Review of Wonder Woman (2017) by Derrick C — 17 Jun 2017

The early buzz surrounding this film had me eager to see it. I'm a fan of Gal Gadot and thought she was one of the few bright spots in Dawn of Justice. The early trailers depicted a story more reminiscent of Marvel's Captain America, which I liked a lot. I think for comic book movies to have a broad appeal they really have to stay grounded to the real world, as much as possible. The closer these movies can orbit the real world, the easier it is for the audience to relate to the material. The first Avengers movie is a classic example of this. Even with all the other-worldly destruction the climax brings, the diner scene reminds us that the characters still exists in our world, if only for periods of time.

Unfortunately, WW bites off more than it can chew from the very beginning. Origin stories are tough to pull off. Reveal to little of a characters backstory and the audience is constantly questioning the how's and why's of the charcter''s abilities. Divulge too much of the backstory and the audience is forced too far from the orbit of reality. Guardians of the Galaxy can takes certain liberties because it takes place in a different universe. We suspend reality when we take the ride. It's much harder to with Superman because we all know where Kansas is and what could or couldn't exist there.

By showing WW as a small child from an island inahabited only by women, it forces the audience to ask to many questions. And, these questions remove the entire mystery of Wonder Woman. And, that's part of her appeal. Her backstory could have been revealed to us in small chewable bites. Instead, the early scenes with Chris Pine's Steve Trevor are awkward. We know Diana would be naive to certain things in the outside world. But, it's difficult to understand a character that can speak 8 languages and has super human abilities, yet has never seen a man.

Sometimes, it's just better to start the story in the middle. It's not necessary to give the audience all the story all at once.

The biggest disappointments are really with the movies inability to expand on some of the more human elements of the story. Diana seems overwhelmed by the atrocities of war, but the movie doesn't dwell on this enough. It's ashamed because the emotional impact could have served them film much better than the extended secenes of.

Diana as a child. Strangely enough, the film never reaches the dark territory that Man of Steel or Dawn of Justice ventured into even though it would have been more appropiate here.

Finally, there is the utter mess that is the final act. Completely out of place and over the top, the final 20 minutes are cringe worthy. We know that Diana possess super human strength and abilities, but she is clearly not impervious to bullets. However, by the end of the movie we are expected to believe that she can be pounded into the ground like rag doll, covered in tons of debris, levitate, and fly. Bullets can hurt her, but in every other sense she seems invincible.

Man of Steel grew into its climax. The trajectory of that movie made the ending inevitable. DOJ suffered from a climax that was unimaginative and unnecessary. WW's is just detached. It's rarely a good sign for a movie to have four different writers, and here it shows. It's too bad, because Gal Gadot is a great Wonder Woman.