At last! I finally saw it.

Good luck convincing my family to go see a superhero flick in theaters. The only reason I saw Ragnarok was because they were going to see a different film at the same time. (Save for one sibling who went with me.)

So I had to buy this movie before I could see it.

Now, what did I think?

Well, some of you probably know that this movie has been widely approved by fans and I think also critics, but I’ve seen some negative stuff about it too. So I’ll start with that.

The worst thing aobut this film…it’s too short.

I’m serious, the whole opening part moves really fast, and unfortunately without a whole lot of detail besides setting up the story. I wouldn’t care, (I didn’t with Captain America) if it wasn’t for the fact that the mythological side of it is interesting, and you can’t help but wish you got to know the Amazons better and see more of Diana’s childhood there.

Still, if you want more, that’s a good sign right?

I was sure I’d like them if I had more time in which to do so. But I will say the attire and the scenery were awesome and gave me the correct idea of the island being a paradise. Heck, I’d want to train there.

People’s main problem with the film is that it’s just like Captain America, and its’ just like every other DC (or even Marvel) film to date. It did nothing new.

Well, considering Marvel is using the same plotline in every single one of its films and getting away with it more often than not, does that seem like a fair complaint?

But I’m not here to take sides in this stupid fan base war.

Was it like Captain America? Yes. More so than some people have been willing to admit. There’s a wired evil genius making dangerous weapons and getting help from a god (instead of just a thing belonging to the gods). There’s a ragtag team of unlikely heroes gathered by the main characters to do a mission the authorities think is insane. Wonder Woman goes off alone to do something she was strongly advised against doing in order to save people. She loses someone close to her. And there’s other similarities too.

But. Wonder Woman was already like Captain America in a lot of ways. And perhaps we shouldn’t blame DC for taking a page from the book of more successful writers.

It worked out well for them.

Anyway, originality is not what makes or breaks a superhero film. All superheros are somewhat unoriginal now, if only because there was so many of them back in the early days of their conception. You will never get complete originality for all of them if you have dozens to wade through.

I personally don’t care.

That said, should this movie have tried something new?

Well, I think it did, but I’ll probably put that into part two.

For now I’ll address the plot.

Was it new? No.

Sorry, making it about a woman isn’t enough to make it new. That’s a dead horse to keep beating if you ask me.

But my question is, why does it need to be new?

How exactly do you make an origin story new? They changed enough as it was.

Making the War WWI instead of WWII was an interesting step. But I liked it after thinking it over. One major point of the film is whether mankind is naturally evil or not. Wonder Woman seeing multiple wars gives her a lot more time and a lot more stakes to reckon with when she makes her choices. And that she keeps choosing to be a protector every time gives her the mark of consistency and faithfulness that, honestly, I have yet to see with another of these rebooted heroes.

Think about it, Wonder Woman has seen more terrors, more of man’s own evil, in her life time, than even Captain America, or the Avengers. And yet she has more resolve to do the right thing than the Avengers even have about their own role in the world.

I’ll get more into that later, suffice it to say, I like it.

And making Professor Poison a woman ought to be a progressive enough leap for the feminists out there, since it’s highly unlikely. And not historically accurate.

But I thought it was a good choice because in the past Wonder Woman has fallen into the cliche “blame the men and their pig pigheadedness for everything” attitude. When she came face to face with Professor Poison, there was no way to say that evil and malice and stubbornness are only male problems. They are human problems.

Also, Ares is not a respecter of sexes. he uses either to accomplish his purpose. So apparently, does Zeus.

One of the best things about his movie is how little it even brought feminism up. Or sexism. It was there. But the main focus is on humanity and its failings as a whole. Not what gender you are.

Again, one wishes there was more time to develop everyone’s character. By the end Diana and Steve are the ones we know best. But I felt like there was so much more to know aobut Steve before he was gone.

And yes, Diana and Steve’s relationship was way too fast, but they didn’t have much choice about that. And they did build up to it fairly well. With Steve’s fascination with her being apparent without being creepy. And hers in turn, though hers was more innocent.

I will say I could have done without the whole sexual implications, or discussions. I felt the latter was poor taste when they’d only just met that day. IT seemed forced in for laughs. And later on when another man mentioned being “aroused” by her, I didn’t like it. The fact is, nice guys in the early 1900s didn’t say things like that. To a woman’s face anyway.

But I suppose nice wasn’t exactly what Steve was looking for in his friends at that particular time. SO maybe we can let it slide.

(but it wasn’t necessary, movie, it really wasn’t.)

Other than that I have no complaints. I’ll dive deeper into the meaning in part 2

Until next time–Natasha.