Wonder Woman Review

After the last few films in the DC cinematic universe failed to click with audience and divided them in the middle with their merits, the latest release from DC films was being hyped by many as the one that could turn out alright despite the production issues with making it.  That film is the origin superhero film for the Amazonian Warrior Princess, Wonder Woman and her first solo outing in live action, feature film form helmed by Patty Jenkins (Monster, TV Episodes of The Killing, Entourage, and Arrested Development) despite appearing in the previous DC film Batman V. Superman and countless animated TV series/films.  However, it has been an uphill battle for quality filmmaking for these comic book characters for some time now especially as this film along with Justice League were going through extensive rework via post production to get them fixed and ready for release.  With Wonder Woman being the first of these revamped film productions with new executives overseeing it and its relevancy for today’s changing societal values, does it succeed where other superhero films fail to overcome or does it fall for the same trappings as most of these films do in this genre?  Let’s suit up and find out what this film does right and wrong, starting with the story.

In this universe, the gods existed in our world as they created all things in life including man with the power of Zeus but also corrupted by the influence of Aries The God of War.  Zeus would defeat him, allowing for man to prosper along with the creation of the Amazonians through Athena but that union would not last for long as men would take advantage of women and embattle them in struggle and suffering until Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and her sister General Antiope (Robin Wright) would unite the women and break free from the world of men into another world, separated through dimensions and space called the Themyscira.  It is through freedom and revolution that they formed their own kingdom and world away from men for centuries until Diana was born into their world by the powers of Zeus into a clay statue where our story truly begins proper with our protagonist for the film.

Diana Prince (Young-Lilly Aspell and Emily Carey, Adult-Gal Godot) is royalty in her kingdom, forbidden by her mother to train as a warrior yet that instinct and desire to fight evil is embedded within her being so, her aunt trains her in the ways of the Amazonians, akin to Spartan training from Greek legends.  This was her life in general until a mysterious WW1 plane crashes into the oceans with Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) in it but is rescued by Diana despite an armada of German soldiers and ship chasing after him through a portal.  This brings to Themyscira The Great War (as it was called) to their doorsteps with the possibility that Aries is not only alive but influencing Germany to wage war with the world.  Diana decides to act and traverse into the world of men to fight an evil that resides in the shadows as well as learning to understand, appreciate, and revile in how our world is.  It is a race against time to stop the evil forces of the war from inflicting more harm to the world of men and to stop the God of War from wiping out the planet as we know it.

This is a pure, straightforward origin story that takes it time to develop the character proper and genuine without missing too much of a beat for most of the film.  It does start off slowly to develop the world Diana comes from and glimpses of her world and time as a child before Trevor eventually crashes there to drive the story forward.  When the two characters meet, it is done organically and comedically cute enough that you really enjoy the time the characters interact with each other especially with the use of the “fish out of the water” plot that is used to effective measure for Diana’s naiveite to the world of men.  It further develops her heroic traits and personalities to greater effect than even the other two so called “heroes” from the previous outing (she wanted to help people and all around wanted to understand the world like an actual hero would unlike emo, angsty Superboy with his daddy issues along with sociopathic, third degree killer Batboy traumatized by his mother issues – it is only a critical joke about the characters, so put the pitchfork away and try to see my perspective regarding the portrayal of those characters).  Thankfully, the good stuff doesn’t stop there at all especially with the stellar chemistry of the supporting characters and ultimately a consistently constructed film until the third act. 

The film does shine with its supporting cast who further the development of Diana Prince as a character even more and the use of WWI is clever as well as suitable for the story here.  However, the film does stumble when it comes to its own set of villains as well as the rushed yet contrived climax of the film that brings it down a few pegs, the unfortunate component that was not remedied by the reshoots or extensive post work to fix it.  You have a set of villains with General Erich Ludendorff with a drug problem (Danny Huston), a mad scientist hell bent on creating a destructive gas that renders masks useless called Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya), and the omnipresent but heavy CGI power house Aries (David Thewlis).  The first two are just stock characters, expected for this type of film and then Aries suffers the same issue as the previous film where he just shows up for the sake of explosions, an equally contrived match up of the hero and villain, and a bit of a rush to get to the present near the end instead of staying in this interesting world any further.  Thankfully, much of the film does work but it stumbles in its own climax as well as feeling a bit too much like a déjà vu of another superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger in quite a few plot/character beats including the ending of the film.  The film succeeds though in establishing this hero within its own film and it copies the quality aspects of that film despite cribbing a bit too much on the weakness of that film as well.

There is another aspect of the film that is well done and oddly flawed are the action set pieces for this film.  Most of these set pieces are fun to watch and really demonstrate the power of the Amazonian warrior visually especially in regular motion.  However, there tends to be too much use of slow motion that undermines the choreography and power of the action throughout the film especially in the iconic action set piece of No Man’s Land in the middle of it.  This feels like a combination of the stuff we saw with Captain America and every single action scene in a Zack Snyder film and the combination is a bit of a mixed bag to be honest.  It does provide the excitement and scale of the superhero genre well enough in its action set pieces but it gets diluted with the over use of slow motion to the impressive choreography on display here.

Let’s get into the cast themselves starting with the leads themselves before getting into the supporting cast and villains proper, along with a few thoughts on the dialogue here.  The one who really gets to shine visually and dramatically with other actors at least is Gal Godot as Diana Prince AKA Wonder Woman.  Her striking figure and athleticism is on display here along with her ability to be charming and charismatic in the character role.  It also helps that she has dynamite chemistry with most of the cast including Chris Pine is where she shines better as an actor than in her previous roles in the past.  She had a lot to prove and Godot was more than up to the task to really become the iconic character many of us had doubts she could be, which is a good thing for sure.

There are just a few issues present in her performance, mainly in her dramatic moments either by herself or with another villain character.  She tends to have some problems with displaying the hardships of the character when it occurs in certain parts of the film.  While she has been in many visual roles, it is still clear that her ability to emote at times is questionable for certain moments of the film (the trenches and some of the big character moments with Trevor).  This is not to diminish what she was able to do as Wonder Woman in this film but it does undercut the drama of the scene when she is unable to convey the right emotions of the scene.  Overall, Gal Godot has proven to be a good choice as Wonder Woman and one of the few actors to improve with more roles that challenge her dramatically.

The real standout of the cast is Chris Pine as Steve Trevor whose enigmatic, comedic performance really provides the film’s heart and soul in a fantastical story as well as really strengthening the performance of Godot as a result.  His ability to be seamless with the moments of comedy and drama are on display here with understated subtly that allow those moments to work effectively.  The moments with Diana and Steve are made believable through their refined chemistry that it becomes integral to their growth as characters.  The romance also works because of the direction of Jenkins and having it drive the characters forward instead of feeling like a prerequisite for these types of films.  Chris Pine continues to show his versatility as an actor and really shines brightest in this film from the rest of the cast.

The rest of the supporting cast fit their roles well enough in being part of a special forces unit or comic relief for the leads throughout the film without being too obnoxious or annoying.  The “not Howling Commando” mercenaries Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui), Charlie (Ewen Bremner), and Chief (Eugene Brave Rock) are played by character actors and fit their respective characters quite nicely with the leads.  Trevor’s secretary Etta Candy (Lucy Davis) has a few funny moments as well, mainly with Diana Princes’ naivety to the customs of the world for women.  The Amazonian characters are doable to watch despite the forced in accents to fit with Godot’s nationality but they play their parts admirably despite the somewhat leaden dialogue they all must speak at times.  The kid actors for Diana are meh at best and fail to even do the accent, but they are thankfully limited in their screen time.  As for the other characters particularly the villains, they are either dull to watch or overacting to the point of extreme camp and not in a fun way unfortunately, that also contradicts the tone of the film at times from being dramatic to stylized comic book story of the day.  That should cover the talents in front of the camera and the cast overall which are good and fit their respective roles.

Now for the technical aspects of the film from the CGI effects to art direction of the setting and costumes and finally, the composition score itself for this superhero outing.  The CGI effects are decent at times to look at but they still suffer the same issues as the previous film in that they have this dirty rubbery look to it that lacks any sense of real impact in the action scenes or for some of the backdrops.  It is used effectively in establishing the world of the 1900’s as well as Themyscira which has a ton of color to display (to be honest, it was hard not to marvel at the use of color in this film and appreciate its presences after suffering through previous films with dark, grimy color/lighting palettes).  It is near the third act where the CGI gets a bit ropey with its effects and movement that feels like an overly extended video game cutscene and not in a good way.  This film’s use of CGI is very mixed overall from being effective in establishing the worlds the characters inhabit but it does undercut the sheer power of the action set pieces at times.

However, the artistic direction and look of the film is an impressive achievement in of itself especially with the setting of WW1 as well as Themyscira, the Amazonian kingdom beyond the realms of Earth.  First off, the look of the 1900’s is magnificent as well as the look of the period spot on in both its visual design and the grim, serious tone of the war present here in a respectful manner.  It is a clever deviation to set the story in WW1 instead of WW2 despite the villains themselves feeling out of place due to the nature of their comic book incarnations made during the Nazi regime and not just for Germany during WW1.  As for the Themyscira, it has this exotic yet regal quality to it that feels like a blend between Vikings and Greek cultural styles to really make them standout from other fantasy versions to it.  A quick note regarding the iconic Wonder Woman costume is that it looks great on camera, visually colorful, and just really feels memorable for this interpretation.  The artistic work here is fantastic to look at and really deserves some accolades for getting the period right but also making the outlandish elements work for this world.

Finally, we have the composition score for the film that has undergone some drastic changes now that it is dedicated to the character’s story and not as a part of another film.  The composition is done by Rupert Gregson-Williams this time around and he incorporates some of the recognizable theme of the character from the previous entry Batman V. Superman.  It is the type of theme that does grow in recognition and is used in the main score effectively with more natural, acoustic sounds to really showcase how ingenious the theme is in comparison to the electric cello, synth sounds of Han Zimmer’s work.  It has enough dramatic, action swells and movements to keep the film moving forward and it makes those memorable moments standout thanks to the assured musical identity present in this film.  This is one of the better musical composition scores for a superhero film in that it fits the story here and changes the instrumentation of the theme to really fit evenly with the tone and style of the character here.

For a female superhero film directed by an award winning female director, there was a ton of money along with hype and expectation riding on this film to succeed.  It is safe to say that Wonder Woman succeeds in many ways despite stumbling in a few areas, that seem to be a reoccurring problem with the superhero films in general.  It is a miracle that we got a competent quality film despite the reports of post-production problems which is a testament to skilled filmmakers working on the production as well as the power of editing and post work to fix the fundamental issues of the film to what we ended up overall.  Wonder Woman is a surprisingly good, satisfyingly enjoyable superhero war film that solidifies Diana Prince as a hero for our generation and is exceptionally well acted, maintains the ideals and origins of the character with a modern touch to it, and the action set pieces are enjoyable when we see it in full motion.  This is one hero to look up to and see for yourself how she rises to the challenge in theaters.

Score: **** out of *****

Wonder Woman is a rousing success of quality filmmaking, highly spirited and talented acting on display, some truly thrilling action set pieces, and the fundamental core of this character made engaging and understandable to comic book fans and film viewers alike.  Gal Godot is Wonder Woman for this generation and rightfully so on a visually/athletic level as well as showing improvement as an actor despite still having some issues with certain big dramatic moments on her own.  She is supplemented by a fantastically nuanced performance from Chris Pine along with a great supporting cast that truly work well with our leads despite the villains being an afterthought and a bit hammy for this viewer’s taste.  The art direction is truly stellar in recreating the time of WW1 as well as the Themyscira is truly a wonder to look at and explore.  What knocks it down a few pegs is its inherent similarities to Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger in both its positives (period adventure, enigmatic chemistry among cast, etc.) and its flaws (rushed and contrived finale, stock villains with little to no personalities, etc.) which it can’t shake upon repeat viewings.  This is still one hero that rises above the issues and has become the first superhero of the DC universe that feels established and ready to see more adventures from her.

(Credit to Entertainment Weekly and Just Jared for Photos)