A Clichéd and Unfocused Mess

Rating: 4/10 (24 September 2017)

I don't understand how and why this movie is getting good reviews when there are a lot of things in this that are just awful.
Gal Gadot is a very bad actress, she looks the part, but sadly cannot act the part. And much like Man of Steel this is a movie that has very little tension with our main character because they are completely invincible and have no weaknesses. If you're going to remove weakness of a character then the movie is just going to fail. All main characters have to have a weakness to overcome, or at least some sort of purposeful character flaw to make them interesting. So whenever I see Wonder Woman fighting in battle and barely taking any damage or even scratches then there's n tension and then there's no investment. People say that this movie is colorful; I don't see it. All I see is a bunch of black, blue's and grey's. Wonder Woman's costume looks great but that's only because it has any sort of pop to it to make it stand out. Some would see that as a positive, but it unfortunately makes her surroundings all the more unappealing. I don't know who does the visual effects for these movies, but they're awful. There's nothing dynamic about each shot, nothing stands out, nothing is visually appealing, nothing is anything! I didn't even think the movie was that funny. These are jokes that have been done a million times and are not done in anyway to make them feel fresh and new. All of the other characters are completely forgettable with the exception of Chris Pine - he was OK. Wonder Woman herself is surrounded by clichés. If the movie is supposed to be pro feminism, I expect to not see any of the typical clichés associated with most movies about women. I saw a lot of them: the prejudice daughter going against her overbearing mother, the changing of the clothes scene, the fact that in the end Wonder Woman has a love interest instead of just being friends and/or partners, etc. And that ending...just ugh. OK so the movie is about how Wonder Woman wants to find Ares so she can kill him and end WWI. At the very end, it seems that Ares isn't real and that the war is still going. Chris Pine even has a speech saying that there is no one-person to blame, but rather multiple people. That would've been very smart, and even have some commentary on todays events. But what happens then? Ares turns out is real and we spend the last 10 to 15 minutes with Wonder Woman fighting Ares. In the end Ares is dead and the war is over, showing that there is only one person to blame in war; which is not only preachy but also offensive considering that they're saying that Ares was responsible for WWI.
I know that Marvel likes to do clichés as well, but they either do it in a way to make it feel new and original, or they only use the best little but big clichés: like walking away from explosions, things blowing in the wind, etc. But this movie doesn't do any of that. And that ending completely ruins the film. For the most part, the film was rather solid, but by the time we get to that ending everything falls apart. I will compliment that this movie has a more consistent tone and a focused narrative, but that's not to say that what it has is any good.
This movie wan't as annoying or unfocused or offensive as the previous DC movies - in fact I can say that this is the least awful of them so far - but at best it is simply OK, and at worst is very stupid and nonsensical. There were some things that I liked, but as a whole, In the words of Roger Ebert, "Thumbs down."