Wonder Woman follows the coming of age of Diana (Gal Gadot), Princess of the hidden island paradise Themiscyra. Yearning to become a warrior like the rest of the Amazons on the island, Diana meets Steve Trevor, an American working as a spy for the British during WWI (Chris Pine) after he crash lands in front of her. Trevor informs the Amazons of the massive conflict that’s raging in the outside world and, convinced that the Greek god of war Ares is behind the threat and that she can stop it, Diana leaves home for the first time.
Wonder Woman is a portrayal of the hero’s journey and dilemma and also touches on the nature of humans. From the moment we first meet Diana, we see the hero’s call to adventure; her yearning to train under her aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) as an Amazon warrior despite her mother Queen Hippolyta’s (Connie Nielsen) refusal to let her. Once she leaves her sheltered, very black and white existence in the homogeneous (both in gender and thought) Themyscira into the complicated, morally grey world of man, Diana begins to learn that her desire to fix everything quickly and belief that humans are inherently good may not be as cut and dry as she thinks. This constant dilemma of wanting to fix everything and everyone but being unable to is a source of constant consternation for Diana and frustration and conflict between her and Steve Trevor. This dilemma of our hero and her having to accept that no, not everyone can be saved and not everyone is all good or all bad and having to find her place as a person wanting to do good things for the world within this paradigm is the main theme of the movie and the lesson that will probably connect with most viewers long after watching.
The exploration of the nature of mankind that serves as the basis for Diana’s dilemma is the film’s second theme and almost serves as the defacto villain in the movie. Diana is taught from birth to believe that mankind was created to be good at their core and only fought wars due to coercion from Ares. As she finds out as the film goes on, mankind consists of the duality described above. Two of the best moments displaying Diana’s realization of this (aside from the major one in the third act) were during a meeting amongst British generals and a fireside conversation with battle ally Chief (Eugene Brave Rock). Diana berates the generals when they discuss knowingly sacrificing the lives of soldiers in lieu of taking direct action against a new gas weapons manufacturing facility. Unlike the generals in Themyscira, the British do not fight with their soldiers and instead cavalierly discussing letting them die while sitting in offices. Diana is taken aback and angered at the casual way they do so and their complete willingness to. In her conversation with Chief, he tells her that he smuggles during the Great War because his land back home has been stolen from his people and at least in Europe, he is free. When asked who took his people’s land, Chief tells her it was the Americans, who the heroic Steve Trevor belongs to. With a great bit of face acting (in a movie filled with it and from the gifted face actress Gadot), we see Diana dismayed to see that someone for whom her respect has been growing in spades could belong to group that would do that to another. There are also more subtle touches like Diana’s bewilderment at Chief being a smuggler without a side during the war, but later seeing him refusing money from grateful villagers they saved in Veld. Coming to terms with whether or not humanity is worth saving in light of their equal propensity for good and evil makes up the bulk of our time with Diana and is portrayed well on screen.
Despite the presence of this theme of the nature of man, I just didn’t feel as if the topic got more than a surface level analysis when it came to the movie’s villains. The theme was touched on, it just didn’t carry the full weight of the subject and for me, that held Wonder Woman back from being great instead of just very good. The full focus of the movie is on Diana and while that is the most crowd pleasing, deeper analysis of the villains is what elevates great comic book movies. Danny Huston plays General Ludendorff, a real life German general from WWI and Spanish actress Elena Anaya plays Dr. Isabel Maru, nicknamed Dr. Poison. Both offer a peek into man’s more corruptible side, being the irredeemable foils for Diana. But we don’t spend a lot of time on the backstory of either when their motivations could flesh out the theme of man’s nature much more and make it more interesting. Getting a look into Dr. Poison’s background, for instance. She wears the fames plaster masks made for WWI veterans with facial injuries and finding out how she came to get this injury and how it affected her psyche and her choice to work to manufacture deadly gases could’ve fleshed out man’s corruptible nature much more. In a scene during the third act, Steve Trevor attempts to seduce Dr. Poison in order to gain information for her. He does this by playing on her need to be appreciated and it works for a time. This hinted at some conflicted feelings neglect and are something that I feel the movie would have benefited from exploring.
The film’s main villain Ares could have been similarly fleshed out and made more interesting. His distrust of man’s dual nature and feeling that it made them irredeemable matched the complexity of two previous antagonists in DC films, General Zod (Zod’s pre-programmed purpose in life and the question of free will) and Lex Luthor (the feeling of powerlessness and the problem of evil). Unlike those characters however, this movie neglected to go in depth and explore his argument and its validity, or lack thereof, like the movies featuring Zod and Luthor did. That substantive time spent with the villains, their stories, and their motivation is the difference between good and great and is what holds this movie back from being “all-time great” in my eyes. If they had dug a little deeper into the subject, it would’ve gone to that next level. The success of the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe has shown that the general audience prefers comic book films where the hero alone is at the center and Wonder Woman certainly is that. This is a large part of the reason why the movie is such a critical hit but what has made DC Films’ output to this point stand out for me is its practice of creating strong villains that compliment but also substantially challenge and question their heroes’ belief systems and journeys to finding themselves rather than being mere generic obstacles that they encounter along the way. Ultimately, the villains’ motivations and the films are touched upon and are satisfactory, and the movie is still of high quality. But, part of me does wonder “What if” because it is so close to being truly great if this problem was addressed. Even if that is slightly perfectionist.
I did really enjoy the sequences during the first act of the film that took place on Themyscira. The combination of Greek mythology, this race of female warriors, and the diversity on the island seemed different and a breath of fresh air. I’m now looking forward to Justice League where that film’s prologue will give us another glimpse at the Amazons in action. The action sequences were very good but I did feel that there was a little too much slow motion. Many of the sequences would have benefited from being allowed to breathe and play out at a normal speed rather than being slowed down.
The performances in Wonder Woman are very good with Gadot and Pine being transcendent. Gadot is poised to become a breakout star with her portrayal of Diana, after encountering much doubt and hesitation up to this point about her abilities. Her first appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice gave us a peek at her potential to play the part (and showed her ability to face act which, I’ll say again, she has a genuine gift for doing) and her performance here ended any questions about her acting ability. She is charming, funny, physically capable of selling the action sequences, and deftly portrayed being a fish out of water. Chris Pine was perfect as a male sidekick; letting the woman be the capable hero without overcompensating toward being a bumbling, ineffectual male damsel in distress. He perfectly portrayed a character that had to explain the intricacies of 20th century society to a woman with no experience with them and the frustrations that come with it. Their chemistry as both partners and romantic interests were strong and believable and some of the best moments of the movie. Despite not having much to do and a couple of campy lines, I did enjoy Anaya as Dr. Poison and as discussed above, feel that she could have been even better with more to work with. She has had some measure of success in her native Spain and I hope this leads to more work for her here. David Thewlis as Sir Patrick/Ares worked for me, although it has been hit or miss with others. I really enjoyed his reveal as the god of war and felt it was well done and the monologue was above average (wink wink).
Wonder Woman has the potential to be a game changer for Hollywood. With a close to $100 million opening weekend, a woman in the starring action role, and a woman behind the camera, the fact that it has become a phenomenon will hopefully lead to more doors opening for women in film. The impact that the movie has had on female viewers is special and long overdue. I believe Wonder Woman will be generation defining for little girls like Superman: The Movie and Batman (1989) were for little boys. Despite the flaws that exist in the film, it is a landmark entry in a genre that seems at times to be headed toward too much formulaic creation and sameness and is simply a very good movie overall. Director Patty Jenkins expertly juggles multiple tones in the movie; fantasy, period piece, comic book, comedy, and romance. The amount of emotion present in the story and how it connects with the viewer is exceptional. It also must be commended for its replay value and the fact that it improves upon each viewing. The film really has the potential to be one of the 3-5 movies you remember fondly from this year, even though it may not be in your top 5 for 2017 by the end of the year.
The question of whether or not female action/comic book movies are viable is now dead. Hopefully the opportunities available to women to star in and make them are now alive and well.
Image: Warner Bros.
