Wonder Woman:
Anyhow, that's not what I came here to talk about. What I wanted to talk about was that I just saw Wonderwoman, yay! I really liked it. It's not a perfect movie, but it is a great superhero movie. Great supporting cast, great hero, I liked the sets and I liked that it was a period piece. It had great themes, and Gal Gadot's WonderWoman is very easy to root for. She was earnest and a little naive, but also tremendously powerful. Her companions are clearly inspired by her beauty, her courage and, of course, her strength. I thought the villain was very well played, though perhaps he didn't get enough screen time. The final battle wasn't fantastic, but it got the job done. Good movie.
Additionally, there is a certain amount of catharsis finally getting to see a truly kick-ass babe at the center of a superhero movie.
Batman v Superman:
Wonder Woman made her first appearance in the DC universe in the movie Batman v Superman, which I watched on TV a few weeks ago. Jane was out of town, so I figured, why not just watch some movies I missed in the theater, and have at least a mild interest in. I didn't care for BvS. Mostly because the two leads are just total jerks. I don't really like a story where the two leads are both sort of arrogant a-holes who won't talk even for a moment. Who needs that? I guess they had to come up with a way to make them fight, though I would just as well preferred a movie where they don't fight. Beyond the fact that the 'heroes' have no charisma, the movie itself was really long and sort of dreary. Really, I got the impression that it was more like a string of 5 half-hour episodes of television strung together, than a complete movie. It didn't really have that much excitement, even when there was action. I felt more like was enduring the extended action scenes, rather than enjoying them. Wonder Woman's presence is muted, and she has very little personality as compared with the WW movie.
Suicide Squad:
Meh. This movie looked like fun, but was mostly gray and dreary. I'm sensing a theme among the DC movies. Similar to BvS, this movie felt kind of like a series of episodes strung together. Like, not all that much really happens. It's like the middle of the movie is really long, it's all just... middle. Because of the villains and the kind of rebellious spirit of the concept, and the really snappy trailer, I thought this movie would be fun. It really wasn't fun at all. I don't remember much from it, except the sensation of waiting for it to end.
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| This is what I was expecting with the Dark Knight Rises |
Dark Knight Rises:
I think I came to realize that these last three DC movies have all been almost exactly the same in tone: Dreary. I did not like the Dark Knight Rises, and was ready to leave the theater before it ended. This movie is like taking the original Dark Knight, but removing Heath Ledger. You're just really not left with much. All of Bane's grandstanding pseudo philosophy was really boring and unconvincing. And like some of the other DC movies, it doesn't seem to really rise or fall in excitement. The famous 'backbreaking scene' in which Bane breaks Batman over his knee, just left me shrugging. And when Bane finally gets his defeat, it is equally lackluster. I want some drama in my Superhero movies, and I think that this movie didn't bring it.
The Dark Knight:
I liked the Dark Knight. Not as much as some, but I do agree with the general sentiment that Heath Ledger's joker was amazing. He is very convincing, and he keeps my attention and makes me want more. To tell you the truth, I wish this movie had been shorter and yet I wish the joker had been in more scenes. Somehow it was too long, and yet not enough of what I wanted. Go figure. I suppose there's some sort of big message in this movie and the next one, but I don't really know what it was. Something about testing humanity's capacity for good, or something. I liked the Dark Knight, but I've gotten the impression that Warner Brothers has just been trying to strike gold twice by making a bunch of movies as much like the Dark Knight as they can. But the result is just the Dark Knight rises over and over again, a watered down version. With any luck, Wonder Woman will show that they can expand their horizons a little bit, add some color and humor maybe even some hope.
-D
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| The color in this book is really cool |
I almost forgot Watchmen! In general, a fantastic retelling of the comic. Shot for shot in some places. All in all, a great movie, so any problems I have are nitpicks. Which I am happy to do. I wish it hadn't had that grayness that is in all of the other DC movies. The original comic was actually fairly colorful, using a 4-color style of classic comics. In the comic, the colorfulness didn't detract. It may not be possible to do that in film, but it would be nice to try. In the case of Watchmen, if it felt like a series of episodes, it actually is!
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