Wonder Woman

(This review may contain spoilers)

Expectations: I had been excited for this movie from the moment Diana Prince first showed up in Batman vs Superman. As I stated previously, Gal Gadot was a bright spot in that film and her performance there gave me hope that this movie would be a much better outing for the DC film franchise. I was not disappointed.

Action: I feel like the producers and directors have the feel of comic book action down pretty well at this point. Most of the movies excel in giving fans plenty of opportunity to watch their favorite superheroes be super.

But it can be a pitfall. How do you make fight scenes involving Superman interesting? How do you avoid boring the audience with easily overcome opponents? Most importantly, do your action scenes showcase who your character is?

Wonder Woman answers those questions beautifully.

Firstly, and amazingly for a show that is at least in part a war movie, there are not many quick cut, shaky-cam shots. I’m sure there were some (as the guys at Geek Gab pointed out in one of their shows, it is legally impossible to shoot a PG-13 action movie without them), but the sequences in the movie are allowed to flow in a much more natural fashion. Compared to Suicide Squad’s strobe light of shaky-cam, this movie is a time lapse IMAX feature.

Second, war is not glamorized. In this movie, war is literally the enemy. While not overly gruesome or bloody, the film highlights the fear, pain, and deadening of the human spirit that accompany the clash of armies.

Third, we get to see a great deal about the main characters themselves from the action sequences. We’re not told who these characters are, we’re shown, and they all act according to their own principles. I’ll get into this more under Screenplay, but here are some highlights:

• Antiope gets her moment to show why she’s the training instructor for an island full of Amazon warriors and in the same scene shows how threatening modern armaments are.
• Charlie freezes at a critical moment, showing us how wounded he is from previous brushes with warfare.
• Steve Trevor is always moving, always planning, always focused.
• Ludendorff honestly believes his way is the only way forward for his people and pursues it with near-manic intensity.
• Diana rushes into conflict, placing herself between the weak and those who would harm them. She refuses to accept that she cannot save them.

Lastly, the action is plentiful. Wonder Woman punches, kicks, throws, slashes, and bashes opponents. She leaps from cliffs and rooftops, flips over tanks, and deflects bullets with superhuman reflexes. She uses a mystical protective energy to protect herself and send foes flying.

Non-demigod combatants shoot, punch, and stab at one another. Arrows fly. Artillery shells are fired. Planes zoom through the clouds in a dogfight. Chemical weapons are shown being tested and bombs explode.

Music: Unlike most comic movies I have seen recently, I actually noticed the music in parts of this film. Whether soaring over beautiful establishing shots of Paradise Island or pounding through a stylized fight scene, the music offered an added layer of enjoyment for the movie. Not every scene or theme is mesmerising and I might not put the whole soundtrack on repeat, but this a definite step in the right direction.

Costumes/Visuals: Whoever thought to place this story during World War I is a genius. Thematically, it’s perfect as “The War to End All Wars” and the clothing, uniforms, and vehicles set the film apart from anything we’ve seen to date, even Captain America: The First Avenger’s WWII backdrop.

Gal Gadot’s costume was pitch perfect, though no explanation is given for the coloring in the film (it had significance in the comics).

I think Ares CG-effect armor is a let down, but the rest of the costuming is great.

I’ve talked a little bit already about the way the film was shot, but I can’t fault the cinematography in any way. From sweeping panoramic shots to tense close-ups in the trenches, the framing and angles only enhance the action.

Additionally, I really enjoyed the animation sequence describing the Amazon’s origins in true mythic fashion.

Original Material: As a teenage guy, I wasn’t beating down the door at the local comic shop to pick up the latest Wonder Woman comic, so I’m not exactly an expert. However, I have read and watched  a number of stories where she features prominently and this is the third version of Diana’s origins that I have seen.

Screenplay:

I have got to hand it to the writing team here. And I do mean team. There are four writer credits (five if you count the creator of Wonder Woman) listed for the film. Yet this film does not feel like there are that many cooks in the kitchen. I don’t know what kind of miracle it took to pull that off, but the results are hard to argue with.

It is very easy to turn a character with as much power as Wonder Woman into a caricature or a Mary Sue. This plot could have easily been used as a feminist manifesto. Either one of those outcomes would have alienated large segments of the fan base and undercut the production values evident in the film.

That didn’t happen.

Instead we get a title character that is fully orbed: fierce, strong, and brave while also tender, intelligent, and so innocent. She lights up with joy at seeing a baby for the first time and later charges out under Gatling gun fire into No Man’s Land to protect another.

The movie gave us, not a female Superman, but the female Captain America. Her strength and skill makes the impossible possible, but she cannot win every fight alone. In keeping her from being the instant win button, in making her so winsomely human, the writers actually elevate her into a symbol. Her selfless actions and noble character fairly drag the audience into wanting to be selfless and noble. Wonder Woman is the first hero in DC’s film enterprise to actually cause the audience to aspire.

Diana isn’t the only character who is a whole person in this film, though. Steve Trevor is often used simply a foil for Wonder Woman’s adventures. He’s basically the damsel in distress, there to let Diana rescue him. There was even a short in Batman: The Brave and The Bold making fun of this trope.

In this movie, Steve is a talented, brave, intelligent soldier and spy. More than that, he’s a good man. He holds his own as a character and a combatant. It is his tactical awareness that uses Diana’s god-like powers to best effect. It is his moral understanding and sacrificial action that leads her to see mankind both as broken and as something worth saving.

This brings up an important point.I wasn’t looking for much philosophy in a comic book movie, but Wonder Woman engages in some discussion of what Christian teaching would describe as man’s sin nature as it applies to our national conflicts and it does so through the innocence of the main character. This keeps the film from feeling overly preachy while tangling with serious life and death issues.

Lest you think my review too uncritical, I do have a few nitpicks with some elements that I think kept the film from being perfect.

First, there’s this line, which made it into the trailer: “Where I come from, that’s called slavery.”

This line makes no sense in context. It’s spoken to Steve Trevor’s secretary after she explains what secretary means. Diana, a woman trained in martial combat who’s lived her entire life in a monarchy, can’t differentiate between a chain of command and slavery? That’s insulting to everyone involved and smacks of propaganda. It was completely at odds with the handling of the characters elsewhere in the film.

Second, Charlie is never given another chance to take the shot he couldn’t take at the midpoint of the film. It’s a really minor gripe, but at the climactic showdown, I just knew he would take a sniper shot at the critical moment to distract the villain and give Wonder Woman an opening. It never happens, and while that’s a very real possible outcome I felt a little cheated.

Lastly, the villains. Dr. Maru has no backstory and no motivation. She’s just a Mad Scientist and thus is all about the “Could’a” not the “Should’a”. She starts out all mysterious with the facemask and the unmarred picture from her past, but she’s really just a plot device to make the superweapon work.

And Ares. There is a moment in the plot where Ares has won. He has utterly destroyed Diana’s belief in her ability to stop him. She’s reeling from the loss, primed to be turned or killed. And he immediately and deliberately gives her hope back. FOR. NO. REASON.

This is lazy writing. It’s a shortcut to set up the final fight scene, but that scene should have been earned with clues to Diana’s origin and purpose peppered throughout earlier parts of the film. Without it, the villain goes from ingenious to ignoramus in a heartbeat, destroying his credibility and undermining Diana’s heroic stature. This is clearly the biggest flaw in the plot and characterization.

Summary:
Taken all together this a great movie. Aside from the major misstep I just mentioned, the writing is sharp, the dialogue is good, the pacing is great, and the visuals are phenomenal. Wonder Woman is the first true hero to come from the DC film universe and gives me hope that they can put together more great films. Final verdict: 8/10