Wonder Woman is a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the fourth installment in the DC Extended Universe. The film is directed by Patty Jenkins, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg and a story by Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs. Gal Gadot stars as the titular character with Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen and Elena Anaya in supporting roles. Wonder Woman is the first live action theatrical film starring the character, following her first live action theatrical appearance in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the film, after American pilot Steve Trevor crashes on the island of Themyscira and tells Diana Prince about World War I, Diana leaves her home to try to stop the war.
Cast:
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman; Emily Carey portrays the young Diana
Chris Pine as Steve Trevor
Robin Wright as General Antiope
Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorffrous
Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta
Elena Anaya as Doctor Isabel Maru / Doctor Poison
Lucy Davis as Etta Candy
Saïd Taghmaoui as Sameer
Ewen Bremner as Charlie
Eugene Brave Rock as Chief
In addition, Lisa Loven Kongsli portrays Menalippe, Antiope's lieutenant. Mayling Ng, Florence Kasumba, Madeleine Vall Beijner and boxer Ann Wolfe play additional Amazons, Orana, Senator Acantha, Egeria, and Artemis, respectively. Dutch model Doutzen Kroes portrays the Amazon Venelia. Samantha Jo, who played Car-Vex in Man of Steel, was cast as Euboea.
Plot: (FULL Spoilers)
In present day Paris, Diana Prince receives a World War I-era photograph at the Louvre and recalls her childhood. Raised on the island of Themyscira, the land of the Amazons, the child Diana dreams of becoming an Amazonian warrior but her mother Queen Hippolyta forbids it, telling her the story of how Ares the god of war corrupted mankind and killed all the other gods except Zeus. With the last of his strength, Zeus left the Amazons a weapon capable of destroying Ares if he ever returned. Diana nevertheless disobeys her mother and is secretly trained by her aunt Antiope.
As a young woman, Diana rescues pilot Steve Trevor after his plane crashes off the coast of Themyscira. The Amazons engage and kill the German soldiers in pursuit of him, but Antiope dies protecting Diana. Interrogated with the Lasso of Truth, Steve reveals that he is an Allied spy in World War I and has stolen information from a weapons facility in the Ottoman Empire run by German general Erich Ludendorff, whose scientist Doctor Maru is producing a new, deadlier form of mustard gas. Certain that Ares must be responsible for the "war to end all wars," Diana defies her mother's orders, and takes with her the sword, shield, Lasso of Truth, and costume that will turn her into Wonder Woman. She then leaves Themyscira with Steve in order to find and destroy Ares.
In London, Steve delivers Maru's notes to his superiors at the Imperial War Cabinet, including Sir Patrick Morgan, who is trying to negotiate an armistice with Germany. Steve believes Ludendorff will complete and use the gas regardless of an armistice, and Diana concludes Ludendorff is Ares himself and slaying him will end the war. With Sir Patrick's blessing, Steve and Diana travel to the front lines to stop Ludendorff, accompanied by Steve's team: spy Sameer, marksman Charlie, and smuggler Chief. Arriving at the Western Front in Belgium, the group's progress is halted by enemy trenches, until Diana pushes alone through the German lines, rallying the allied forces behind her to liberate a village from German control. Diana and the team celebrate the freedom of the villagers, and Diana grows close to Steve.
Learning that Ludendorff will attend a gala at a nearby castle, Steve infiltrates the party and is followed by Diana, who intends to kill Ludendorff. Steve stops her to avoid jeopardizing the mission to destroy the chemical stores, and shortly after Ludendorff uses the gas to bomb the nearby village. Diana is devastated that Steve interfered, blaming him for the loss of life. In rage, Diana pursues Ludendorff to a complex where the gas is being loaded into a bomber to attack London. Diana fights and slays Ludendorff, but is stunned when his death does not stop the war. Sir Patrick appears to her, revealing that he is the true Ares; he tells her though he has encouraged them to destroy themselves, humans themselves contain the dark impulse to make war.
As they fight, Ares attempts to convince Diana that humanity does not deserve to be saved, and reveals that she herself is the weapon of Zeus: his last child. As Ares overpowers Diana, Steve hijacks the bomber containing the gas and sacrifices himself to incinerate it at a safe distance. Inspired by Steve's selflessness and his final words, Diana dedicates herself to defending mankind and summons her power to finally destroy Ares and spare humanity. In London, the team solemnly celebrates the end of the war.
In the present day, Diana writes to Bruce Wayne thanking him for the photograph of her and Steve and reaffirms her mission to protect the people of earth as Wonder Woman.
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| At least now we know why that picture was so important to her in BvS... |
The Verdict:
Let's get this review over with... I have been putting this off for a reason, so I want to go ahead and put my thoughts out there on this film. Hell, I might surprise some people with my thoughts here.
Casting
Right off the bat, I thought it was pretty cool that they cast legit female athletes in the top of their game to serve as Amazons - even more so with the ethnic variety of women there instead of whitewashing Themyscira in most modern depictions of that legendary isle. I'm still not too fond of Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, but it's hard to hate that smile that seems to pierce through the darkness. Her accent creeps in a bit too much for my taste, but she warmed up to me by the end. If Warner Bros./DC Comics want to stick with her as Diana, I can live with it (she's only signed on for three films anyway FYI...). If I'm perfectly honest, I hate parts of this script more than anything Gal Gadot did here. I know that whether people want to admit it or not but this is Chris Pine's show too to an extent. When I heard that he was cast as Steve Trevor, I had a feeling that his natural charisma (especially from the Star Trek reboot trilogy) that he would be a distraction from Gal Gadot and make up for her shortcomings. They have wonderful onscreen chemistry together, even though there are times where he seems to be nagging Diana more than helping, but his character serves as the bridge that introduces the foreign customs of mankind to this Amazonian outsider. He's the one who shows Diana the best that mankind has to offer and why they are worth fighting for, plus this is yet another fine performance for him.
By the way... horrid casting for Ares if I may add - that imagery made the last battle ridiculous to watch to an extent. Ugh... I was fine with his voice, but seeing the guy behind the voice and the fact this non-threatening looking guy is the "final boss" of sorts for this movie made it feel like they didn't put any thought or effort into this at all, especially when the bulk of this confrontation is green-screened to hell with computerized imagery. It makes me wonder if Snyder was involved at all given that they dropped the ball with the some of the effects here, along with the scenes with the Amazons that were begging for some 300 influence (or rather more influence I should say...) on their single action sequence.
Narrative and Everything Else
Let's go into the meat and bones of this film now. No need to sugar coat this as you guys (and gals) know me well enough by now... Simply put, this film starts off by following present day Diana into her personal gallery - followed by Wayne Security - to present her the photo that she was obsessing over finding in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. What ensues is a retrospect on why this photo is so significant to her. In other words, a poor excuse for an origin story to base this film upon. Keep in mind here that this film never addresses why Diana is so against helping mankind as she's in hiding during the events of Batman v. Superman and rather reluctant to get involved in that ordeal in the first place. On top of that, this film misses a huge opportunity by glossing over Diana's training and time in Themyscira in general. To say that the minds behind 300 are pretty hands on for the DCEU, you would think they While we're on the subject of Themyscira, it's rather jarring at how plain and ordinary that place looked outside of well-kept plant life and backgrounds. It was green screened to hell, much like Oa in Green Lantern and Asgard in Thor, but at least in those two films, those "godly" realms were sights to behold. Hell, seeing Oa was the best thing in Green Lantern PERIOD. Seeing Themyscira here created no sense of awe. It felt too ordinary and bland for my taste. That being said, that action sequence that took place on the beaches of Themyscira was something straight out of 300 with Zack Snyder's fingerprints all over it from start to finish with the slow-motion shots and imagery, but it wasn't 300 enough, y'know? When I think of Amazons, I think of battle-hardened warriors, not some gentle dandelions floating throughout the wind as if we're watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It wouldn't have hurt to give them a bit of a visceral edge in combat while maintaining their femininity.
I liked the change to Diana's origin that she's the daughter of Zeus instead of being merely a clay doll brought to life. Also, they changed the time era to World War I instead of World War II - something the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done to modernize their own characters' origins by shifting the time periods slightly (i.e. Ironman/Tony Stark coming into his own as a costumed crime-fighter during the Iraqi War when he's mostly understood by long-time comic book fans for his origins during the Cold War). Despite her godly heritage, the film never really explains Diana's full power/skill set. Sure, she has received training higher and allegedly harder than any other Amazon prior to her, but we barely got a glimpse of that. I found it rather hard to believe that she was training on the island all of those years and she had no idea of how powerful she was until she stepped onto that battlefield for the first time.
Speaking of that moment, that scene stands out as the best sequence of the entire movie just from its imagery and symbolism alone. That image of her discarding her robes and stepping out onto the front-lines of the battlefield, holding her own against incredible odds was powerful imagery in its own right, especially for a woman in this time period. The entire time since arriving in London, Diana was constantly told by Trevor to not do anything and do as she's told. This was her breakout moment of independence (yet defiance too in a sense) where she proudly stood up for what she believed in to protect all of the innocent lives in danger.
I hate to be Debbie Downer in that situation, but I really wasn't that blown away from that sequence as it felt "been there, done that" as this film ultimately doesn't do anything new that we haven't seen from the superhero genre. You can't tell me that you can watch this movie and NOT think about the original Captain America film sprinkled with a little of the original Thor and Man of Steel. The following action sequences with her laying waste to the enemy soldiers with ease were reminiscent to the first Captain America film to the point where I was half-expecting her to throw her shield and have it rebound across the room into the bad guys. Speaking of her shield, what was that thing made out of anyway? Double goes for those fucking bracelets that seem to be able to defect everything and anything. I guess the audience is expected to think that all of this stuff was forged by the gods and pretty much indestructible (yeah, yeah I know where her armor and stuff comes from in the comics but it's not really explained very well here), but yet the other Amazons were getting shot through their armor like it was tissue paper against the Germans on the beach. I swear, this shit wasn't adding up at all in terms of consistency.
I thought it was a superb idea to have Steve Trevor be the catalyst/martyr to fuel Diana's mission to serve as a protector of mankind. Since the narrative pulled a Captain America with Diana being a timeless heroine, it would have been silly to have Trevor exist in the present day as an old man still infatuated with Diana. Plus, this spares Diana of the mess that Captain America is going through dating his ex-girlfriend's niece after her demise... That's a topic for discussion for another day for sure.
Let's be honest here. Outside of Steve Trevor, this film has a VERY weak supporting cast for this narrative. This is hampered by the fact that the film's narrative rushes along a bit too long to make you even care about most of these secondary characters. I wanted to care more about Trevor's companions in his squad, but by the end of the film, I was to the point where I didn't bother to even remember them by name, I merely considered them the "Not-so-Howling Commandos" for Diana's gender swapped Captain America: The First Avenger-style narrative here.
On top of the weak supporting cast, we have a VERY weak set of villains here, especially the reveal of Ares - what was the point of having Dr. Poison in this if she wasn't even significant to final battle? She was merely there to be the meat on the hook when Ares was baiting Diana to kill and unleash her fury on the mere mortals after Trevor's demise. I thought it would have been cool if Poison was Ares instead to change things up. Alternatively, they could have written it whereas Ares turned her into The Cheetah in a mock way to restore her face and beauty, only to have her lash out at Diana over her own lack of vanity and envy. I know, I know... Dr. Poison's not the Cheetah in the comics, but it would have been a cool plot twist/rewrite in this continuity if they wanted to establish something to go off of for a sequel.
Fear of Hollywood not endorsing another female-led superhero film
Over the weekend upon this film's release, it came to my attention that several noteworthy sites (CNN and Forbes were top culprits) reporting and encouraging fans NOT to say anything negative about this film because they are afraid that Hollywood won't do another female-led superhero film. I personally find this kind of thinking to be asinine. Think about it. Underworld, the Resident Evil films, etc. are all female-led and do just fine and have warranted plenty of sequels. Just saying this film is good and settling for "Yay, Wonder Woman got a movie! Let's just be happy for that!" is downright moronic. You should be hoping for the Wonder Woman character to get the best movie possible not just the simple fact that she got one period.
This is the reverse of what happened with the female-led Ghostbusters film, where people openly voiced their distaste with the film that led to any plans for a sequel or anything more to be scrapped. If this was a Marvel-made female-led superhero film, people would have had it underneath the microscope a million different ways and it just disgusts me that this film is getting a free pass on the sheer amount of mediocrity here, just because it stars a female heroine and it just happens to be the only passable DCEU film to date out of the dumpster fires that they have been putting out for everything after Man of Steel.
Closing Thoughts
Does this film give me hope for the future of the DC Extended Universe? Not really as I still don't have any high hopes for Justice League as we're still seeing the same few trailers for that, months later that they showed last year. That being said, if you saw the bulk of the trailers for this film, then you already see roughly 70% of the action sequences in this film. And good grief did this film borrow a lot more from Captain America: The First Avenger than I would have liked. I was hoping for more a 300 vibe during the first half on Themyscira outside of the initial action sequence, but even this film wasn't safe from being infected by the Snyderverse depressing color scheme. It wasn't that bad while they were on Themyscira, but goddammit the color scheme went dull (especially for Diana's costume that is supposed to be bright and vibrant with color and life) in a heart beat. I thought it was hilarious when Diana pointed out how bad Europe looked to Steve from all of pollution and lack of colors as that was the exact same reaction I had to the visual color scheme here.
I know that this film was going to be a touchy subject because Wonder Woman is more than a female superhero, but she is a LGBT icon after her origin has been revamped as part of the DC Rebirth line of comics and is canonically understood as bisexual as this day. To be honest, I thought that was understood for the longest now given her upbringing on Themyscira in an all-women society. I have to wonder if the feminists would have an issue with Steve Trevor telling her that he loves her before his sacrifice and that fact acting as the catalyst for Diana to be able to use the full potential of her powers. If you think about it, Patty Jenkins still got that message in there that Diana couldn't get the job done without a man's help first. I'm surprised the hardcore feminists aren't irate at that fact.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
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| Go ahead and show off a bit, Gadot. This film was definitely a win for the ladies. |
I personally feel that the overall reaction to this film is extremely overrated. It's a passable (and I may add, very good for the most part compared to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad) film, but at the end of the day, let's all admit that this film was literally Captain America: The First Avenger - Vagina Edition. I know I'm going to get some heat for that comment, but I'm going to let it rock for the sake of this review. This film works as a proper origin story for Diana in this universe, but really doesn't answer all of the questions in sake of the timeline in terms of where she's at currently in the events of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Hopefully those questions can be answered in a sequel, but for now, I'm fine with this film for the most part - I just feel like the reception of it wouldn't be of so much praise if it wasn't a female-led endeavor with so much overwhelming support for this character to get a live-action film in the first place.
I have to laugh a bit though. Now DC/WB has Marvel Studios sweating a bit as the pressure is on them to deliver with their "Wonder Woman"-style character with their female-led Captain Marvel film in the pipeline. I'm glad to see DC finally deliver again with their cinematic universe with the hype so high after Man of Steel, only to be dropped down completely after their last two flops.
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