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drwexSpoilers will be in a cut and comments. I know lots of people won't have seen this. I paid a stupid amount of money to get HBO Max and see it. I resent that, but Wonder Woman is my first fandom and I imprinted heavily on it. I was beyond excited that she'd come back on the big screen and while the first movie was far from perfect it was pretty good and had a lot of promise. This one misses the mark in almost every way. The cast are doing their best, but the script is just not good. It's incoherent on almost every level, heavy-handed, and requires very generous interpretation of what Jenkins is trying to do. (2/5 *wince* but I seriously would pay money to watch Gal Godot read a phone book so there you go.)
I credit Jenkins for trying to tread a new path. Right now our superhero movies are deeply divided between the wisecracking lightheartedness of the MCU, and the Deep Serious OMG DAAAARK of the Batman/Superman/Snyderverse. Wonder Woman is neither of these and I think Jenkins is trying to give us a flawed hero. Diana is a hero we can all admire, who inspires the best in us, but at the same time has her own deficiencies and struggles. Both the Marvel and DC television series have done a much better job of exploring heroes with flaws and nuance than the movies.
Beyond that, though, I lay the blame for this movie's failure on Jenkins. She's trying to be writer and director and producer and maybe that's too much for one human. I'd like to see a third movie with a new writer to love this character the way I think she should be loved. (*)
So rather than a celebration of a beloved character, we get a movie that is trying to be a morality play and is so heavy-handed it entirely loses track of sense. A lot of it is unnecessary and there's at least one creepy bit I need to tuck into the spoilers...
I will die mad about Jenkins heteronormalizing this character. I can grant that there could be one male person Diana would fall for and all other male persons would fail to measure up. But she's had other relationships (in the comic canon) and that includes Barbara (yes, this Barbara). I think there was a great opportunity to set that up for future pay-off and Jenkins fled. I really feel like she has "OH NOES TEH GAYS!" disease after reading some of her public commentary.
The degree to which Diana is pining for Steve is part of this - I can read it generously but it still sticks out like an awkward sore thumb. And the "I'll never love again" line was just super unnecessary and unrealistic. Even if he hadn't died in WWI he'd be dead of old age or at least quite elderly by 1984 and she'd still be unchanged. Mortal loving immortal and vice versa is never easy - see a million fairy tales and Tolkien and on and on.
That's actually the most sensible of an entirely insensible script. Almost nothing that anyone does makes sense and there are just no consequences or fall-out of any of it.
Speaking of consequences... the way they bring Steve Trevor back is by having him... inhabit? the body of another man. Everyone but Diana sees the other person - even when looking in the mirror Steve sees the other guy. I'm pretty sure he didn't consent to that and I'm quite sure he didn't consent to the (implied) sex. It's made even more poignantly problematic at the end when Steve is gone and the original person - who I think is Kristoffer Polaha, billed only as a nameless "Handsome Man" - meets Diana. He shows no interest in her. I can't even begin to construct a scenario in which he consents to what happened, which makes it extra-gross to think about. Wonder Woman should not be committing this kind of assault.
For that matter, there don't seem to be consequences for anyone. Maxwell Lord gets to wander off with his kid. Barbara Minerva just... something something off the island somehow? I don't know and i can't even.
(*) WB has said there will be a WW3 but Jenkins isn't signed because she's doing the Rogue Squadron Star Wars film. I'm afraid this film is going to be considered a bomb and Jenkins won't be brought back.
I credit Jenkins for trying to tread a new path. Right now our superhero movies are deeply divided between the wisecracking lightheartedness of the MCU, and the Deep Serious OMG DAAAARK of the Batman/Superman/Snyderverse. Wonder Woman is neither of these and I think Jenkins is trying to give us a flawed hero. Diana is a hero we can all admire, who inspires the best in us, but at the same time has her own deficiencies and struggles. Both the Marvel and DC television series have done a much better job of exploring heroes with flaws and nuance than the movies.
Beyond that, though, I lay the blame for this movie's failure on Jenkins. She's trying to be writer and director and producer and maybe that's too much for one human. I'd like to see a third movie with a new writer to love this character the way I think she should be loved. (*)
So rather than a celebration of a beloved character, we get a movie that is trying to be a morality play and is so heavy-handed it entirely loses track of sense. A lot of it is unnecessary and there's at least one creepy bit I need to tuck into the spoilers...
I will die mad about Jenkins heteronormalizing this character. I can grant that there could be one male person Diana would fall for and all other male persons would fail to measure up. But she's had other relationships (in the comic canon) and that includes Barbara (yes, this Barbara). I think there was a great opportunity to set that up for future pay-off and Jenkins fled. I really feel like she has "OH NOES TEH GAYS!" disease after reading some of her public commentary.
The degree to which Diana is pining for Steve is part of this - I can read it generously but it still sticks out like an awkward sore thumb. And the "I'll never love again" line was just super unnecessary and unrealistic. Even if he hadn't died in WWI he'd be dead of old age or at least quite elderly by 1984 and she'd still be unchanged. Mortal loving immortal and vice versa is never easy - see a million fairy tales and Tolkien and on and on.
That's actually the most sensible of an entirely insensible script. Almost nothing that anyone does makes sense and there are just no consequences or fall-out of any of it.
Speaking of consequences... the way they bring Steve Trevor back is by having him... inhabit? the body of another man. Everyone but Diana sees the other person - even when looking in the mirror Steve sees the other guy. I'm pretty sure he didn't consent to that and I'm quite sure he didn't consent to the (implied) sex. It's made even more poignantly problematic at the end when Steve is gone and the original person - who I think is Kristoffer Polaha, billed only as a nameless "Handsome Man" - meets Diana. He shows no interest in her. I can't even begin to construct a scenario in which he consents to what happened, which makes it extra-gross to think about. Wonder Woman should not be committing this kind of assault.
For that matter, there don't seem to be consequences for anyone. Maxwell Lord gets to wander off with his kid. Barbara Minerva just... something something off the island somehow? I don't know and i can't even.
(*) WB has said there will be a WW3 but Jenkins isn't signed because she's doing the Rogue Squadron Star Wars film. I'm afraid this film is going to be considered a bomb and Jenkins won't be brought back.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-28 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-28 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-28 07:07 pm (UTC)I'm still mad that Steve didn't use his wish on "I wish for the stone to be destroyed". That would have saved everyone a lot of time and trouble.
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Date: 2020-12-28 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 04:16 pm (UTC)So, should we see it, or is it so bad we should skip it?
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Date: 2020-12-29 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-29 07:04 pm (UTC)Maybe we'll just go watch the first one again. :-)
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Date: 2021-01-09 05:07 pm (UTC)EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. WTF. From what I'm reading there were so many weird, easily avoidable choices in this thing.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-09 06:57 pm (UTC)