Wonder Woman

Reviewed By: Nick Evans

Score: 8/10

Recommendation: Full Price Ticket

Summary: Tantalizingly close to being one of the best super hero films of all time.

Review:

Wonder Woman is the newest installment in DC's frantic game of "catch up" as they desperately prepare for Justice League later this year. Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad have been a mix bag ranging from bad to not-that-good but I was hopeful after seeing the early trailers that Wonder Woman might be a turning point. I was right!

Wonder Woman follows Diana Prince, an Amazon woman who has been trained to become the greatest warrior of all of the Amazon women. She meets Steve (definitely not Rogers) who is a World War 1 (definitely different from Captain America's WWII) spy after he crash lands his plane near her island and decides to save the world from the war created by Ares. The film was directed by Patty Jenkins and stars Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and Chris Pine (Steve Not-Rogers).

One of the hardest parts of building these film universes, that are becoming oh so popular, is that multiple directors need to create their own takes on stories that also fit into a larger narrative and style even though they follow completely different characters. The DC universe is dark and hyper violent and is distinctly super human (instead of Marvel's normal attempt to explain everything with science... until recently... I'm looking at you Benedict). The style of Wonder Woman fits with the other films well but also does so without hating happiness and fun. It has humor! I know right? It has people smiling! Something I never thought DC would have unless it was the Joker. And it worked! I will go into the one great problem with the film in the spoiler section but just as a tease, there is one part of the film that is unnecessary and as a result, lacks most of the emotional heart the rest of the film has.

Wonder Woman really is all that it is cracked up to be. A thoroughly entertaining ride with likeable characters and an entertaining plot. The setting of World War I is gorgeous even though it was just as dirty as the hopeless Great War was for the soldiers. Contrast that to the colorful costume of Wonder Woman and her determination to create peace. Overall Wonder Woman is easily the best DC film since Christopher Nolan took his talents to Dunkirk Beach. I award Wonder Woman with 8 little glass lassos out of 10.



Spoiler Section

Well, I'm sure you already know what I'm going to complain about. Well you're right, the reveal that David Thewlis' character is actually Ares. There are two reasons I didn't like it. First is the obvious reason: the fight between Wonder Woman and Ares felt meaningless because David Thewlis' character was so unimportant throughout the rest of the film that his betrayal had no impact.
The fight just seemed like meaningless violence. Yeah it was eye candy, but I might as well have watched a YouTube video of best Anime fights without knowing any of the context. Or watched any Transformers movie...

The second reason is because of the situation where Wonder Woman found herself. She had just killed who she thought was Ares and realized that the war didn't end. Maybe it's because it matches my worldview that people can do bad things all on their own (something Ares says later). But how fresh an idea is that? Every super hero movie has one big bad guy that has to be stopped and then suddenly everything is Dios Ex Machina'ed. The world never seems to be so cut and dry. Then because I guess there wasn't enough insane/hard to follow violence and some visual effects guys were doing some cool work, we got the Ares fight. I was really bummed that it didn't have the courage to actually try something radically different. So allow me to humor my change to the end of the movie and let me know what you think in the comments below if this would be an improvement or not. I know the Wonder Woman comics might have Ares as a big deal, but I'm not a comic book guy... just a film critic.

Changes to make Nick really happy:

1) Make the fight against General Ludendorff bigger (to make up for the fact that I'm going to get rid of the Ares fight all together). He has some magic Red Skull Serum anyways, but it more effective.
2) Keep the scene after Ludendorff's death exactly the same! Chris Pine says some awesome lines in there.
3) Have Wonder Woman struggle to decide what "she believes" like Chris Pine suggested and maybe have flashbacks to the Native American guy's story and how both sides had done evil things.
4) Wonder Woman decides to help Steve Not-Rogers realizing they are fighting for peace and that they are completely overwhelmed by the Germans.
5) Comrades under fire distracts Diana while Steve takes plane into air and blows it up.
6) That whole flashback love scene can still happen, maybe Diana is just confused because she didn't realize what Steve is about to do.
7) No Ares fight.
8) Keep the modern day dialogue part too.

Just some thoughts.