Sunday, June 18, 2017
To the Wonder
We saw Wonder Woman this week. I enjoyed it, but have to admit that I'm a little perplexed by the critical rapture that's surrounded it. Aside from Wonder Woman herself, I found very few of the characters interesting or complex enough to actually care about. In particular, I thought her little band of sidekicks was literally one-dimensional; we basically knew one thing (He's Native American! He's got PTSD!) about each one of them. And they played Wonder Woman herself as so naïve that she sometimes came across as mentally ill, staring contemplatively at people or things for minutes on end. I mean, she understands dozens of languages but finds the concept of floor-length skirts overwhelming? Plus, like pretty much every movie I've ever seen, I'd cut at least a good fifteen minutes out of it. There were probably forty minutes of punching and kicking alone.
Anyway, I don't want to be too negative -- I did enjoy it, and thought Gal Gadot did a good job. It was attractive to look at and had some great action sequences. I just wouldn't exactly start lining up the Oscars yet. Unless they have one for Best Use of Weaponry as Fashion Accessory; that one's all locked up.