Wonder Woman 2017 Review

This was originally written several years ago and has been reposted here with some updates to the writing.

Man, I swear I change these recap/review formats with every movie, well guess what, we’re doing that again.

Rapid Fire Summary

The plot of the movie is pretty straightforward, Diana has been raised in isolation hearing stories of the world of man, their many battles and of the ancient enemy Ares. Like any princess ‘she wants more’ and gets it when Steve Trevor crashes on her island. 

Steve takes Diana back with him and they embark on a mission to stop a German general from releasing a deadly new gas weapon on London. Along the way she learns that the war might not actually be the fault of Ares, but instead people are complicated and flawed and not always good. 

As she’s struggling with this revelation, surprise it is Ares after all. They fight and she slays Ares. During this she has come to accept that people are more complicated than just good and bad. Meanwhile Steve dies destroying the gas, the war ends and Diana having decided to protect mankind proceeds to go into hiding and do absolutely nothing about the many wars that follow.

A general question:

How old is Diana? She was left behind as Zeus’ kid thousands of years ago but she’s like really freaking inexperienced with her abilities if she’s a couple thousand years old.

Things I like about this film:

1. The action scenes – The Amazon fight scene on the beach was great. Unsurprisingly it reminded me of 300 with the style of combat and the mixing of slow motion and fast action. Further and I think this is very important, it’s fighting, not sexy fighting. We get to see a group of war trained women charging in and fight like warriors. There’s no Black Widow shoving her crotch in the face of every single man she fights.
   
   The standout scene of the No Man’s Land battle is great, there’s a reason everyone praises this scene. We’d seen Diana demonstrate some abilities before this but this is really the first chance she gets to show what she can be and it’s inspiring.
   
   
2. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman – I really enjoy Gal’s performance as Wonder Woman in the DCEU, she manages to nail both the performance of the naïve Diana experiencing culture shock and the more experienced Diana in other films. She manages to give Wonder Woman the presence she should have. I do think she needs more experience acting in front of a green screen. During the No Man’s Land scene and in the final battle she honestly looked kind of awkward and it hurt the scenes a little.
   
   
3. Realistic characterization of both sides of the war. WW1 was a mess, there was no clear ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’, we got to see good and bad on either side, both sides wanted peace but were manipulated by elements that didn’t. The movie makes a point of showing that there’s no ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’ people are just people but that doesn’t mean you stop trying.
   
   
4. The diversity of the main characters. Everything could stand to be more diverse but the combination of Sammy, Charlie and Chief. It’s not perfect but we get 2 people of color and a soldier struggling with PTSD. They should have given Chief an actual name though….

What I don’t like

1. Ares. This film would have been stronger if it had actually not had Ares in it. It would have fit the themes better had there not been a secret ancient god manipulating things. I get that they wanted some sort of climactic battle at the end as that’s the formula for superhero movies but as with Doomsday in BvS I think that they should have broken that formula.
   
   
2. Choice of Ares. Yes Ares again. If this film is to have an Ares and have a final battle scene with Diana then I don’t think it should have been Remus Lupin. It should have been Dr Poison. First having Ares be a woman would be an interesting twist (or maybe a different Greek God) on the man vs woman discussion they keep skirting around. It would fit better thematically and require very little rewriting. Heck she already had a major wound which could have been where Zeus hurt her.
   
   
3. The final battle, something about it just feels lackluster. It’s very little actual direct fighting and more just throwing things at each other. This is where Gal’s awkwardness in front of a green screen really stands out.
   
   
4. What is the message of the film? Not every film needs a message but it’s very clear this one wanted a message about the horrors of war and that people are flawed but can still be good. The movie seems very intent on driving it into Diana that she’s wrong and that there isn’t an Ares and that it’s people who made the choice to have this war but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying to help people. Then it pitches it in garbage and shows that yes, there is in fact an Ares inspiring people.
   
   
5. Diana after this film. So, she learns that people can be good and bad without the influence of a god (or with the influence of a god) and still decides to protect them and help them and then… doesn’t. She really doesn’t. She stays out of the following wars and spends 70 years pining over Steve until WW84. This movie would have made more sense if there hadn’t been an Ares and she walked away disillusioned with mankind until a later movie brought her out of it.
   
   
6. Diana’s origin, not the worst origin they’ve ever done for her and the Amazons but I prefer the sculpted by clay origin by far. Wonder Woman is largely about Women yet they seem to love to take her origin and make it about men, either be it with Zeus or in the DCAU Hades.

Final Comments

This movie reminds me of 2 other films. The first is obvious and easy to see why, Captain America the First Avenger. The structure, plot and characters are similar. It’s just about different wars but the naïve superhuman eager to prove themselves in battle enters a world war and teams up with a diverse group of soldiers to save the world. Steve Trevor’s death actually reminded me a lot of Cap’s diving into the water with his plane.

The second film of all things is Fifth Element. Diana really reminds me of Leloo: Chosen one warrior woman from another culture arriving in ours and learning the horrors of war and having to overcome her illusions being shattered.

Overall this movie is excellent. Gal Gadot gives a wonderful performance as Wonder Woman. Chris Pine is a great fit for Steve Trevor, love Etta Candy and the secondary cast of Sameer, Charlie and Chief are great. I wish we got to spend more time with them.