I must be dumb because I never saw what was so bad about the last act of WW. Except for the somewaht wonky CGI, I loved the entire film, third act and all (and I honestly feel that criticism of it was one of those backlash-fueled "facts" that became such because fanboys love repeating all they read on the net)
The third act just couldn't sustain the momentum from the first two acts. They at least could have done a better job on the special effects because for a movie on the most iconic female superhero there is and that is what we got?
Then, Patty gave us powers that she has yet to use in other movies, let alone the sequel in WW84. Her apparent levitation before she threw back the lightning attack from Ares. Made us all think that maybe she can fly if she is levitating, or would that be falling with style since we didn't see her fly until Steve mansplained to her how to do it in WW84 (makes WW seem pretty dumb in the corresponding 60+ years that she didn't think of this herself when she did the superleaps). Also, what was that ability she had when all those projectiles that Ares had coming at her just disintegrated as if hitting an impenetrable wall? Why hasn't she used it since? For that matter, when did she know that lightning has no apparent effect on her or that she could throw these attacks back at the attacker. And Ares is dead because of that? A little too convenient for a god like Ares to die like that.
Good first movie but I didn't need fanboys telling me that the 3rd act was lacking. Still, the best of the DCEU movies.
Last edited by BiteTheBullet; 08-31-2022 at 03:57 AM.
That's your opinion; more power to you.
For one thing it's just a visual and tonal mismatch from the rest of the movie. Up until that point the movie is quite grounded, but then all of a sudden you get a big cartoon slugfest complete with corny villain dialog. And it turns out the CGI is so wonky because the whole fight was a last-minute studio mandate and they didn't have enough time to work on the effects.
But more importantly I think it thematically cheapens the whole film. Through the entire movie Diana is insistent that Ares is behind the war, but both the viewer and the other characters know she's just struggling to accept that humanity is capable of so much evil. She's able to spread peace not by beating up the physical embodiment of war, but by making the people she meets along the way believe that the world can be better. And Patty's original ending accounted for that. There wasn't going to be a fight at all - it was just Diana meeting Ares in human form only for him to tell her he hadn't done anything the entire time. It leaves her to side with humanity even knowing how bad they can be, and that choice means so much less when it turns out Ares was pulling strings the whole time. I know they tried to get around that with him saying "I just planted ideas," but it's hard to see him as anything other than the Big Bad when he turns into a video game boss and you see all of the soldiers hugging it out after the battle.
All of this. Plus, I could just feel my level of engagement drop after the big Ares reveal. I think part of the reason the final showdown felt weak was that the villains in this movie really aren't all that interesting. On the surface level, that sounds like a big critique, but it's also just relative to how charming and enjoyable almost all of the heroes are.
I actually thought Dr. Poison was an amazing villain, easily my favorite version of her right down to the visual design (that mask!). I love that the embodiment of evil in man's world is a woman who's basically the opposite of an Amazon - physically and emotionally frail, cruel just for the sake of it, kills in the most dishonorable way possible. It's a shame she was mostly reduced to generic moustache-twirler Ludendorff's sidekick.
I was posting this in response to your "(and I honestly feel that criticism of it was one of those backlash-fueled "facts" that became such because fanboys love repeating all they read on the net)" which I felt was derogatory not only to me but to others who don't follow these 'fanboys' as you claim.
Much of what bardkeep said about the 3rd act rings true for me and that is another reason that the film doesn't quite sustain itself. But, like I said, it is the best of the DCEU movies.
Thing I found amusing about Ludendorff is the guy was an actual person too, and not exactly a minor historical figure either.
So bit funny to imagine how world history would probably play pretty differently even with Diana doing the whole secret hero thing.