- Ares. I found the last act with Ares to be not as interesting as the rest of the movie. Ares in particular is not a good villain. He is practically invisible, and that makes it difficult to build him up to be the big bad of the movie. His presence is always lurking about in terms of Wonder Woman's dialog, but mostly I felt he was bussed into the movie's last act to end the movie.
The end boss fights were indeed a mess. I think allowing the real Ares to survive could fix it - maybe. I think the realization after she kills the general is an important part of her arc, but after that I'm not sure how to have an exciting and satisfactory ending. I think it's important that Diana not realize that she didn't complete her mission but the audience gets a relatively subtle reveal.
But I don't make movies for a living and I'm just spit-balling here.
- Wonder Woman's strength. So just exactly how strong is Wonder Woman anyway? We know how strong Superman is. He's all but bullet proof. Is Wonder Woman? She deflects bullets with bracers and her shield. Can she take a bullet? We see her wielding power that could rival Superman, but on the other hand we often see her fighting more like Batman. When she holds off the machine guns with her shield, she looks like she is struggling with something Superman wouldn't. But she picks up a tank like it was an inflatable duck. The one thing that I don't think the DC movieverse has figured out yet is just exactly where Wonder Woman is in terms of power. And this was the one inconsistent thing in the movie that bothered me a little.
I saw it as more of a progression, fulfilling Antiope's insistence that Diana is much stronger than she believes. Kind of like the whole faith the size of a mustard seed moving mountains. It's very, what is word, wishy-washy. The more right, faithful to her cause, or something, the better able she becomes to realizing her full potential. It's softly demonstrated during her final training sequence; she's looking around, to her mother and other Amazons to gage their reaction to how well she is/is not doing. And when she later takes ti the No Man's Land, she gains more confidence and begins her journey of inner confidence and outward strengths.
Or something. I'm on meds so my clarity may be wonky.
Though, even then, her strength grew or shrank as the plot needed it to. I think they tried to show she is bullet resistant after the attack on the island, as a graze on her arm healed surprisingly quick. But that could have also been Amazonian medicine also.