Review of Wonder Woman (2017) by Youngbuck — 02 Jun 2017

I must first mention my personal bias in favor of Gal Gadot (being Israeli myself) and my sincere hope that this movie would be both as financially successful and critically acclaimed as many of the installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, I was relieved to discover that the film is quite good. Not perfect, and I could see some of the flaws that many of the critics pointed out. Yet these flaws were utterly eclipsed by the films stronger points.

Gadot is certainly new to acting and has little experience, yet it would seem that Snyder and Jenkins have found the perfect fit for the titular character. She plays Wonder Woman as simultaneously strong, confident, naive and vulnerable - a difficult tap dance at the best of times. And while it would have been so easy to emasculate Chris Pine on screen, Jenkins makes the conscious choice not to make Steve Trevor neither a weakling nor a dude in distress. Pine's wry, war weary and cynical Steve Trevor is a good foil for Diana's optimism and hopefulness. The chemistry between Pine and Gadot is excellent and the budding romance is handled with great subtly and finesse. And more marvelous than that, is the decision to not hide Gadot's Israeli accent and ask all the other Amazons to mimic it in their own way. Speaking of which, if there is one point that isn't explored enough, it's the Amazons. Connie Nielsen does regal so effortlessly as Hippolyta while Robin Wright plays the bad ass General Antiope so wonderfully that they are both a joy to watch. I would have liked to see more of Themiscyra and more of Amazons but then this is an action film about Diana after all.

I will admit that the visual effects were not as great as they could have been, especially in the third act. Yet all too many movies fall into the classic Hollywood trap of substituting substance with fireworks. I would also admit that the villains are not fleshed out enough and their motives and characters are hardly ever explored. Yet here too other films of the genre rarely manage to present better villains. I can also understand the repeated criticism that this film failed to rise above the limitations of the comic book genre, especially since it certainly had the potential for it. Yet as a comic book movie fan, I will admit that I still have the same expectations that many of my fellows have - which make the third act ultimately necessary. A sequel is certainly in order and hopefully Jenkins will return to helm along with Gadot. Given that this film has been compared to Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger, we can perhaps expect Wonder Woman 2 to be just as successful as its sequels and transcend the limitations of the genre in a way that this film could not and still be a box office hit at the same time. It certainly has a firm foundation to build upon now.