Wonder Woman is a 2017 action/adventure film directed by Patty Jenkins, and is the fourth installment in the DC Extended Universe. The films stars the beautiful Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, and David Thewlis. The film takes place in a time before the Wonder Woman, back when Diana was just a young princess of the Amazons. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.
Congratulations DC, you finally did it. After almost a year of silence in the form of DC movies, we finally got what we deserved. Although a more true and darker form of storytelling, DC has been trying to make a smash hit for their extended universe for quite some time now. The past few films have been sort of duds, but unlike Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman does things right and has become a smash hit in a matter of no time. A lot of the credit has to go to the great team behind this movie (more specifically Patty Jenkins), but although this was the saving grace that DC needed in a time of fantastic Marvel movies, it still suffers from some minor issues.
Unlike a lot of my reviews where I work my way from the good to the bad, I’m going to first talk about what I felt this film didn’t do so well. Although the characters and plot were both pretty solid, it still faced some minor issues. The main complaint that I had about this film was mainly due to its climatic reveal towards the end. This film tried so hard to have a Nolanesque twist towards the end, but it was just way too predictable in my opinion. A lot of my friends who saw it didn’t even the see the twist from a mile away, but I also had some other friends who [aren’t so versed in film] and had no issue predicting the film’s climax either. There were also some moments in CGI that absolutely took me out of the film, as Wonder Woman does rely heavily on computer animated visuals throughout the majority of this film. That’s not entirely a bad thing, I just don’t know how well it will stand the test of time.
Another minor issue I had with this film was something I had negatively critiqued Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on, as this film doesn’t set up the Justice League at all. There’s a small reference to Bruce Wayne in the beginning of this film, but that’s about it. You would honestly think that there would have been a tad bit of narrative to bridge the upcoming November film to this one, but there just isn’t any. It’s almost as if this movie tries to stand alone in a series that is obviously much stronger when it all ties together, and even Suicide Squad featured a little Batman plug which helped connect the multiple films to the DCEU. I know I’m being very particular here, but it’s just something to think about.
Other than those minuet issues, I didn’t really have any other problems with this film. The thing I found myself enjoying the most was actually Chris Pine’s character. Whether it be that I’m a guy or something completely different, I just felt like the audience (and myself) had an easier time relating to him. His character was also a great source of comic relief, and I found that the comedic elements seen throughout this film flowed a lot better than that of Suicide Squad. But lets talk about the star herself, Gal Gadot. I don’t know how else to describe her performance other than by using the word: Stellar. This woman has it all, shes beautiful, smart, a great actor, this woman is the real deal and the best person to play Wonder Woman, hands down. There wasn’t a single moment where I felt taken out of the film because of her acting, and this film is really something because of her.
There wasn’t too much more that I wanted to focus on when it came to this movie. The one thing that saddened me a little was the fact that Hans Zimmer did not return to his role to score this film. Although I knew that this was going to happen a long time ago as Zimmer has seemingly “retired” from superhero films, it was still heartbreaking not to hear his music take the stage. Sure, Rupert Gregson-Williams did a fantastic job with the score, but I’m a Zimmer fanboy and would have loved to have heard his work in this film. Gregson-Williams did include Zimmer’s theme for the woman in red and blue, but it wasn’t featured as prominently since this was more of an origin story, and Wonder Woman’s theme is one that she eventually evolves into.
So that’s all I really have to talk about regarding this film. It was a good film, and a great change in pace for the DC Extended Universe, and I hope to see Snyder learn from this film with Justice League later this year. Wonder Woman featured a stellar cast, a fantastic lead, a great origin story, and beautiful score, but still suffered from some minor writing issues, and was a little too reliant on its CGI. Gal Gadot nails her role, yet again, and won herself a “Good” on theVade Review Bar for Wonder Woman. Although this is the film the DCEU needed, I look forward to November with the Justice League since that’s the film that we deserve.
