directed by Patty Jenkins
written by Allan Heinberg
The most recognizable female superhero in the world, DC Comics' Princess Diana of Themyscira, aka Wonder Woman, finally gets her own feature film, and it is a doozy.
On the island of Themyscira lives a community of warrior women known as the Amazons, led by their Queen, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen). It's a peaceful place, one hidden from world, and it is here that young Diana (Lily Aspell), the Queen's daughter, lives, away from humanity and, in fact, away from all men. Diana finds herself drawn to the constant military training the Amazons, led by their fierce General Antiope (Robin Wright, who at 51 can still kick some serious ass), much to the distress of her mother. Hippolyta tells Diana the story of the Amazons, about how they were created by the god Zeus to protect men, and how Zeus's son Ares, full of resentment, pitted men against one another, starting wars, wars which included even the gods as their casualties. Zeus struck Ares down with his dying breath, but the threat of his return remains. Zeus has left a weapon the island capable of killing him in the event of his return. Diana then begins training in secret with her aunt. As Diana (Emily Carey) gets older, Hippolyta catches her secret training, and disapproves, but eventually realizes the need for it, telling Antiope to train her harder than any Amazon on the island. As a result, by the time she is an adult (Gal Gadot), she is a truly formidable warrior.
The peace on the island is then disrupted when an American military pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), crashes into its waters, almost immediately being followed by several German pursuers. Fighting on the island breaks out, and while the Amazons vanquish the Germans, lives are lost. The Amazons interrogate Trevor, who tells that he is trying to bring an end to "the war to end all wars" which has claimed millions of lives. He was working as a British spy behind German lines when he learned of a deadly gas being made by Doctor Maru (Elena Anaya) for her principal General Ludendorff (Danny Huston), one which could kill millions more than have already died. Diana is convinced that this war (World War I) is the handiwork of Ares, and she leaves the island with Steve, intent on stopping him.
It's been four years since Zack Snyder kicked off what is now known as the DC Extended Universe with Man of Steel, a surprisingly bleak take on the Superman mythos, and a year since its follow-up, Batman vs. Superman, a movie that borrowed from Frank Miller's deconstructionist comic-books of the 80s but which, without the context that had preceded them, and some pretty bad writing, felt more like an extra grim Michael Bay movie than anything else. For many (including myself) Wonder Woman's tiny sliver of screen time was one of the few highlights of that film because it basically felt like one of the few moments of joy throughout over two and a half hours of running time.
Director Patty Jenkins and writer Allan Heinberg must have picked up on that because what they give us is a marked contrast from that dour throw-down between Bats and Supes. In fact, what they've given us is a distinct throwback to brighter superhero origin stories like Richard Donner's Superman and even the more recent Captain America: The First Avenger by Joe Johnston. Comparisons to the latter film will be inevitable considering that both share a wartime setting, and in fact the Wonder Woman character was created during World War II, but this film is still very much its own thing. Jenkins and her crew also exploit the whole period setting to the hilt, with lavish sets and costumes and generous helpings of early 20th century atmosphere. By setting the film at that particular point in history, they also cannily put Diana in a position to appreciate misogyny, though it's noticeably sanitized. It could be that I'm a sucker for period films (which, I confess, I am), but with some thoroughly impressive production value, this movie was really $120 million well-spent, for the most part.
Of course, pretty sets and lighting would mean nothing without effective storytelling, and fortunately, right out of the gate, this film charms with some really strong performances, especially from Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, whose chemistry is also one of the highlights of the movie. Gadot's performance as the intelligent but guileless Diana is a fine balancing act that could have easily gone over the top but which she pulls off perfectly. She anchors the film, though I'll admit I was surprised by how strong Pine's performance was, considering how a lot of love interests in superhero movies these days, ranging from Rachel McAdams' Christine in Doctor Strange to Amy Adams' Lois Lane in Snyder's Superman films feel distinctly underdeveloped. Pine genuinely made me regret that WB hadn't cast him as Green Lantern or a superhero lead; with a performance of this caliber he could definitely carry a movie, and possibly even a franchise, on his own. I also enjoyed the relatively brief turns of the Amazons of Themyscira, specifically Nielsen as Hippolyta and Wright as Antiope. Both of them come across as strong and compassionate at the same time, and both actors effectively convey, in their relatively short screen time, just how important they are to Diana as role models. I was particularly impressed seeing Wright doing action scenes in her 50s, even though I'm sure her stunt double did the lion's share of them.
I also appreciated the writing here, with Heinberg showing a lot of attention to detail, like explaining how Diana could speak English to Trevor, and why she knew much of the world and yet remained naive to its harsher realities. I also appreciated Heinberg's judicious doses of humor throughout the script, especially as delivered by capable actors like Lucy Davis as Trevor's secretary Etta, Said Taghmaoui as the part-time spy and part-time con-artist Sameer, and Ewen Bremner as PTSD-suffering sharpshooter Charlie.
I wasn't quite so fond of the bad guys, particularly Huston's assembly-line German general, but I've almost come to accept underwhelming villains as a trade-off for well-fleshed out heroes.
The film also has generous helpings of action, but while I enjoyed them for the most part, I felt that a lot of the fight scenes suffered a little bit from director Jenkins' excessive use of the Snyderesque "slow-mo/speed-up" technique of depicting action that was basically done to death in 300 and Watchmen, and which he actually avoided conspicuously in both Man of Steel and BvS. It seemed Jenkins' inexperience in directing action showed a little bit in those sequences.
Speaking of action, the film's climactic, CGI-engorged final battle was a bit of a generic letdown and will almost certainly invite comparisons to a lot of other generic final battles, and even to the first Captain America movie, but even as the film sags Gadot carries it all the way through. This movie would have risen or fallen on her performance, and the good news is she delivers handily.
This film is a solid first outing for an iconic superhero, and it is quite important, after the failure of cinematic adaptations of DC stablemates Supergirl and Catwoman and Marvel's Elektra that this movie turned out to be this good, because in a world besieged by reinvigorated misogyny, whether in small communities or among world leaders themselves, the symbolic value of this character is arguably higher than it's ever been. I'm glad it was a movie like this, rather than one centered around a much more cynical character like Marvel's Black Widow, that is now leading the way for superheroine movies, because at times like this we need hope and optimism. We need to believe in the good in humanity, and to believe that this good can prevail over the unrelenting darkness that threatens to engulf us every single day. We wouldn't have gotten this from a movie about an ex-KGB assassin.
Bravo Warner Bros. and DC. Thank you for giving us this film, and may there be many more like it.
8/10
