Wonder Woman is a step in a direction

And for the most part, that direction is the right one.

I'll create this review in two parts: the first is a shorter spoiler-free quick review, the second a longer more spoiler-discussed review.

QUICK REVIEW
Wonder Woman is a perfectly serviceable action superhero movie. It doesn't really break any new ground, but doesn't make any egregious errors. It does some things well and some things not so well. It's fine. I couldn't help but think it reminded me of an improved version of bad/mediocre 90s action movies (e.g. The Phantom, The Stranger, Spawn).

To put it quickly, Wonder Woman is a relatively fun movie with an uneven tone, hit-or-miss jokes and great action sequences. Considering it's 2+ hour length, it wasn't a chore to sit through. Reasonably Recommended


SPOILER WARNING

And here comes the LONGER REVIEW.

Let's get to some of the highlights of the movie first.

The Good
1. Chris Pine - From an acting and character perspective, he's the best part of the movie. Steve Trevor has a solid characterization and arc. It's great to see his consistency of character vs going on an emotional journey, for the most part. I would love to see more of him, but he went out with a bang.

2. The Action Sequences - Wonder Woman kicks ass! Going by the quality of the action sequences, the film peaks in the middle, when Diana does her fantastically shot Wonder Woman reveal. The fight on the battlefield and through into the city is some of the best action I've seen on screen in a long time. Even the end's fight isn't too shabby, with relatively clear action and some good character moments.

3. The Look - Other than some occasionally bad CG/green screen (sadly during the fight sequences), the colors and cinematography are generally nice.


The Mixed
1. Wonder Woman/Gal Gadot - Gadot is best when she's fighting, but it seems fairly clear she's not the greatest actress/actor in the film. Her "born sexy yesterday Diana" has a great innocence, but also a naive stupidity, which is really hard to determine whether it's a testament to Gadot's skill or reflection or her lack thereof. Either way, it's a partially odd characterization of Diana.

2. Ares and the Villains - They were alright, but largely forgettable/throwaway. The way they handled Ares seemed fairly standard for the twist reveal approach, but might have been better had they just revealed Ares as the big bad in the beginning to give him more character moments. That said, David Thewlis did a reasonable job with what he had.

3. The Ending - Considering the film was a fairly standard action superhero movie, the big action ending wasn't terrible, but it would have been nice if the theme of love were better incorporated vs "smash the bad guy."

4. The Supporting Cast - While Robin Wright was great, Connie Nielson was good and Lucy Davis was fun, the three men on the squad left much to be desired, particularly Ewen Bremner as Charlie. It was just too cartoony/cliched.

5. Diana and Steve's relationship - I enjoyed watching them form their bond, but not sure it was really earned. The only reason it sorta worked is because the film set them up from the beginning to be a couple, plus comic's history. Within the movie, they don't really do a whole lot together to earn the relationship.


The Indifferent
1. The framing of the movie, with WW reflecting on her past, was an interesting choice. I'm not entirely sure how necessary it was or how it fits into the DCEU on the whole (other than the Bruce Wayne connection), but it didn't hurt the movie.


The Could Have Been Better
1. The Tone / Middle of the Movie - The stuff on Themyscira and during the end have a fairly consistent tone, though the beginning does have some light-hearted moments. However, the middle is the weakest, and longest, part of the movie. The tone is incredibly mixed, trying to balance the tragedy and hardships of war with cartoonish comedy, caused primarily by the supporting cast, as mentioned above.

2. The Music - While it was great hearing WW's theme during the excellent middle fight, the build-up towards her theme could have been better. I wanted her theme to debut as she debuted, which, technically she did, but doing so in the middle of the movie was an interesting choice, particularly since it doesn't memorably come up again afterwards. Granted, it's use in the scene was most excellent.


The Questionable
1. Why was Diana ever a kid? If she's sculpted from clay, shouldn't she just be an adult? I'd rather see a young and inexperienced Gadot on the island learning everything vs a child.

2. How sheltered are the Amazons, exactly? It's a pretty bad reflection of their society that Diana's so naive. Granted, this is fairly typical to DC mythology... Also, what exactly is their power level, considering they seem largely immortal (presumably like elves)?

3. What are the power skills in this movie?? Diana has telekinesis now? Ares has lightning? What was really the point of Dr. Poison's gas pill to Ludendorff - just for an alright fight sequence? Why not distribute to an entire army?


The Wrap-Up
Despite the longer version being more critical, per se, I did enjoy the movie. It's easier to mentally sit back and appreciate it for the casual, middle-of-the-road superhero film it is vs try and hold it to a higher standard, considering how much pressure was on it (and where it was coming from).

Oblivion review - Shoots for the Stars, but Falls Short

Oblivion (2013)

One liner review: Not bad, but far from great sci-fi action romance.

With beautiful cinematography, amazing production design and a solid soundtrack, there's a lot to like in Oblivion. Director Joseph Kosinski did the rare feat of creating a sophomore outing that's better than his first (the visually striking, but incredibly boring and flawed Tron: Legacy); Oblivion is significantly more refined and better paced than Tron: Legacy, but it also has a lot of the same flaws for story and character.

Kosinski falls into the same boat of directors, that includes Ridley Scott and Zack Snyder, who go for style over substance (the degree of both is up for debate). It's particularly annoying because they often set up their films to seem like they'll have lots of substance, but just fall flat (looking at you, Scott).

Kosinski's biggest flaw is that he's not an actor's director, or at least not a character's director. Based on his two outings thus far, he doesn't seem to understand or care about good character arcs and how to have a really emotional audience connection. He lacks the storytelling prowess to put a character through certain beats of a plot to earn the proper emotional reaction, which is unfortunate because he actually knows how to create a nicely emotional scene (melding music and visuals). To put it another way, he tells the audience how they should feel, rather than showing them through the rest of the movie; there's no proper tension or buildup leading to release, resulting in some flat reveals.

On that note, Oblivion loftily tries to make an interesting futuristic sci-fi action-romance story, but because it tries for both with an underdeveloped script, it fails to achieve success on either front. It's not a particularly convoluted movie, but it does present a good number of plot holes. Once Kosinski learns how to create and work with a great script, he'll easily be on my list of must-watch directors, but I wouldn't give him another $100+ million for a movie to gain that experience.

Bottom line:
RECOMMENDED for those looking for something passively enjoyable with interesting ideas, good action, great production design and a melodic soundtrack (the credits track is almost worth the price of admission).

NOT RECOMMENDED for those expecting a more active experience that's intelligently scripted on either the story or character fronts.