Wonder Woman Review

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While watching the first battle scene in Wonder Woman, it was the first time I caught myself not missing a single bit of the action. I wasn’t bored for a start, and the choreography was so well orchestrated along with a perfect use of slow motion where you see everything rather than it being a mess, which I have found with a lot of action scenes in other films recently. This interest kept me going throughout the entire film.

Wonder Woman follows Diana’s (Gal Gadot) origin story–a child made by Zeus himself, destined to kill Ares with the killer of god's sword, bestowed to the Amazonians. She isn’t aware of this, but her very nature guides her to finding Ares despite the disbelief of every human she encounters in her path. Her naïve understanding of the world of humans reflects a childlike mind, questioning why the War has even started and why innocent lives are being lost. She is accompanied throughout her journey to find Ares by Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) who is a British spy that she saves, and he introduces her to this new world that she has to figure out.

Unlike films such as Batman vs. Superman (which is an unfair comparison, as Wonder Woman looks down on that film exactly like Ares to a human) this film is much lighter while still being brutal. Raised as a warrior, not one bad person is spared when it comes to Diana protecting those who are suffering. Unlike Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger, a film that shares a lot of the same story points and characteristics to Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman and DC don't hold back in showing the power and strength that Diana has, instead of Captain America: The First Avenger's more family friendly approach to displaying how strong and powerful your heroes are. Diana is seen actually putting her life on the line in the middle of a battle to save people and giving the bad guys what they deserve.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema did a special screening of the film for female viewers only. They received a lot of negative criticism from people saying that they were sexist and that they should do special screenings for “Thor, Spiderman, Star Wars etc”. See, they had to say “etc” because Twitter can only allow so many characters. It pains me to say that in 2017, Wonder Woman is the first ever female-lead superhero movie. There shouldn’t be a need for a screening that is celebrating the miracle that is this film because it should have already happened. She is and will be an iconic role model for females everywhere and a cinema that is proud enough to celebrate that should receive nothing but praise.

This is also the first film with a budget of over 100 million dollars to be directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins). Jenkins had a huge responsibility here and she has flawlessly executed this story. As it is set in World War 1– before women were allowed to vote–there are constant references to the lack of rights and difficulties there are as a woman. The only job Steve Trevor could think of for Diana was either his sister or secretary. She certainly had no place in the war or even the room in which to discuss it. Underestimated at every turn, Diana was never in your face about being a woman and never had a cliché line about being a strong, independent woman that would make you roll your eyes. As she herself had never known men and the divide that humans had created between genders, she was oblivious to this ideology and simply was her powerful, badass self.

The visuals were beautiful at the start of the film, on the secret island of Themyscira. The isolated paradise has never been seen or touched by man and remains in its lush green glory. As we move into old London, it becomes very grey and dirty and continues this way to juxtapose man’s creation versus that of the Gods, as Ares has tried to show the Amazons how terrible the creation of man really is.

The score does a perfect job of empowering battle scenes, particularly when Diana breaks away from everyone else and goes to battle on her own. The Wonder Woman theme was never once overused, in fact, it was played very little and at just the right moments as a reminder of this unique hero.

The film is powerful, funny in the right moments, a fantastic comment on the world at the time as well as a reflection of current times. It does justice to the character of Wonder Woman and I hope that when we see her next I can still say the same.

Score: 4/5