So Wonder Woman is out in cinemas and a lot riding on her immaculately well-toned shoulders. Despite it being 75 years in the making, and the first female-lead superhero movie providing you don't count Supergirl, Tank Girl, Barbwire, Catwoman and Elektra; this film has staggeringly high expectations and trepidation due to being the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe and putting it politely, the first three films garnered mixed responses; putting it more accurately though, the first three films made the internet a very unpleasant cesspool where, mostly angry and insecure middle-aged men, hurled verbal abuse and death threats towards one another for a couple of months after each films release. So after a nervous wait for many people, it is Lasso Of Truth time to find out whether there is room for a strong female hero in the capes and codpiece cinema landscape....
So Wonder Woman is set in World War I, where we start in Themyscira, head to London and then find ourselves in the middle of The Great War. We meet Steve Trevor, a pilot played by the new Captain Kirk, Chris Pine, who crash lands on an Amazonian Island, he meets Diana Prince who travels with him to London to learn about the world of men and help win the war to end all wars. In between all this we get something very different from the most recent DC films: it's colourful, meaningful, humorous and most surprising, enjoyable.
Now look, we could waste time talking about the similarities with Captain America The First Avenger’s war setting and the first Thor film’s fish out of water plot-line, but honestly it’s pointless because you may as well blame every other World War set film and fish out of water storyline for just reusing the same tropes. We could also talk about the undercooked villains and the overcooked final fight but that’s just par for the course with superhero films; you either go big or go home, or you have a really fleshed out villain to enhance the overall film, but at the expense of the heroes story.
So let’s talk about what really separates Wonder Woman from the other DC Films and even all other comic book movies: the films incredible ability to convey empathy. Not since Richard Donner’s original Superman movie have we had a comic book hero show such earnest and empathy. It’s actually refreshing to go back to the storytelling of yesteryear yet still feeling incredibly modern. Wonder Woman herself along with Pine’s Steve Trevor struggle to come to grips the horrors of war and even goes as far as to show that it’s not just black and white, or good vs. evil. There are some great little references to Christopher Reeve’s Superman with gender-reversal twist, but still managing to make Chris Pine and Gal Gadot’s characters equals as opposed to the old damsel in distress syndrome. Of course in between all this fleshing out of war and gender roles back in the early 1900’s, the film also takes time to comment on the inequalities between men in a man’s world - highlighting how the color of one’s skin and entitlement really benefitted white men. It’s not labored on, but it’s surprising to see that kind of commentary in a big tentpole blockbuster.
The other really refreshing thing about the latest DC Film is that the story has been put first over moments, plus every single moment feels earned. The film takes time to breath-in the worlds of Themyscira and London, we get to know Diana Prince and Steve Trevor long before she takes to the battle field and when she does, it’s an earned moment that sits up there with Superman taking his first flight or Batman’s first big reveal. Unlike the other recent DC Films, this doesn’t rush through everything, nor does it expect the audience to have a detailed knowledge of Wonder Woman’s comic book back catalogue in order to get lots of throw away references. There’s no dream sequences within dream sequences, no sudden character personality flips or Martha moments - in comparison to the other films in the DC Cinematic Universe, it plays it safe - but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a highly enjoyable film.
The film’s dialogue can be a little clunky at times, but the it is more natural than the other DC Films and many of the Marvel Films. There is still pontificating and still a lot of expositional dialogue, but it is all delivered in a way that seems fitting as it is often filtered around some good conversations and debates between Pine and Gadot. Add to this director Patty Jenkins work on television to still allow for the quiet moments that would normally get lost in a big blockbuster. From learning how to dance, discussing aspirations outside of being a soldier to the discussing social conventions, it is these smaller moments that make the bigger more bombastic moments all the more meaningful.
Ultimately, this is best film that’s been released to date by the DC Extended Universe, yes at this stage that’s not that high a bar to jump, but jump it does and in the most spectacular fashion you could hope for. With splashes of colour in the right places, characters you actually care about, moments that are threaded together between scenes instead of one moment rear-ending into another moment constantly, it feels like DC might finally be getting onto the right track. The jury is still out on The Justice League and I’m still a little apprehensive about that coming out in November, but the best compliment I can give Wonder Woman is that it is the first film from the DC Extended Universe that I want to have in my Blu-Ray collection.
Wonder Woman, the film that’s so good it could be mistaken for a Marvel movie gets Four Marvelous Stars out of Five.
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