"Magnificent as she is"

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2017)

I've been thinking a lot about this movie since I saw it. If you had told me a month ago that I would go to (never mind enjoy) a Wonder Woman movie, I would have written you off as bonkers. And yet that's what has happened. I enjoyed this movie, although there were some aspects of it that I didn't buy.
This movie is about female empowerment v. male violence (represented here by the Great War). Diana v. Ares. Much of the fun of the film was in seeing Diana experience the modern world (well, the world a century ago) and seeing whether her idealism would crack under the weight of reality.
I liked Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot. She was indeed "magnificent" (as Ludendorff needlessly points out to the viewers), a shining light. Diana is propelled into an extraordinary adventure, and yet handles everything that comes her way. It is an important mission that gives her society, her family and her life meaning. There was a lot to enjoy here, including her formation, her beliefs, her innocence and idealism, her determination, her shock at the modern world. Just awesome.
They did a great job in showing how WW could work as a superhero. I just had not bought into it before (shield? lasso? bracelets? -- c'mon). But they made it work. Some real cleverness there.
One major theme in this movie is female athleticism. It's not just women engaged in, um, ancient Greek martial arts though. (In this regard, it's similar to "The 100".) I really have no idea how they do it, but the result is spectacular. I suppose it's a combination of martial arts, gymnastics, choreography, CGI animation and cinematography. Once it is all combined for the viewer on the screen, the result is exciting and appealing.
These were powerful women, portrayed (as far as I know) in a way never shown on the screen before. It felt new and different, although I suppose it's what we see now in Crossfit competitions and shows like Steve Austin's Broken Skull Ranch. For anyone who hasn't seen these things, I'm sure the depiction in this movie was mind-blowing. Showing this aspect of the movie in a convincing way must have been a huge undertaking on the part of the filmmakers. I think this was successful.
Another important theme in the movie is the Great War. This is a war most of us don't hear about much anymore. We've all seen the historical footage and historical movies attempting to show it to us. I'm not sure the movie was accurate in depicting this war as genocidal and oriented at mass destruction. It wasn't, was it? This bothered me.
The portrayal of the war here was different than one I'm used to. This movie attempts to show it in a way that is relevant to its theme ("Ares must be destroyed") and interesting to modern internet-generation viewers (especially those demanding action). Whether this depiction of the Great War was successful I am less certain, but they get an "A" for effort.
I didn't like the Trevor character. I blame the writing and story here. His job was to be the foil to Diana, and most of it didn't work for me. It didn't help that I'm generally not into Chris Pine. I think Pine was given a very tough role here. There is a lot more I could say about this, but I will refrain.
I didn't buy Capt Trevor's little gang of misfits on the front. Sorry, but I just didn't feel they belonged on the front or in the movie. When they were on, I played on my phone.
Ares was "meh".
This is the thing: I feel that this movie had some tedious aspects and some awesome aspects. Yes, the two themes were dealt with in a camp way -- how else could you deal with it in a Wonder Woman movie? -- but I admired the effort. This movie is worth about 7.5.