Great movie with good casting but bad plot (SPOILER ALERT)

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2017)

As much as I liked the movie, I did think that the movie lacked substance in the story/plot and in character development. When we first see Diana as a child, we learn that she wants to learn how to fight and loves to fight. We don't see this in the context of a moral crusade or a belief of helping other's in the movie which leads me to ask the question, does Wonder Woman love the people she is fighting to save or does she innately love fighting? Adding some context in those childhood scenes of seeing her use fighting as a last resort to help another person I think would have been more powerful/effective in her character development.
Second, I thought the movie tried to evoke emotions that it had not devoted time investing in. For example, when the village at the end is bombed with the gas and everyone dies in it, we know no one in the village so we, as an audience, are tempted not to care. Adding a scene where we see the humanity and life of the village (a few montage shots to allow us to empathize and care about the villagers) or the introduction of a few villagers whom we feel we know intimately changes the story from a bombed village to the loss of good people. I did love the investment and development of the two main characters, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. The buildup of the relationship between Steve and Wonder Woman makes that last scene so wrenching because we actually care about Steve and see his good heart and selflessness. We don't get that kind of emotional investment in the villagers so it isn't a sacrifice that evokes the same amount of emotion.
Lastly, I think DC needs to make better villains because I was able to figure out who Ares was early on in the movie. I like the added dimensionality that Ares brings but I felt that his character portrayal, introduction, and impact on the store could have been much improved. I personally felt as though leading us to believe the German commander was Ares was a bit cheesy and needed some modification too.
I think casting for this movie was fantastic and my biggest qualms with DC movies isn't the casting but rather the sub par story-telling and plot. I'm starting to see a trend with DC movies and in my opinion, the biggest weaknesses are the villains (lack of depth), great casting with bad plots/stories, and lack of emotional investment (i.e. the people Amanda Waller kills in Suicide Squad or the villagers in Wonder Woman).