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Ares, Batman v Superman, Chris Pine, Cinema, Cinephile, Comics, DC, DC Movies, Diana, Director, Film, Gal Gadot, God of War, Movie Reviews, Movie Talk, Movies, Mythology, Patty Jenkins, Steve Trevor, Super Heroes, superheroes, The Film Slate Podcast, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman Movie Review, Wonder Woman Review, Zeus
Going into Wonder Woman I had very low expectations after being extremely disappointed with both Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad. The Justice League trailer looks promising and so did Wonder Woman, but I didn’t hold out much hope. Also superhero movie fatigue is starting to set in…or is it just big blockbuster movie fatigue? Wonder Woman had to be the movie that rejuvenated the DC universe.
So, does Wonder Woman crush the current disappointment with DC movies and the superhero fatigue? I’m happy to report that it does. So much so, that I wish they would push back Justice League a few years so they could take their time to flesh out their characters and world before they unite. Give them solo movies, because as of now Wonder Woman is the best out of the bunch.
Enough with the expectations. Lets dive into the review. I’m going to break down this review into several parts discussing story, characters, special effects/cinematography, and musical score, before I give my overall grade of the film.
Story: The story follows Diana, Princess of the Amazons. These Amazons live on a hidden protected Island called Themyscira. Long ago Zeus created female Amazon warriors and put them on Themyscira to protect earth from Ares, the god of war. Diana is different though, she was the only child raised and trained amongst them. One day a spy named Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine crashes on their island. He warns them that the world will soon be engulfed by war. Diana, played by Gal Gadot wants to return to the war with Steve to fight the man she believes to be behind the war…Ares.
The story is good and incorporates a lot of interesting Greek and comic mythology into the historical setting of WWI. Director Patty Jenkins does a great job at blending these two worlds with a diverse cast of characters you can root for. Many will compare this movie to the first Captain America movie and there are many similar plot elements, but I believe Patty Jenkins does a better job at showing the brutality of WWI while still keeping it PG-13.
The story does suffer from the formulaic superhero origin story, but I’m not sure how I would have improved upon this. It’s a difficult task, but Patty Jenkins directed the crap out of it and made an overall fun and well paced movie with a lot of heart. The writing is also fantastic with a lot of witty banter between Diana and Steve. The plot points might be formulaic, but it’s the characters and their journey that make this movie enjoyable.
Characters: Gal Gadot delivered a great performance playing the fish out of the water character that had some niavity and innocents, which gave her character depth. She believes one side is clearly good and the other is clearly bad. Over time she learns about the depravity of man on both sides of the war. As her mother told her growing up, “they don’t deserve you.” They don’t, but she still decides to fight for them despite their flaws. She finds hope and love with her growing bond with Steve Trevor. Not only did Gal give a great performance, but she also brought a tough physicality to the character, do to her training in the Israeli military.
Supporting her character is Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine. I love Pine’s Character. In some superhero movies the hero does everything while the love interest typically does nothing. Steve Trevor isn’t useless and Chris Pine is not wasted. He and Diana work as a great team and compliment each other well. He’s a lonely guy with no wife or kids. He’s trying to find his place in the world and in the war and Diana gives him the courage to do the right thing when things get tough. As for the team joining them on this mission: Sameer, Charlie, and the Chef brought heart and levity to the dark conflict around them.
Now without getting into too many spoilers I want to talk about some of the villains. Ludendorff, played by Danny Huston and Dr. Poison, played by Elena Anaya are what appear to be the main villains of this movie. Dr. Poison is helping Ludendorff create a deadly gas that renders gas masks useless. They are racing against time to finish it before the war ends.
Later Ares, the god of war shows up. He might not be a well developed villain, but I like how they revealed him to be the big puppet master. He can’t force people to do evil, but can plant a seed in them and tempt them to do evil. He plays all sides of the war deceiving everyone, much like the devil. He tries to convince Diana that humanity is evil and needs to be wiped out in order to have peace. Diana does learn that there is evil on both sides, but her love and compassion for Steve and her comrades despite their flaws drives her to fight fort what is right. The villains overall are the weakest aspect of the film. They are the cookie cutter villains of superhero movies. There isn’t much depth to them, but I’m not sure how you improve upon them without the movie being three hours long. It’s slightly forgivable because the movie isn’t about the villains, but the heroes and their journey.
Special Effects/Cinematography: The cinematography was beautiful and they did a great job at contrasting between the bright and colorful Island of the Amazons and the dark, cold, gritty war torn world. The action was well choreographed and was easy to follow. It wasn’t an over the top flashy disaster like the finale of Batman v. Superman. I do have two complaints though. One, there was too many slow motion shots. In some cases it works well, like when she crosses the trenches of “No Mans Land” or when she liberates the town. But before that and after that it’s overkill. Also some of the effect shots didn’t look very polished, especially towards the end of the film. I wasn’t a big fan of how Ares looked. he was overly CGI and he didn’t need to be.
Musical Score: Usually I don’t notice musical scores in the first viewing of a movie, so I gave the score a listen after I watched the film. It’s better than most superhero movie scores. As for Wonder Woman’s theme it sounds awesome in a modern setting, but it doesn’t translate well into a WWI period piece. It was already an established theme in Batman v. Superman so they had to go with it.
Conclusion: In conclusion Wonder Woman is a fun heartfelt movie with a great message on the depravity of man and heroism in dark times, but it suffers from the overdone superhero origin story mold. I’m happy that little girls such as my little sister have an awesome female hero movie on the big screen to root for and thankfully they don’t feel the need to put Batman into it to make it “cool”. Wonder Woman stands on her own and I look forward to seeing more from Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot.
Final Score: 8/10
For a more in-depth review of Wonder Woman and discussions on the latest in movie news check out my podcast The Film Slate Podcast.