in the long overdue big screen adaption of the iconic character."

                 

 

Wonder Woman has been around since 1941 debuting in multiple DC comic books. She quickly gained popularity as she was an original member of the Justice League and one of the very first female superheroes. Not only was WW a huge comic superhero, but she also got her own movie in 1974, starring Lynda Carter as the kick ass star, according to IMBD. This version of the film influenced the new version released in 2017, and stars Gal Gadot as the new Wonder Woman. In short, a british spy crashes into the hidden Amazonian island and our leading lady, Diana aka a trained warrior/princess of the Amazons, finds him. The two of them set off on a pretty crazy ride while trying to defeat the Nazi's and simultaneously take down Ares, the God of War.

 

Gal Gadot, an actress born and raised in Israel, was the shining star that nobody saw coming. Gadot I was thoroughly impressed with her abilities in this film.  Her debut film in the US was a role in Fast & Furious, and shortly after in 2016 she was cast as Wonder Woman for the Batman vs. Superman movie. From there, she was given her own solo WW movie and will be a star in the Justice League film coming out later this year.

 

Fun fact: Gal was 5 months pregnant while shooting Wonder Woman!

 

Compared to other DC superhero movies, I felt that this tugged at my heart more than the others. Perhaps that's because this was a leading woman so there was a bit more romance involved, or maybe it's because I just relate more to a woman's mind and heart so I connected more; either way, I cried multiple times and wanted to watch it over and over. Some other DC movies that I've seen include The Dark Knight (Batman!) and Suicide Squad. Although I wasn't a huuuge fan of those two movies, I do appreciate the humor and reality that the actors bring throughout these films.

 

I think that Wonder Woman was a big step in our culture. Yeah, maybe they just didn't find someone to play the role good enough until now, but I feel like the release of this film somehow empowered the women in our society. I know that I felt some weird sort of strength after watching it, and many other ladies my age felt the same way. At a Comic Con event in Sacramento, California, a group of 5 panelists came together to discuss Wonder Woman and the impacts it brought. One of the panelists stated,  

“What is incredible to me is how many women have been watching this movie and weeping...If you guys are in the audience, you probably do get it but there’s a lot of guys who don’t get it. And I just have to tell them, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re a nice person, but you don’t get it. You don’t understand why the women are crying...It was so validating and exciting to see the screen full of these amazing confident fighting women. It was awesome.”

 

To read the full article by Rich Johnston click here!!

 

The intended audience was probably meant to be any comic enthusiasts, but in the end I feel like it changed to being more for women and empowering them. I didn't feel like there were any super stereotypical characters, but some of the scenes may have been leaning towards representing the "typical male" such as being overly sexual, etc.

 

This entire movie was a strength. There wasn't a single part to it that I found any type of weakness. The acting was phenomenal, the cinematography and directing was amazing, the script was smooth, the designs were impeccable- if you can't tell, I REALLY LIKED WONDER WOMAN!

The Amazonian's Island


I personally always look at rotten tomatoes as my main source of whether a movie is supposed to be good or not; Wonder Woman received a 92%, the best being 100%. By that alone, it lets me know that critics feel like this is a good movie!

I looked on Metacritic and overall there were 45 positive reviews, 5 mixed reviews, and 0 flat out negative reviews.

Justin Chang, movie reviewer for the LA Times, gave WW a 90%. He says, "“Wonder Woman” emerges as not only the strongest movie in the present DC cycle, but also the first one that feels like an enveloping, honest-to-God entertainment rather than a raging cinematic migraine."
LA Times Movie Review

One of the lower rated reviews, which gave WW a 40%, was written by Steve Rose out of The Guardian. He claims that this movie was just like any other DC comic movie with over the top and cheesy graphics, and a plot line that doesn't quite follow. Rose states, "In Wonder Woman, they had something none of their rivals had – a bona-fide brand-name female superhero – but in trying to work out what to do with her, they seem to have lost their way. She journeys from a land without men and winds up stranded in no man’s land."
The Guardian Movie Review

I personally don't follow any social media pages that Wonder Woman has, but once looking into it, I found that the official Facebook page has 2,111,894 people following it and about 2 million people liked the page. It shows that three of my personal Facebook friends have liked the page.

By doing this critique, I've learned how much I truly enjoyed this film. I remember sitting in the little movie theater in Sweet Home (which only costs like $6 for a ticket) and being SO excited to finally be seeing it. My boyfriend wasn't all that excited but ended up enjoying it, not nearly as much as I did, but he still had his mind changed by the end. Overall, I find that it's mostly women who are gawking over this movie. It's nice to finally have a strong and worthy female heroine that we can look up to and relate to at the same time.