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First Reactions to 'Wonder Woman' Are Out— What's the Verdict?

Wonder Woman is the first female-led superhero film in over a decade: what are our first reactions?

By Tom BaconPublished 6 years ago 2 min read
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It's almost time! [Credit: Warner Bros.]

The DC Extended Universe has had a bumpy road so far, so there's a lot of pressure resting on the shoulders of Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman. Not only is this the first female-led superhero film in over a decade, but critics — and many disappointed fans — are desperately hoping that this can somehow redeem DC's first faltering steps at building their own cinematic universe.

With so much riding on a single film, can Wonder Woman possibly live up to the hype? Understandably, Warner Bros. is trying to get a sense of how the film will be received by performing test screenings — one of which was held over the weekend...

Good News for DC Fans!

Now, it's worth noting that we haven't had many direct comments — most likely, the viewers were actually under Non-Disclosure Agreements. Still, they've evidently gone away buzzing and told their friends and family, which means the word's got out anyway.

Excitingly, the vast majority of comments have been pretty positive:

Of course, this all hearsay; more to the point, we have no way of knowing the background of the audiences. One tweet has hinted that superhero fans may be less impressed, as we've already seen impressive iterations of the character, including an animated movie.

Some Ominous Rumblings

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. [Credit: Warner Bros.]

Here's the catch, though; first reactions like this are usually positive, largely because there's often a lot of excitement at getting the chance to preview a blockbuster. That means responses from test screenings should be taken with a pretty hefty pinch of salt.

#DC will be more concerned about a handful of negative comments that suggest Wonder Woman could potentially be as divisive as the rest of the #DCEU to date.

By the sound of it, the new #WonderWoman film is going to leave many fans frustrated at DC yet again.
— Dan Butcher (@VanguardComic) February 20, 2017

Perhaps the most concerning criticism for fans is that Chris Pine, who plays love-interest Steve Trevor, seems at risk of outshining the lead, Gal Gadot.

If that's the case, then we can expect Wonder Woman to get a lot of criticism. This is a ground-breaking film, not least because it's the first female-led superhero movie since 2004's Catwoman and 2005's Elektra. The poor box office performance of those films has famously been used to justify not making female-led superhero movies, much to the anger of fans.

All in all, first reactions to Wonder Woman are positive, and DC fans can be reassured that this doesn't seem to be another Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. That said, it's worth noting that these are test screenings, and the studios usually make edits off the back of these. Given it was the editing process that caused real problems for Suicide Squad, we should be keeping a very watchful eye on how Warner Bros. respond to the feedback...

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About the Creator

Tom Bacon

A prolific writer and film fan, Tom has a deep love of the superhero genre.

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