I was dreading this one for ages tbh. Not because it was Wonder Woman but because of the studio it was coming from. Warner's have managed to make a shambles of all their DC comics films since Man Of Steel so i assumed this would be the same. Then word of mouth from early previews started to spread. It was sounding good. It was sounding really good. That good that i was thinking "Is it actually good or just good compared to the other shite."
Thankfully it's just really good. A thoroughly entertaining time in the cinema.
A race of warrior women known as Amazons live a utopian life on an island of women, training for battles they hopefully never have to take part in. Diana is the daughter of Queen Hippolyta. She wants to be a warrior but her mother insists she is too young. She takes secret combat lessons with her aunt, General Antiope, which see her grow into a formidable warrior. One day World War 1 encroaches on their paradise in the shape of an American spy crash-landing a German plane and life as they know it changes forever and Diana has to leave her home and travel into the real world.
I really liked this. One thing i loved was the telling of the Amazon mythology, economically told in a way that you have all the big story points in a couple of minutes. The cast was lethal. Gal Gadot as Diana/ Wonder Woman was perfect. A blend of bluntness and innocence and awesomeness. Only ever seen her in the Fast And Furious films and Batman V Superman so knew nothing about her really but she hits the spot perfectly here. She carries the more outlandish moments with a perfectly straight face and nails the physical side of the role, kicking the shit out of baddies with believable ease. Her character is full of empathy for the suffering she sees but it never for one minute weakens her. Chris Pine as the male lead was fun too. Injects humour (A German accent nicked from the Allo Allo school of acting and his reactions for the Lasso of Truth especially) and gets a couple of great hero moments. Solid supporting cast too. Connie Nielson as Queen Hippolyta injects a small role with gravitas, and Robin Wright as Antiope is just excellent. Princess Buttercup grown up to be a warrior general. I'd have loved to see an entire film about their adventures. Ewen Bremner, Said Taghmaoui, Lucy Davis and Eugene Brave Rock add a touch of fun but are mostly wasted. Danny Huston has a thankless role as the popper powered baddy apart from one brilliantly dark bout of villainous cacking and finally David Thewlis as a member of the imperial war cabinet is great doing a lot with a little. He's always great.
It felt a lot more substantial than many of the comic book adaptions we've seen lately. It showed the effects of violence in a way not usually seen in these films. And totally ignored in the city thrashing finales of Man Of Steel for example. The film's gritty, muddy evocation of the trenches and body count of The Great War were not something i expected to see in this film. It's all tamed down of course but we still see the toll it has taken on its participants. That said, some of the battle sequences in it are totally exhilarating too! I know. Ha. Slightly muddled messages there! How many battle scenes have ye seen in films? Hundreds. How many have we seen with women taking part? A few. How many have we seen where its all women taking on an enemy? I can't think of a single one. Well we can now and it was excellent. A goosebumpy moment. The first of many OH FUCK YES!!! moments in the film.
We all loved the tv show. Linda Carter deflecting bullets with her bracelets and bombing around in her invisible jet. It was great gas. The film takes a grittier track but still manages to maintain the fun (and the bracelets). The fun missing hitherto in all DC's films. It manages to walk a fine line in a way that I hope the upcoming Justice League film watches closely. Some lovely little moments give the film a humanity missing from the earlier DC films too. A drunken pub song, a snowy dance, a first ice cream. These big blockbuster films need these quieter moments. We need them to so we can care about the characters onscreen. It's a pity most big films ignore character moments so they can wedge in just a bit more spectacle. They improve the quality of a film like this vastly.
The film was directed by Patty Jenkins who's last film was the excellent Monster in 2003. I hope we will be seeing a lot more of her in the future. She adds a light touch to the film making it less bombastic than say Zach Snyder's DC films. Be great to see her come back for Wonder Woman 2 and then build a big career.
It's overlong though. Nearly 2.5 hrs. No superhero film needs to be that long (And i say that about every film anyway ) and inevitably ends in a flurry of CGI. But that's it really, they are my complaints apart from some of the supporting characters getting short shrift. And tbh those criticisms are blanket criticisms of basically every superhero film this century. Oh yes, there was one minute where i fully expected to see Chris Pine get a deserved punch in the face but it never happened. Oh well.
Go see it. It rocks. Help it make loads of money. It's great to see women led blockbusters. It's refreshing. It makes such a change. It was great to hear women cheering in the cinema, it was deadly seeing mothers and daughters leaning forward in their chairs, willing the action on. To see beaming smiles leaving the screen afterwards. I hope Captain Marvel and the long mooted Black Widow film turn out to be as entertaining as this.
Go.
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