The DC Hero We Finally Deserve..."Wonder Woman"

Wonder Woman (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Gal Gadot, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Chris Pine, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Said Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, Eugene Brave Rock, Lucy Davis, Elena Anaya,

Directed by Patty Jenkins

The Story:

Bookended by seeing Diana/Wonder Woman (Gadot) in action during modern day, a briefcase delivered by Bruce Wayne allows Diana time to reflect on discovering mankind and embracing the heroic ideal she was born to live.

So, I finally got around to watching Wonder Woman.

I tried not to let the hype surrounding this movie cloud my judgement of it.

While I might be firmly in the camp of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I totally root for DC to get it right and give the audience something worth going to see.

So naturally, I approached this one with cautious optimism.

Is the hype real?

Or is it just clamoring for something, anything from DC to erase the unwatchable bore of Batman vs. Superman or the entertaining in parts but ultimately unsatisfying Suicide Squad?

I suppose it will ultimately depend on who you ask.

I was never blown away by the trailers for Wonder Woman.

It seemed fine enough, but it was missing something for me, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

So the movie has come out, it's made more money this summer than anything else, and I couldn't be happier for the cast, crew, fans and Warner Brothers for finally, finally making a DC movie worth watching.

Depending on your point of view, it's been a long time coming, whether it was Superman: The Movie, Batman (1989) or the Nolan Batman Trilogy.

I finally got around to seeing it...

And much like the trailer, I liked it, but didn't LOVE it.

Again, there's something missing for me, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

I suppose if I have to try and isolate it, perhaps it's the sense of fun, entertainment or enjoyment that I have while watching a Marvel film.

While Wonder Woman is a technically a well made picture, the sense of fun just wasn't quite there. It bubbled under the surface through a lot of the movie.

Now to be fair, there were many, many, many enjoyable scenes and amazing set pieces that oohed and aaahed me as the movie went along.

So again, it's a tough one to judge.

Is it on par with what Marvel is giving me?  No. Close, but no cigar.

If I was given 4 choices of going to see any superhero movie again in theaters, I'd be going back for Guardians or Homecoming before I went back to see Wonder Woman.

That's just me being honest.

Is it better than what DC has been giving me? Absolutely yes.

I love that Wonder Woman has been this successful for DC and for all the little girls around the world that now have a superhero role model on the big screen.

It gives me hope that Captain Marvel and maybe Black Widow will someday headline a film for Marvel or maybe DC will offer up a Catwoman movie that doesn't suck.

: )

Final Grade: B... B+ if I'm really nice. ;)

Our First DC Premiere..."Suicide Squad"

Suicide Squad (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Jared Leto, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, David Harbour

Written and Directed by David Ayer

The Story:

Amanda Waller (Davis) has decided that in a world with more and more metahuman activity, she needs to assemble a team that is able and willing to do whatever it takes to protect National Security. After all, the next Superman might just be a hostile. So she rounds up the worst of the worst, implants them with a transmitter that doubles as a bomb, and under the leadership of Rick Flag (Kinnaman), the Suicide Squad is born.

Or...

The Story:

A group of scoundrels we've never met before team up to save the world while tossing off one-liners during action sequences set to a cool soundtrack.

Sound familiar?

Yes, Marvel Studios did that 2 years ago with Guardians of the Galaxy, and earlier this year with Deadpool from Fox.

Sorry folks, in the world of superhero movies, comparisons are inevitable.

But let's make this perfectly clear up front, don't compare Suicide Squad to the Avengers, at that point we move from comparing apples to oranges to apples and bananas. Save that comparison for when they finally roll Justice League into theaters.

So, is this movie as bad as Rotten Tomatoes claims, and rabid fanboys have decried that since this is the second DC movie in a row with low scores, that site should be shut down?

No.

It's totally watchable.

Is it rewatchable, either in theaters or at home?

That's debatable.

The Good:

I got to hang out with some of my kids at the movies. Can't ever go wrong with bonding over popcorn and a movie, am I right?!? :)

Viola Davis owns her role as Amanda Waller. She might actually be more frightening than Batman. :)

Will Smith returns to form in his first action flick since 2012's MiB3, and it's a welcome return. It's like an old suit that he slips right into, and watching this film makes me ready for his return as Mike Lowry in Bad Boys 3 (and apparently 4!)

Margot Robbie owns Harley Quinn. While I would have preferred her actual outfit, well, this is the revamped Harley costume they want to go with. Still, when these two are onscreen, the movie picks up tremendously.

The rest of the crew?

When they are given anything to do, it's quite enjoyable. Bonus points to Jai Courtney for actually putting some charisma into a role for a change, his Captain Boomerang is one of the high points as well.

The Bad:

Everyone else is woefully underused and underdeveloped. It seems like most are there simply to give Deadshot and Harley a breather in the action.

The villain? Also falls into the meh, who cares department. But, it was pretty much that way too when they used her in Ghostbusters. :)

The Joker. Totally could have done without him. Aside from the backstory with Harley, which is necessary, he actually becomes a distraction as the film wears on. As for him channeling both Nicholson and Ledger as his inspiration, I found it seemed to channel more of Jim Carrey's Riddler.

Setting scenes to music can be effective.

Setting nearly every scene to music can be overdone.

They decided to dial it up to 11 and introduce everyone to their own killer beat, when it might have been more effective to stagger all of the team introductions out through the film versus one after the other after the other.

Ah well, not my film, not my universe.

: )

That said, of the 2 (or is it 3?) films from the DC "Shared Universe", this is easily my favorite.

I've yet to see Batman vs. Superman (and the kids still don't want to see it!) but it's coming next week on Netflix.

And Man of Steel sucked.

Though I don't think it's considered part of the shared universe, or at least probably wasn't before it tanked.

Finally, you can tell the film was meddled with, even without reading all of the reports about the reshoots after Batman vs. Superman was given a resounding thumbs down upon reception.

We'll see where DC goes from here, but you have to hope, at least for their sake as well as the audience, that they are correcting the ship and if not trying to outright copy the Marvel movie formula, at least copy the part where we like seeing their movies.

:)

Final Grade: C+