The Final Straw for the DC Extended Universe

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2017)

The tools were finally there, the tools necessary to build the true "saving grace" of the mess that is the DCEU, the potential to deliver a Wonder Woman film worthy of the character's name, and to start mending the broken bones of the franchise. Alas, at least for this disappointed fan, the DCEU has completely lost my interest, and Wonder Woman (WW) was the final straw to do it.
Not since 2013's Man of Steel has the DCEU had a solo film, and with DC's plan to play catch-up to Marvel showing it's signs of over- doing it, WW was the perfect opportunity to slow things down and develop a character properly. While I'll say the movie succeeds in at least developing Wonder Woman as a character, and is a refreshing change of pace to the clustered storytelling the DCEU has come to be known for, overall, the script was too safe for its own good, bland and unoriginal, almost to an extreme. The less than admirable narrative delivers a decent first act, a sloppy and disjointed second act, and a third act that delivers some spectacle and heartfelt emotion, but nothing more that makes the film stand out. There are numerous plot holes, comic book inaccuracies and a litany of clichés from start to finish, and I don't have enough words available to describe all of them. The climax of the film was so generic, I honestly felt like I was watching an Iron Man 3/Star Wars rip-off, with the villain fake-out (which was as predictable as you could get), the "join the dark side" motive, to the using your anger and rage for personal gain. Not besides the beginnings of the film did the plot deliver much of any originality, and even that was a borderline disgrace to the Wonder Woman comics and Greek mythology as a whole. The writers of the film, which include Zack Snyder, and director Patty Jekins failed to give the world an original, inspiring and exciting Wonder Woman story, and that hits hard.
We are introduced to numerous new characters along the course of the run time, and while that usually is a positive, WW fails in almost every aspect of producing a meaningful, interesting supporting cast. Wonder Woman herself was written decently; her motives mean well and her power, while still developing, is strong and intriguing. While it sure would have been nice to see a full-power WW more often, the path to discovering her powers is an exciting piece of the film. The issues I faced with the character was only that too often she was ordered around in the world of men. Wonder Woman knows her mission, but it takes her too long to break free of everyone else and just do what she does best, which isn't trying on clothes to fit in, or being reluctant to help others in need it's simply finding and killing Ares, and this is a heavy flaw in the characters writing.
Steve Trevor, the love interest, and arguably his friend Sam, are the only other acceptable characters in the film, which gives WW some sense of connecting to its characters, something the DCEU has little to none of. Aside from them, however, every other character is utterly useless. The rest of Trevor's crew, his secretary, the Amazons on Themyscira and more were a total misfire. The movie puts a handful of scenes in to try and make you care about these characters, but you never once do, especially General Antiope, who has the cheesiest death possible. The first set of villains, Ludendorff and Dr. Poison, are so poorly written and developed it's laughable, some of the worst antagonists in superhero film history. They create plot holes (like what in the hell was Ludendorff snorting and how did it give him magic power?), pose zero threat and overall, waste time that could have been better spent on the real villain, Ares. If the film had spent all of it's time developing Ares from the start, the movie could have turned out very differently, for the better. Ares is the god of war, yet he is under-powered, underdeveloped and criminally underused as the main villain. Even his cool looks, monologues and action sequence can't save him from being one of the weaker villains in recent comic book film history.
The action and choreography, while a brief step up from past DCEU films, is bogged down so heavily by slow motion and more action scene clichés that it's hard to consistently enjoy. The opening battle scene (while totally inaccurate, Amazons could never be harmed by any form of bullet) was fun to watch and as WW grew stronger she became more exciting to watch fight, which especially held true in the final act. But I can't in good faith say the action, regardless of pretty visuals, was groundbreaking or jaw dropping in any way. It was, in a term, so-so.
The cast is mediocre, and that largely has to do the abysmal character writing and poor script. Gal Gadot does her job at portraying the Amazon Princess, she looks the part, delivers her lines in a convincing enough fashion, and sets a solid tone for female superhero lead films. Chris Pine also is OK as Steve Trevor, doing his best with what he had to work with, but literally every other actor failed to stand out, which I believe, again, was solely based on the horrible writing.
I'll be the first to say how atrocious BvS and Suicide Squad were, but even still, I held my expectations high that maybe, just maybe DC could regain its touch they found with Man of Steel and reignite my interest through Wonder Woman. However, with the most disappointed heart I can say, Wonder Woman is another swing and a miss for the DCEU and now with 3 strikes in a row, for me personally, DC is out.
5/10