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Wonder Woman Renews Interest In a Long Underused Character (Spoiler-Free Review)

Entertaining for mass audiences and empowering for women, without pushing social messages.

By Scene About It?Published 7 years ago 4 min read
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Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) trades the spandex of the 70's for impressive colorful armor in this 2017 feature film debut.

With a universe of popular characters as large as D.C.'s, it's strange how they've only recycled Batman and Superman over the last 50 decades at the forefront of their big budget material and reboots. Every character outside of these two hero's universes has either been used for a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon show or short-lived tv series. But thanks to the 2013 film Man of Steel (yet another Superman reboot), D.C. has sought to catch up with Marvel's blueprint of bringing lesser-used heroes to the big screen. Man of Steel served as a test pilot for its sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which hinted at building the Justice League and was also a big-screen debut for the heroine of the hour, Wonder Woman. This is a big deal, considering the character has had little use over the decades since her tv show of the mid-70's.

One thing noticeable about Wonder Woman right off the bat is that it maintains an even pace of humor, drama and action throughout the film. There is no boring dialogue, corny one-liner joke or gritty action meant just to fill up time. This is especially important, considering the estimated two hour running time viewers will sit through. In the opening scene, we see the island of Themyscira, a gigantic rocky hill surrounded by sky blue oceans and sunny skies. This island is colorful and dominated by an all-woman community known as the Amazons; strong warrior women, granted this paradise to live in by Zeus, the thunder god of Greek mythology.

Diana, princess of Themyscira is a strong-willed child created from clay by Zeus, showing a headstrong attitude and super strength from an early age. She's eventually trained by the Amazons to be a warrior. This setting may lightly remind you of "Zena Warrior Princess" (for those old enough to remember the 90's sitcom). Diana only knows battling as a tool to exercise, not for greed, jealousy and death as humans do. It becomes clear shortly after her first contact with saving a mortal man from death as to how different their worlds are. With the help of Captain Steve Trevor, the first man she has ever seen, she sails into London and is introduced to the world of mankind, on a quest to naively save man from his self-destructive nature by killing Aires, god of war.

The difference between the two worlds is clear in its symbolism; Themyscira's pure, sunny and colorful setting is replaced by cold, dim and foggy elements when she and Captain Trevor set foot in London. The most humorous part of the film is discovering the human world through the childish innocence of Diana's eyes; being outspoken and openly asking questions in a time where women were expected to be quiet around men, with few little legal rights in the western world. This film could've easily pushed some feminist undertones (given people's politically correct sensitivity in 2017) but surprisingly, it didn't; instead Wonder Woman is basically unaware of when she's even facing underestimated sexist remarks (having never encountered men). The movie lets her knowledge and physical strength show and prove her skills to the shock of naysayers.

There's not a ton of screen time in her trademark red, gold and blue armor, but there's no boredom waiting for it, either. In fact, she gets into action putting those weapons to use long before she's suited up. When in uniform though, the film goes all-out with an amazing slow-mo choreography reminiscent of 300 and The Matrix. She has an arsenal of weapons, from her sword and shield, her bullet-proof bracelets of submission, metallic bullet-proof cuffs around her wrists and the lasso of truth, a glowing lasso that weakens anyone she ties up into giving up full details. In short, Wonder Woman was a great film. It bridged the gap D.C. films have long needed between gritty realism and light-hearted humor. It's sad that in all these decades, no other major comic-book movie has solely starred a super heroine. But–better late than never. If they follow this movie's blueprint of balance, D.C. just may make stars out of a lot of other lesser known heroes, just like Marvel Films did.

comicsmoviepop culturereviewsocial mediasuperheroes
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Scene About It?

Blogger + Promoter + Graphic Designerwww.sceneaboutit.com

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