Wonder Woman!!!!!

[Ghilz]

Seen it a few minutes ago. Loved it. Feel like the main stumbling point is the villain. I liked the idea that Ares wasn't really doing much beyond upping the destruction of the war, but I disliked the final confrontation. For one David Thewlis is grossly miscast. He works fine when Ares is pretending to be a stuffy British Politician, but him in armor as Ares was laughable. The giant f***ucking prosthesis nose they gave him is distracting and even the stupid helmet can't hide it. But also after the reveal, it feels like Ares has no motivation. "You will join me or you will die". Why? You can just teleport out of there and do whatever you want and she can't really stop you. Why do you care if she joins you? Like after the Reveal it feels like Wonder Woman and Ares get pushed in a side plot while Steve takes care of the real plot. I almost wish they'd have gone in a different direction, with like Ares having given up entirely on his warmongering or something. I dunno.
Rest is stellar. Loved the cast, loved the supporting characters, loved the cinematography, loved the fight scenes.

[MissKittyFantastico]

I had the same reaction on casting the first time round - the second I kind of warmed up to him as Ares (it went from 'laughable' to 'well, it's certainly different...') so maybe it'll mellow further with more viewings. I definitely think he could've lost the moustache when he armoured up though, making it just part of his Sir Patrick disguise rather than a permanent feature of god-him.

[Fixer]

Apparently he looked like a geography teacher right after being cast out of Olympus by Zeus.

I think it would have better to have a more comic book style, where when he went god mode you just had eyes in a sea of black behind the greek helmet.

[ScreamingDoom]

Thought: perhaps the defeat of Ares should've been with something like one of the Christmas Truces. Yeah, by the time of the movie they'd basically stopped, but you're already taking serious liberties with history, so why not?

Ares is the god of War. Fighting should empower him. The final battle should not be Diana in a superpower battle with him, but with her managing to convince the two sides to stand down for a day.

"You can't win, Diana of Themyscira. They belong to me. The more they fight, the stronger I get!"

*The sounds of battle fade and stop as the cease-fire happens*

"I think that proves that they are not yours, Ares. They're better than you give them credit for."

"It won't last."

"Perhaps not. But for now, their weapons are silent. Without battle, without the World of Men killing each over, what are you? What power do you have?"

"... This isn't over, Amazon. I will return and glory in the ruination and bloodlust in all humanity."

"And I will be waiting for you."

[Fixer]

Alternatively, have Ares not actually do anything to shape the war. Not even whispering in people's ears.

It would have been more interesting to have seen him making all these genuine possibilities for peace simply to show that mankind would always choose war and destruction of their own free will.

Or, even not having Ares present at all and having Diana coming to terms with they grey nature of humanity.

[Ghilz]

Alternatively, have Ares not actually do anything to shape the war. Not even whispering in people's ears.

It would have been more interesting to have seen him making all these genuine possibilities for peace simply to show that mankind would always choose war and destruction of their own free will.

Or, even not having Ares present at all and having Diana coming to terms with they grey nature of humanity.

When he showed up and mentioned he didn't do anything, I was REALLY hoping it was the direction they were going for.

[FakeGeekGirl]

Apparently he looked like a geography teacher right after being cast out of Olympus by Zeus.

I think it would have better to have a more comic book style, where when he went god mode you just had eyes in a sea of black behind the greek helmet.

I am pretty sure David Thewlis has it in his contract that he doesn't shave his mustache. God only knows why since he looks far better without it (or at least did when he was younger). That could have been salvaged by having Ares have a goatee though - you could have done that much with fake facial hair.

[MissKittyFantastico]

I think it would have better to have a more comic book style, where when he went god mode you just had eyes in a sea of black behind the greek helmet.

First time round I was waiting for that to happen the whole time, since that's how the Lego set depicts him (with a skull helmet, and he's 20 feet tall) - every time he got hidden from view by a fireball or something, I was expecting him to burst back out giant and evil-faced. It was actually really distracting, I think maybe that's why I liked him better second time around.

I am pretty sure David Thewlis has it in his contract that he doesn't shave his mustache.

Now I'm imagining that moment where he carves out the front of the helmet with his fingers as just what David Thewlis did when they handed him a face-concealing helmet to hide it. "Nice try... but the tash will not be denied." After that they were just too terrified to argue.

[FakeGeekGirl]

I am pretty sure David Thewlis has it in his contract that he doesn't shave his mustache.

Now I'm imagining that moment where he carves out the front of the helmet with his fingers as just what David Thewlis did when they handed him a face-concealing helmet to hide it. "Nice try... but the tash will not be denied." After that they were just too terrified to argue.

Thank you for sharing, I can't stop laughing at that mental image. He did work with Marlon Brando one time and that would be a fairly mild diva tantrum from Brando so maybe that was his influence.

I think the reason they didn't go with the thing where you can only see his eyes is the same reason superheroes and supervillains lose their masks all the time - because they wanted the audience to be able to see Thewlis' facial expressions. I've seen them sometimes design Ares with a visible face but it's all black and ... well ... I think we all know why they didn't go with that particular character design.

[Draco Dracul]

This is yet another fantastic Superhero film in a year full of them. If WB learns the right lessons from Wonder Woman, the DCEU may yet have a bright future.