“Wonder Woman” is a wonder to behold
By Cham
~First published in the Burlington Times-News, section A10
In her first title role, Gal Gadot reprises Wonder Woman, as first seen in the 2016 action blockbuster Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. She will play this beloved heroine once again in the upcoming Justice League movie to be released this November. The statuesque 32 year old, marshal arts-trained Gadot looks as though she were born to play this role, and her Israeli accent adds the perfect touch of mystery to this beautiful daughter of Zeus.
The movie begins on the island of Themyscira, filling in princess Diana’s childhood backstory. The opening scenes are chock full of mythological Amazon warriors engaged in intense, athletic, hand-to-hand combat training with sword and shield, and bow and arrow. The timeline moves forward to Diana’s early adult years, set at the end of the World War I, the War to End All Wars. When she rescues American spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) from a watery grave, his arrival on the island sets Diana on a quest to find and destroy Ares, god of war. As in Wonder Woman’s 75-year DC comic book run, as well as the 1970s TV series, Trevor becomes demigod Diana’s mortal love interest.
Key roles were skillfully played by Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Robin Wright as General Antiope, Diana’s aunt and mentor, David Thewlis as British Cabinet Minister Patrick Morgan, and Lucy Davis as Wonder Woman’s historic comic book sidekick Etta Candy. Evil characters included Danny Huston as General Ludendorff and Elena Anaya as Doctor Poison, who make an incredibly psychotic couple — two peas in a pod.
Patty Jenkins is the first woman to direct a major superhero film, and much media attention has been paid to the stellar success of a female-led, female-directed action film. This outstanding movie earned every bit of its record-breaking box office numbers and unusually high score on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator. Wonder Woman is well acted in every quarter, and beautifully shot and directed. While filled with both positive messages and positive roll models, in agreement with commensensemedia.org, the violent action and scenes of wounded war vets make this must-see movie best reserved for the 12 and up crowd.
