Aug 30, 2018
Before I start with my thoughts on this and everything surrounding, let me just say that, FINALLY, the DC Extended Universe gets one right with this movie. You don't know how long I've been waiting to say those words. Though, to be fair, after The Dark Knight Trilogy (THE best superhero trilogy bar none), I haven't kept up with any of DC's efforts to create its own massive universe. I find Superman to be interminably boring, so I had no interest (outside of Michael Shannon) in seeing Man of Steel. DC, in my opinion, made the wrong choice to keep Batman dark and brooding after The Dark Knight Trilogy so, again, I had no real interest in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice outside of maybe seeing Wonder Woman. DC has done a poor job at building its own extended universe so, once again, I had no interest in the Justice League movie. You see how it is. Of the movies in this universe, the only one I've seen was Suicide Squad, which, while decent, wasn't good and squandered its potential. Wonder Woman was the only shining beacon of hope in the horizon, the chance to (finally) do a female superhero movie right. Elektra and Catwoman both sucked and Marvel, since their ascent, wasted their chance to be first in this race by not doing a Black Widow movie. Here's the thing though, before I get to Wonder Woman, and I've mentioned this a lot, but DC Comics is essentially playing catch-up with Marvel. That's why you see them bumbling and fumbling major movies, because they know they have to catch up, since Marvel has, pretty much had a monopoly on this superhero movie business since Iron Man came out in 2008. The thing about Marvel is that they knew they couldn't rush things, they had to slowly plant the seeds for something bigger and, now, you see that that patience has paid off immensely. I don't know how much money the MCU has raked in for Disney (and this is counting merchandising, DVD sales and other forms of revenue), but it has to be a multi-billion dollar franchise for Disney. DC hasn't had the same patience, as they're following the same template without understanding why it worked in the first place. It can't be all at once, it has to be done little by little. Rome wasn't built in a day and DC has attempted to build Rome (with its extended universe) in 20 minutes. But, at the same time, DC wasn't always a point of mockery. DC characters were the first to make the transition from comic to successful major motion pictures with Superman (in 1978) and Batman (in 1989). Marvel was playing catch-up to DC in the era following Batman's successful release. They released some truly awful movies in the 90s, like Captain America in 1990 and The Fantastic Four in 94, which was so bad that it hasn't been released yet. There may have been others, but those are the major ones that pop to mind. So, in DC's defense, they can still make something of their universe. But, and to me this is most important, the whole thing needs to not be so dark and serious. Marvel has succeeded in large part because they know how to pace their movies. They know that you need comedy in movies like this. It can't be all darkness and brooding characters struggling with their own moral dilemmas about what is right and what is wrong. The whole look of the films also needs some more life injected into them. Marvel movies are diverse in settings and cinematography, so, in spite of being set in the same universe, the MCU films feel different tonally and visually. In the DC, every movie sort of looks the same. With a dark, grey and blue hue. And, as great as this movie is, once they get to London, it's really more of the same in terms of visuals. Having said all of that, let's move on shall we? I'm honestly quite surprised that DC waited THIS long to make a Wonder Woman movie, particularly when, to me, this is the movie that should have started your whole extended universe. This should have been the starting point for all things DCEU. Firstly, if we're doing this in chronological order so, technically, this should have been first and, secondly, it's a great movie, so you start off with this and people would actually be pumped for the DCEU instead of looking at things so cynically now. Because as things are now, Wonder Woman feels like the exception to the rule that DCEU movies aren't exactly good. It's an asterisk. And that's not to minimize this film's significance, because I do like the shift and I feel that DC knows that, at least for this moment in time, Wonder Woman is its most important character. People have seen Superman and they've seen Batman and that's not to say that they're tired of the same shit, because there's still many fanboys/girls out there, but I think people want something that's new in that universe and Wonder Woman provides that for people. So that's why, in my opinion, DC needs to worry far more about Wonder Woman, as she needs to be their top priority, for your cinematic universe going forward as opposed to the old, familiar faces. Having said that, let's get going, shall we? I think first I need to talk about Gal Gadot's casting as Wonder Woman. At first, honestly, I didn't get it. Don't get me wrong, Gal Gadot is a very talented and attractive woman, but I just didn't get IT for the longest time. But, having finally seen her as this character, I understand the decision to cast her in the role. Firstly, for some reason or another, she's even more stunningly beautiful as Wonder Woman than even I imagined. Plus, honestly, I find she brings all the values to the character that she needs. So, in my opinion, it's a good combination of both. Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) herself comes from a long line of Amazonian warrior women created by Zeus in order to protect mankind, really, from itself. Ares, the god of war, being tots jelly of humanity, decided to plot its destruction by influencing them and his influence leading to the humans starting wars against each other. Ares has also killed all of the gods with the exception of Zeus himself. Zeus used the last of his power to wound Ares and making him retreat. Long story short, Zeus essentially hid Themyscira (the island the Amazons live in) to keep from Ares from finding it and left them a weapon called the Godkiller for Ares' return. Blah, blah, blah, long story short, Steve Trevor (an Allied spy) crashes his plane off the coast of Themyscira, wherein German soldiers follow him and there, they fight against the Amazonian women who, after losing some of their own, including Diana's aunt, defeat the German soldiers. Steve, after telling them about the Great War (WWI) attempts to enlist the help of the Amazonian women in order to turn the tide of war, but Hippolyta (Diana's mother) has none of it. Steve has found this notebook by this German doctor that tells of an attempt to create a deadlier form of mustard gas, which he's trying to put a stop to or else millions more will die. Diana, being incredibly idealistic, figures that this is Ares' return to the world of men and she needs to put a stop to it by killing Ares. Diana eventually does leave with Steve, she'll never be able to return to Themyscira again as a result. So, eventually, Steve and Diana make their way to London, where they begin their plan to fight back against the Germans (pre-Hitler) and attempt to put a stop to this deadlier mustard gas. I will say that the movie does miss a chance to tell an incredibly interesting story of Diana having to adjust to the gender differences once she makes it to London. Women aren't allowed in the military, they're not even allowed in this war council to discuss an armistice between them and the Germans. Diana, of course, finds her way in this meeting and she browbeats one of the generals for being a coward, acting as if the lives of his soldiers are less important than his own and not fighting alongside his men. Women, at least in this point in time, have not been allowed the vote either. And, honestly, it would have been incredibly interesting to explore that dynamic of Diana, coming from an island where women are clearly superior in every way (even though there's no men) to a place where women are so clearly oppressed. There's a few hints of it here and there, but I think the movie would have benefited from exploring that dynamic a little bit more, in my opinion. One of the things I liked about this movie is that, unlike a lot of superhero movies, I do think they try to give a face at the people that are being affected by the war and how that motivates Diana to try and help them, whether it's by driving the German soldiers from this small town or getting rid of Dr. Maru and Ludendorff, the ones not letting this armistice go through and who are also developing the deadlier mustard gas. There's an interesting debate here that, honestly, I wish the movie would have stuck with. There comes a point, much later in the film where Diana kills Ludendorff, as has been her goal all along, since she feels Ludendorff is Ares and killing him stops the fighting. She does, in fact, kill Ludendorf, but the fighting does not stop. In fact, you could argue, that it gets worse. Diana questions Steve about why the fighting hasn't stopped and there's a discussion between the two where Steve says that, maybe, just maybe that's just how we are, we're (hard)wired to self-destruct. There's just something to the idea that Diana believes that only one person is to blame for all of this and by stopping that one person stops the war itself. It's an interesting idea because it brings to mind the questions that, really, maybe we're not really worth saving in some way, if all we do is keep killing each other every few years. Not many superhero movies deal with this topic in this way. But, of course, you could say that it's a bit of a red herring given that, in fact, Ludendorff was not Ares and, instead, was someone they considered an ally. But it's interesting to explore regardless, given that Diana is still so naive about certain things in 'modern' times and how her idealistic values and ideas aren't shared by everyone around her. I think that's probably one of the best thing this movie does, just sort of explore the idea that not everyone shares Diana's values and how, in a way, her views are sort either antiquated, ahead of their time or both. Steve, who's been helpful to her every step of the way, does stand in her way in some scenes before, of course, Diana takes matter into her own hands. Diana and Steve's relationship is also one of the strongest points of the movies. This is in large part, of course, to how great Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are, their chemistry is excellent and, while the movie does contain a romantic angle between the two, it doesn't feel forced or unnatural. As I mention, Gal Gadot's performance is very strong. She's a badass, but she also brings heart and life to the character. She's not necessarily a goody two-shoes like Captain America, but they share some similarities in how they view the world. You can see how people would be drawn to her kind and compassionate nature and that's not something that, say, a lot of actors playing superheroes are able to capture. The film does have a good bit of action and it is pretty damn good all things considered. There were some parts that I felt were too Zak Snyder-y, like the whole slo-mo things that Zak Snyder abused in 300. But, at the very least, in this case, it can be explained by the fact that one of Diana's superpowers is seeing bullets in slo-mo, which allows her to deflect them before they harm her or anybody. So, at least, it's not a stylistic choice that was abused, it has actual significance. The action gets a thumbs up from me as if that wasn't obvious. So you know how I mentioned earlier that the movie touches on the fact that, maybe, humanity isn't worth saving if all we are is doomed to destroy ourselves. Well, later on in the movie, Diana comes to the realization that, in spite of everything, humanity is worth fighting for. One of the things I didn't like, there's actually a couple of minor issues I had, is the fact that the whole ending of Diana saying that she believes love will end up saving us is really kind of corny and cheesy. Not that the message isn't a worthy one, it's just how it's handled. And, really, Steve's ultimate act of sacrifice was one made for love, so it makes sense that Diana would believe that, it's execution is still a bit corny. Another thing that bothered me is that, ultimately, the fighting DID stop after Diana killed Ares and, I don't know, I feel like that's too simplistic of a conclusion for something as complex as the first World War. I like the earlier themes which, while certainly more bleak (and that's something DCEU could do to remove from its movies), it's still a better conclusion and, at the same time, Diana can still come to the same conclusion she did as a result of Steve's actions. Minor issues, really, as it didn't really affect my overall enjoyment of the film. Having said that, do I think that this is one of the best superhero movies ever made? No, not really. It's the best movie based on one of DC's properties since the Dark Knight Trilogy finished off in 2012. It's a great superhero movie, with a strong origin story at its core, great performances from Gal Gadot and Chris Pine and a more humanistic approach to its conflict, in that the people Diana and Steve are trying to save aren't entirely faceless as they usually are in these movies (even in the MCU). But, at the same time, there's nothing really about this movie that extends the boundaries of what we know the superhero genre to be. It works solely within that framework. And there's nothing wrong with that but, to me, the best superhero movies transcend their framework to become something more, something fresh within this genre and, honestly, I don't think this offered anything fresh. Maybe that's just me. Regardless of all of that, this is still a great superhero movie and, as mentioned, this should have been DC's first step in their attempts to create their own cinematic universe. As such, we cannot turn back time and, as I mentioned earlier, Wonder Woman should be DC's top priority right now. Wonder Woman needs to be the centerpiece of their extended universe if they want to come close to rivaling Marvel. Or even just being a strong number 2. They're number 2 by default, but they're not a strong number 2. With that said, this is a great start to this franchise and I'm eagerly looking forward to more from this character and how DC decides to expand the character. I would easily recommend this.
Verified