Green Goblin Reviews: Wonder Woman
Well, smoke’em if ya got’em. The DC Extended Universe has finally hit one outta the park and it’s time to celebrate. No longer will fans have to damage control Batman V Superman in pretending that it isn’t a dumpster fire, because now they have a legitimate example of a great superhero film in their cinematic universe (no Director’s Cut required). I don’t hide the fact that I’m a Marvel fan through and through (obviously, given my choice in net handle), but I’ve enjoyed my share of DC comic characters over the years just as much: I grew up on Batman the Animated Series and the entire DCAU that spawned from it, watched the Adam West Batman show in syndication, have stacks of DC Comics on my bookshelves, a copy of Injustice 2 in my Xbox this very minute and the full set of McDonalds Batman Forever mugs in my kitchen. So when I say that the DCEU has been a travesty up until this point, know that it isn’t coming from a place of malice. I want to like these films, but they have to be good films in order for me to do that. And I’m glad that they’ve finally succeeded, by giving us an origin story to a character that’s been overlooked in the world of cinema for much too long; the original superheroine and modern-day representation of female empowerment: Princess Diana of Themyscira, the Wonder Woman.
What I expected going into this was sort of a mish-mash of the fantasy stuff from Thor, with some of the war-time adventures from the first Captain America. And….yeah, that’s exactly what I got. Diana is raised on Themyscira, an island hidden from the outside world and home to the Amazons; a tribe of non-aging all-female warriors created by the Greek Pantheon to aid mankind in the event of something apocalyptic. As Amazons don’t age and are missing 50% of the parts for reproduction, Diana is the only child among them. Her overprotective mother, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) tells her how she was sculpted from clay and given life by Zeus himself. One day, in the midst of their training, a damaged German fighter plane manages to break through their invisibility barrier and crash near the shore. The pilot of said plane turns out to be Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) an American spy working with British Intelligence to smuggle evidence of chemical warfare to the Allied Powers. He tells the Amazons of the “war to end all wars” and of the millions of innocent casualties and the lives his information can save, if he can return to the world of man. Diana thinks that this Great War Trevor speaks of can only be the work of Ares, the Greek god of war himself. And that in stopping Ares, she can end the war before it can escalate even further. She steals the weaponry designed to kill Ares as well as the Lasso of Hestia (Lasso of Truth) and sails with Trevor to Europe to relay the information and eventually travel to Belgium to confront the enemy on the Western front directly.
The one good thing I remember about Batman V Superman was thinking that Gal Gadot was a pretty damn good casting decision for Wonder Woman. She’s got it nailed and her fish-out-of-water narrative and “ok with plainly stating uncomfortable truths” personality serve her well in the the face of British soldiers and dignitaries, as well as in direct contrast with characters Etta Candy (Lucy Davis), Trevor’s assistant and stand-in for the average British woman in 1918 (still actively rallying to get the right to vote). They don’t make it too over-the-top with the whole “I don’t know how things work” jokes, and her innocence and naivety continue on in the battlefield. Keep in mind, Diana’s only ever trained for battle. She’s never experienced it firsthand. So when she’s actually confronted with wartime atrocity, it hits you in a way that it didn’t with Captain America or Thor. Unlike Wonder Woman, Thor had been in battle and is no stranger to what it can do to the lives of innocents. And Captain America despite only seeing active duty after receiving his serum, has kept up with the news enough to understand the stakes. Of course, unlike Captain America, Wonder Woman takes place during the FIRST World War; during which, chemical warfare is the running theme. Hell, one of the villains in this film is literally named “Doctor Poison”. Yeah, you get the whole “Band of brothers” wartime adventures thing the ragtag crew from multiple countries eventually, but it’s contrasted by the use of mustard gas on civilians and the overall bleakness and moral shades of gray that you can’t really get if they were to use World War II (kinda hard not to root against Nazis, ya know?). So when Diana is fully confronted with the atrocities of war, she almost doesn’t know how to genuinely process it all. She starts to doubt whether humanity is even worth saving if and when she does finally confront Ares. That’s just great writing.
More than anything, I’m just thrilled that this whole thing just works. It’s a genuinely great three-arc story with a solid resolution, genuine character development, tense encounters, high stakes, occasional levity and more than anything, even in the bleakness of the Great War,they manage to make use of primary colors and bright scenery. It’s a superhero origin story done right. It’s just weird that it took four film in this universe to make it work. Some people are wondering if with Wonder Woman’s success, the DC universe will start to gravitate away from the “grim and gritty” presentation it’s shown thus far, in favor of something a that’s not afraid to smile a little more often. My only response to that is: I certainly fucking hope so.
9/10 I’ll be seeing it again in theaters, more than likely. And it’ll be the first DCEU film that I will happily purchase and add to my collection.