Review: Wonder Woman
The best DCEU film to date, but does that mean much? As it turns out, no, not really.
To say that DC Entertainment has gotten off to a bad start with their cinematic universe would be something of an understatement. Man of Steel certainly wasn’t good and the studio’s next two films, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad were nothing short of woeful. In fact, the studio as a whole doesn’t have the best track record, even outside of its shared universe, releasing only three good films since 2005 (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Lego Batman Movie). So to say that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman is the best entry into the DCEU isn’t saying much. Unfortunately, that’s about all one can say about it. Diana herself (and Gal Gadot’s portrayal of her) is indeed wonderful, but a strong central character isn’t enough to save Wonder Woman from unfulfilling second and third acts.
The film starts off well enough and in fact maintains its quality throughout the first act. Diana is an Amazon, a race of female warriors created by the Gods to protect the world from Ares, the God of War. The Amazons live on Themyscira, a paradise island that’s been enchanted so as to be invisible to any outsiders. Here, the Amazons train relentlessly to master combat so that they may fulfil their duty. We first meet Diana as a little girl, running across the island and marvelling at the combat abilities of the Amazon women. She wants also to train but her mother, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons (Connie Nielsen) will not allow it, claiming it’s unnecessary as Ares will never return (which really begs the question: why are the rest of them constantly training?). Hippolyta’s sister, Antiope (Robin Wright), agrees with Diana. Luckily, she’s the General of the Amazons, responsible for preparing the women for battle and so she and Diana begin training in secret. By the time Diana is grown, she has become a fierce warrior. This section works because Themyscira is well realised and the Amazons have an interesting backstory. We’re also introduced to a easily likeable hero in Diana and her youthful optimism and clear view of right and wrong is inspiring. Unfortunately, this is all over in the first twenty minutes or so and what follows is a standard superhero affair that might have felt acceptable ten years ago.
When Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), an Allied WW1 spy, crash lands into the water surrounding Themyscira, Diana dives in to save him from the German soldiers in pursuit. The Germans storm the beach, giving rise to the most successful action sequence of the movie, with the Amazons defending against this invasion by man. The rifles of the soldiers provide a clear contrast to the arrows of the Amazons and the women’s fear of this unknown threat feels authentic. Once the island has been defended, Trevor, compelled by the handy lasso of truth, tells the Amazons of the war to end all wars. Diana, convinced that the war is being manufactured by Ares, assists Trevor in getting off the island on the condition that he take her to the front so she can confront Ares and put an end to all conflict in the world. It’s certainly a noble goal and Gal Gadot carries off Diana’s naive enthusiasm with aplomb. Already a proven badass, it is here that we grow to care about her. Arriving in London more-or-less naked as far the locals are concerned, Diana’s lack of understanding about the world makes her as endearing as she is fierce. To her it is simple: find Ares, kill him and the war will end. It’s a welcome change to be presented with such a DC hero with such an upbeat attitude and it’s easy to rally behind her. It’s a shame then that this second act, despite starting off well, quickly devolves into a meandering affair that does little to connect you to the story. We are presented with two villains, neither of which are at all interesting and a band of heroes which, while much more likeable, feel vastly unimportant.
A superhero story set against the backdrop of the first world war seems rife with opportunity for a fresh take on the genre. The setting is underused, however, and beyond the outfits and props, provides no real distinction from any other superhero tale. There are certainly positives to be had, especially when compared to the film’s DCEU brethren. Unlike those grim-dark, mumbly train wrecks, Wonder Woman is actually rather well shot, at least outside of action. Scenes are well lit and dialogue is delivered clearly — a far cry from the alpha male grunt-fests we’ve become accustomed to. There is also a wonderful score by Rupert Gregson-Wilson that makes an admirable attempt to bind everything together. Visually, though, action scenes aren’t handled particularly well. The first few times we see a slow motion leap or roundhouse kick is quite cool, but quickly becomes tiresome and no amount of rousing music is going to save uninspired choreography. An over-reliance on CGI for even basic fight sequences also makes for a jarring watch. Diana goes from woman to weightless video game avatar and back again repeatedly and all sense of physicality is lost. Thankfully, there are relatively few of these fight scenes and Jenkins’ decision to focus on character and narrative over action is an admirable one. It might even have paid off if the story wasn’t dreary and generic. And despite this focus, and an excellent hero at the film’s centre, Wonder Woman doesn’t manage to escape the brain numbing digital slugfest at the end of the film. All sense of scale is thrown out of the window and the only motivation appears to be trying to get as much CGI business on screen as possible. An already uninspiring final battle is merely exacerbated by the hero and villain slowly delivering stilted dialogue at each other between tossing tanks around and hurling lightning bolts.
At close to two and a half hours, the films far outstays its welcome. And yet, even with all that screen time, the twist in the third act is totally unearned. Without spoiling anything, there is a character reveal which holds absolutely no payoff, mostly because we are given no reason to care about this particular character whatsoever. The twist comes out of left field, yes, but not in an interesting way. It’s less “oh my god!” and more “oh. fine, whatever”. The fact that this twist is immediately followed by a dull exposition dump doesn’t help matters. We are treated to another reveal a few moments later, but being that this is something the audience has almost surely worked out at this point, yet again this fails to land. By the time the chaotic final battle was over, I’d so thoroughly disengaged that the emotional note that closes the movie had no chance of achieving its desired effect.
Wonder Woman is undoubtedly the best film to come out of the DCEU. Diana is by far the most likeable superhero we’ve seen from DC and even measures up well against Marvel’s best offerings, mainly thanks to the excellent performance of Gal Gadot. Her ability to prop up the entire movie, and a solid opening act, keep Wonder Woman from total failure, but a meandering second act and an uninspiring mess of a finale unfortunately keep it from realising its potential. This is a step in the right direction for DCEU, but it still has a long way to go.
