Director Patty Jenkins gets the “Wonder Woman” mythos.
In the comics and the cartoons Princess Diana of Themyscira (aka Wonder Woman) is the female equivalent to Superman. She defends the innocent and sees herself as a designated protector of mankind. She has immense strength, adept hand to hand combat skills, and a magical lasso that elicits the truth from whomever it entangles.
Wonder Woman is an Amazon princess (Gal Gadot) who lives on a secluded island of warrior women. When a World War 1 pilot (Chris Pine) crashes in a single engine plane he brings news of the horrors of war. Princess Diana feels compelled to join the fight.
“Wonder Woman” is not a perfect film but it easily surpasses the last two DC films “BvS” and “Suicide Squad.” It wouldn’t be an oversell to tell you that “Wonder Woman” leaves those two films in the dust. Her character may have been introduced in “BvS” but this film gives her previous performance context and then delivers her origin as a set-up to “Justice League” (Nov 2017).
Gal Gadot as Princess Diana is given the right dialogue and opportunity to shine in this performance thanks to screen writer Allan Heinberg and director Jenkins who adeptly navigates the balance between femininity and power. Gadot’s physicality is aptly demonstrated in several fight scenes that illustrate why Wonder Woman could hold her own when she takes out German spies determined to steal back a recipe book for deadly gas.
Chris Pine plays a version of “Star Trek’s” James T. Kirk, who at one point describes Princess Diana as “hot,” unfortunately foregoing the colloquialism of 1914 . Even with that story misstep early on, Pine overcomes with his natural charisma and midway through the second act personifies a believable Steve Trevor.
The supporting cast includes a lot of fantastic performances notably from Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, who affected a cool accent and delicately balanced her performance to convey her character’s challenge of being a mother and Queen of the Amazons. Her right hand, played by Robin Wright as General Antiope, had several believable fight scenes and what may have been her first outing in such a physically demanding role.
Steve Trevor’s secretary Etta Candy, played by Lucy Davis, may have only had a few scenes but nonetheless delighted with her charm as given the assignment to make Princess Diana less warrior woman and more lady like.
The two main villains Dr. Maru (Elena Anaya) and Ludendorff played by well known actor and previous super hero villain in several X-Men films Danny Huston, unfortunately weren’t given quite enough screen time to really cement themselves as driving forces in the narrative. Both characters were presented two dimensionally and would have benefitted from just a bit more substance. Dr. Maru’s disfigurement is never addressed and her motivation to do such evil and why she was so dedicated to Ludendorff would have made a lot of difference. Something tells me those scenes may have been left on the cutting room floor in lieu of keeping the film at 2 hours and 21 minutes.
The visual creation of Paradise Island, and several WWI war zones including a no-mans land and war trenches were expertly created and added a lot to the story’s credibility. Notably a first in super hero trope of films from both DC and Marvel but no one’s keeping score anyway.
There’s a balance that Jenkins carefully treads between Wonder Woman being feminine yet powerful. That essence in itself defined early feminism when the comic came out in the early 1940’s and made many appearances including cartoons “Justice League,” “Super Friends” and the semi-campy 70’s TV show staring Lynda Carter.
Admirably Jenkins finds a way to instill Wonder Woman’s core attributes remaining faithful to what the iconic version of what Wonder Woman stands for, while not overtly cramming a feminist agenda down the audience’s throats. Jenkins and crew delivers the perfect version of both classic and contemporary heroine into the modern age of superhero films. This film will stand the test of time and even though it is a beacon to women that female super heroes can kick ass just as well as their male counterparts, the story holds its own in spite of, and despite being a feminist film.
Final Verdict: 4 out of 5
Rating: PG-13
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Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Directed By: Patty Jenkins
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Written By: Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder, Jason Fuchs
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In Theaters: Jun 2, 2017 wide
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Runtime: 141 minutes
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Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures