Last September, Pajiba published a fascinating open letter to Warner Bros’ CEO Kevin Tsujihara, written by a former Warner Bros employee – go here to read. The letter went viral, mostly because the ex-employee said a lot of the stuff that the fans had been saying for a long time: stop screwing up beloved franchises, stop pouring good money after bad, stop with the endless reshoots to “fix” problematic films that should have been corrected at the script level and much, much more. The letter was also widely discussed because the ex-employee still had connections and friends at WB, and those sources said that WB’s Wonder Woman is actually a huge mess.
Personally, I could take or leave most superhero films. I find that Marvel films have dissolved into their insular smugness. The current incarnation of the Batman/Superman franchises have left me cold too. But I was looking forward to Wonder Woman, mostly based on two excellent-looking trailers. I hoped that WB had at least gotten Wonder Woman right, so that WW wouldn’t be held up as an example of “why a stand-alone superheroine film doesn’t work.” But guess what? There are even more rumors that Wonder Woman is a mess. Sasha Perl-Raver, host of Schmoes Know, told the audience:
“So, I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus. We have somebody within our community who has gotten insider information that broke my effing heart this week, because I have tremendous belief that Wonder Woman is gonna be awesome and I heard it stinks from the same person who told me that they heard that BvS stinks…The person who I spoke to…their response was ‘I’m very disappointed in what I saw, and it seems like all the problems are the same problems. It’s discombobulated, it doesn’t have narrative flow. It’s just very disjointed.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if the story doesn’t make much sense, because plot holes and superhero films go together like peanut butter M&Ms and shame. The optimistic side says that the film can be disjointed and still be good or enjoyable. The pessimistic/realistic side of me says that the rumors are probably true and that the film is a shambolic mess. Of course, there’s also hidden option #3: the film is neither a total mess nor totally amazing, but Warner Bros is playing a PR game with expectations, trying to dial it down a notch so that when the film doesn’t suck nards, people will be like, “Yay, go see this!”
Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.
I’m still going. I’ve got a major crush on Gal
I really like her too. But sadly, from what I’ve seen of her, she’s a very weak actress. Sometimes even badly written movies can be elevated if the performances are strong eough, but this time I don’t see that happening.
This is why I think Marvel knew what they were doing when they picked up Brie Larson for Captain Marvel – the same thing Lucasfilm did when they cast Felicity Jones to lead Rogue One, they know a good actor can cover for a lot in an average script.
That’s the modus operandi of the X-men movies. Hire great actors to elevate the weak scripts. I still will give that movie a try, a friend of mine was an extra in it and I have to see her 😀
@teacakes
On the flip side, though, Suicide Squad had fantastic actors — Viola Davis is pretty much the best there is, Will Smith used to be the biggest star in the world, Jared Leto has won an Oscar, Margot Robbie is a delight, and all the rest of them are very good too — but they couldn’t hide *enough* of the bad in the script to make it work.
I’m going and I’m going more than once.
I’ll never stop rooting for this film because 1) I love Wonder Woman, 2) it’s high-time the most iconic superheroine of all time got the blockbuster treatment (Ant-Man before WW? Seriously?!), and 3) I want a female-led superhero film to succeed. So I’ll be seeing this opening night, craptaastic reviews be damned.
ditto!
Agreed!
Definitely!
Me too (well, me and my two girls)! It’s going to be girl night at the movies for us.
People also said that The Batman is a mess and it hasn’t even gone into production.
I’m perfectly willing to believe it’s a mess but not because of anonymous sources and open letters from supposed employees that sound more like fan gripes.
Cause anyone thought it could be good?
I think most people who saw the trailers thought this film was going to be good.
Suicide Squad looked good from the trailers too.
People should be used to it now.
Good trailer, disappointing movie.
A trailer only has to be a few minutes long, it’s easy to be good for that period of time.
When BvS or Suicide Squad fail, no one blames the men. But if WW fails, it’s because the film was about a woman.
But sure Freeze Peach warriors, tell me more about how men are the true victims.
To be fair, most complaints I read about Suicide Squad weren’t shy about (rightfully) blaming Zack Snyder for that atrocity.
Suicide Squad was directed by David Ayer. Zack Snyder directed Man of Steel and BvS. He’s also directing the upcoming Justice League.
Though it doesn’t help with any potential female superhero movies, or even action films with a female lead.
I was a fan of the Tv show when I was a kid, so I was looking forward to a standalone film, it’s way overdue. I read recently that the 1st Superman film in ’79 was originally planned to be a WW film.
And ironically Margot Robbie and Gal Gadot were singled out by many as the bright spots. So women weren’t the problem there, they were the positive!
Except everyone blasted Snyder for the BvS mess and everyone said Harley Quinn as one of the few good things of Suicide Squad.
Your comment is pure feminist victimism.
I think I’ll just wait and see it for myself, thank you very much. Also, the word “discombobulated” is pretty awesome, right?
Suicide Squad was a mess. So the suggestion that this too would be a mess is not completely without merrit.
No, I don’t think it’s a PR move to downplay expectations. This kind of negative buzz early on depresses opening numbers and box office. They wouldn’t want to do anything that compromises their box office. Very few films have a surge in their second weekend. Even positive reviews don’t necessarily help. The opening weekend in the industry has become the all-important bellwether for how the film will do financially. So this is absolutely not a PR move. If it is, it’s incredibly stupid. I think the movie really probably is a mess, even though us nerds hoped Geoff Johns would be the one to turn the ship around. He’s going to be another scapegoat for the suits who are ultimately behind the mess at WB.
Exactly, look at the panic that set in the fandom/press when Rogue One went into reshoots, though that turned out all right because the filmmakers knew what they were doing.
I have no such confidence here.
I don’t care, I’m going to go see it. I’ve been waiting a long time for a WW movie, and I want to support a female led superhero movie.
Batman v Superman was a HUGE mess, what a terrible film- and it made nearly $900 million at the box office. If this makes money too, the studio won’t worry about reviews. But if it doesn’t, it will be used to shoot down other female superhero movies.
Exactly, Warner Brothers doesn’t care about making good movies or building a fandom for its movie universe in its own right, they just want the $$$$$ they will get for movies starring the world’s most famous superheroes, and why should they actually go to the effort of making said movies decent when fans will see the word ‘Batman’ and come in anyway?
You should be ashamed if you eat peanut butter m&ms. Snickers or peanut chews are the best.
“#3: the film is neither a total mess nor totally amazing, but Warner Bros is playing a PR game with expectations, trying to dial it down a notch so that when the film doesn’t suck nards, people will be like, “Yay, go see this!” ”
Didn’t that same tactic actually work with World W Z? WB are running the risk of having a bomb on their hands if too many stories like this keep coming out.
Spawn was a good comic book film that somewhat had a plot to it. Even something as campy as The Avengers and Blade 1&2 were fine. I do get that compare to when those films were released, the market is over saturated.
“[The movie is] discombobulated” — so, the movie is upset, confused, frustrated, disconcerted? Ok then.
It’s been proven that you can make good scripts for superhero movies, the problem with Warner and DC is that they don’t hire people who know what to do with those stories. Marvel did it and their superheroes aren’t as classic as the Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman trio, so it’s not impossible to make something good.
This! Marvel’s script could definitely use a bit more work, but their films are at least generally entertaining – and they’ve done a good job with casting so that the actors are strong enough to help lessen the script’s flaws.
Warner Bros. just needs to reboot at this point. They really messed up by giving Snyder so much power with Man of Steel and then doubling down on his bizarre version of the DC comicverse.
For all I’m annoyed its taken this long to see a female superhero on screen, I’m not going to see Wonder Woman just ’cause she’s a girl.
Hiring good screenwriters seems like such a small investment with such a huge impact. I don’t understand why they don’t do it
Zack Snyder is working on it, so you can count on it being awful. That man just absorbs talent. You can give him the right people, but he’ll still find a way to do everything wrong. He found a way to make Viola Davis look like a bad actress. He’s the worst.
and not a single lie was detected here!
It’s a DC movie. Everything Zak Snyder touches turns into a mess, why would this one be different?
Eh I’ll see for myself. It’s wonder woman I don’t care if it sucks or not I’m going to support her first feature film. You know this could be her last chance on the screen unlike other male superheros that gets millions reboots if this flops it’s going back to shelf smh.
Is is possible the WB saw that fans were asking for a film with a female superhero lead, and just threw one out there, just so they could do first what Marvel/Disney seem to be reluctant to do?
I’m supporting this movie regardless of the reviews. I want this movie to do well so there can be more female super hero movies.
I thought Zak Snyder’s Batman Vs Superman was awful. There was very little coherency or flow in the story! I just can’t get behind Gal Gadot who diviluged her position on the war in Palestine. Sorry guys. I wish her well with the movie.
Same, not to mention she’s pretty awful at acting.
I have yet to watch Jessica Jones, but everything I’ve read about it is glowing. Sometimes I wish WB had taken that route with WW. The trailer I saw for this didn’t look too bad, esp with Chris ( the Star Trek one- can’t keep my Chrises straight) as her side-kick.