Average Movie That is Not Close to the Hype

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2017)

To be truly honest, the reason why this movie is loved so much is because of the women's rights undertone people are weaving in. It seems that it is simply culturally and politically "correct" to be in love with this movie in the context of the current feminist movement embraced by major entertainment and news outlets. But let's look at the movie by its merits.
Wonder Woman is a perfectly average and entertaining superhero movie. The movie does have "aha!" moments that make us feel as though we have made moral strides toward better treatment of women, and it does focus on that issue rightly through this character. But here are the parts the movie falls short:
The movie, I think, has foregone that philosophical dialogue "Man of Steele" and "Batman vs. Superman" have undertaken under Zack Snyder. Many have seen the philosophical aspects of the previous two DC movies as its weakness. I think the studio took a wrong turn; they should have doubled-down on it and make the message clear.
The choice of setting as WW1 instead of WW2 is not coincidental, I think. The main antagonist is Ares, a god who manipulates people. WW1 is as gray as a war gets in modern history: there is no clear good and evil like, say, WW2 and the Korean War. The script could have explored the exploits of British imperialism along wit the cruelty of the Germans. But the movie went full WW2 and vilified the Germans only. In turn, the purpose of Ares is next to useless.
Speaking of Ares, the last fight scene was too cartooney in comparison to the rest of the movie. The previous fight scenes were of gritty fields of no-man's land. But the last scene was of a British gentleman cosplaying with a horned set of armor.
Another part is the complete lack of character development except Wonder Woman. The movie's protagonists are diverse, but getting diversity points is all they are good for. Sure, they have a few wisecracking lines here and there, but any character or actors could have delivered that.
The real highlight is Gal Gadot's portrayal of Wonder Woman. Many, including myself, loved her as Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman. She may be enough to dazzle the viewers into loving the movie. But, sadly, that is the only thing that's outstanding about the movie. Under stricter scrutiny, Wonder Woman is not great. It's good and entertaining, to be sure. But it's not one for the history books.