Wonder Woman
Unbelievably, it’s taken 76 years for Hollywood to make a film focused solely on Wonder Woman, one of the most iconic comic-book characters of all time. The good news is that this, the fourth film in the growing DC Extended Universe film series, is well worth the wait.
Premise: In 1918, US spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) washes up on the mystical island of Themyscira, home of the Amazons of Greek mythology. There he’s rescued by Diana (Gal Gadot), daughter of Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), who believes that the Amazons’ sacred duty is to protect mankind from corruption by Ares, the God of War. Believing that Ares must be responsible for the Great War that Steve says is raging across the world, Diana vows to use the Amazon’s mythical “God-Killer” weapon to end Ares’ influence once and for all.
Verdict:
It’s difficult not to draw some parallels between Wonder Woman and a couple of the earlier films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but that’s perhaps hardly surprising given that the MCU has produced fifteen comic-book films over the last ten years. That said, Wonder Woman feels entirely like its own, original movie, and I’m in no way suggesting that it’s cribbed off anything else – and in fact, it reflects very poorly on Marvel that in fifteen films over ten years it’s not made a single female-led movie or female-directed movie, and yet the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is both, starring Gal Gadot and directed by Patty Jenkins. Given the entrenched sexism that still pervades Hollywood today, the cultural significance of Wonder Woman can perhaps not be overstated.
The two MCU films that Wonder Woman does call to mind are Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger (both from 2011), but the similarities are only superficial ones. Before Thor was released, I really wondered how Marvel would incorporate the more fantastical sci-fi elements of the character’s premise into what was essentially a relatively grounded (at that time) fictional universe. Thor managed it with aplomb, and in this respect, Wonder Woman has done an equally great job of weaving a tale of Greek Gods and magical islands into the wider world of the DCEU.
“…seeing mankind through Diana’s innocent eyes holds up a mirror for us to see our society…”
However, whereas Thor derived a lot of humour from the fish-out-of-water premise of having Thor (an alien) visit Earth for the first time, Wonder Woman uses Diana’s innocence and naivety in relation to the real world in a much more emotionally powerful way. Diana has only known “Man’s World” from bedtime stories, and believes wholeheartedly that mankind is inherently good. She was raised to believe that men only turned to violence when they became corrupted by Ares, the Greek God of War, and so when she hears about World War I for the first time from US spy Steve Trevor, she unquestionably believes that Ares must be responsible. She then sets out to fulfil the Amazons' sacred duty to protect mankind from Ares, believing that killing Ares will release mankind from his corrupting influence.
Steve Trevor, while grateful for her assistance, clearly doesn’t believe that it’s as simple as that, and this sets up an interesting plot thread between the two of them, where even the audience spends most of the film unsure whether Ares is actually responsible for the ongoing war or not. Seeing mankind through Diana’s innocent eyes holds up a mirror for us to see our society, both at the time of World War I and today, and Gal Gadot does an excellent job of not only conveying Diana’s initial hope and blind faith in the inherent goodness of mankind, but also her heartbreak at the gradual realisation that mankind can be capable of great evil too.
“…packs an emotional & thought-provoking punch without ever detracting from the entertainment…”
These are, in fact, the central themes of Wonder Woman – whether mankind deserves to be saved, whether people are inherently good or evil, what value do we put on human life, and what is the moral cost of standing by and doing nothing when you can do something to help those in need. Diana herself questions “What will I be if I stay” and don’t help, and Steve Trevor sums up his philosophy with “When you see bad things in the world, you can either do nothing or do something … well, I tried ‘nothing’”. These weighty themes are highly relevant to the world today, and they pack an emotional and thought-provoking punch without ever detracting from the entertainment value of the movie.
The other MCU film that Wonder Woman bears a surface similarity to is the first Captain America film, given that both films capture a Saturday-matinee-style sense of fun and adventure, and they are both “superhero” films set against the backdrop of a World War. However, Captain America’s World War II setting reflected its straightforward good-versus-evil theme, with a message about standing up to bullies and fascists. Now some cynics might say that Wonder Woman chose the World War I setting simply to differentiate itself from Captain America: The First Avenger, but I think there’s far more to it than that.
World War I was not only a huge, morally complex conflict in which there were no clear-cut “goodies” or “baddies”, but it was also the first time where mankind started to use indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction on a large scale. The horrors of World War I really did mark a new low-point in the evolution of warfare, which ties in perfectly to the questions the film poses about mankind’s moral compass.
“…a hugely enjoyable, emotionally-driven and thought-provoking blockbuster…”
Gal Gadot shines in her first headlining role, and inhabits the character in such a way that already makes it hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Chris Pine brings plenty of his usual charisma to his supporting role, and Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright stand out in their roles as Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta, and General Antiope, Themyscira’s greatest warrior and Diana's aunt. If there’s one arguably weak link, it’s that Danny Huston and Elena Anaya don’t have a great deal to do in their roles as the film’s villains, but this is, to a degree, intentional as those characters’ motivations are kept shrouded in mystery for much of the film.
For those who felt that the previous films in the DCEU have been too po-faced, you’ll be happy to know that, despite the serious themes addressed in the film, the movie has a lot of humour as well. And if you’re a fan of movie scores (like I am), Rupert Gregson-Williams’ score is fantastic (and I’m listening to it as I write this review).
All in all, not only is Wonder Woman a hugely enjoyable, emotionally-driven and thought-provoking movie, it should also finally dispel the ridiculous notion that a woman cannot direct a blockbuster or carry a huge action-adventure film.
