Wonder Woman Destroys DC’s Snyder Quality Curse

Is it safe to say that Wonder Woman has a lot riding on it? Let’s see: DC and Warner Brothers need a hit with fans and especially critics after the brutal reviews of Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad. It’s positioned as the bridge between BvS and the upcoming Justice League. For better or worse, it’s being held up the first big-budget film of the modern superhero era with a female character in the lead role, as well as female director; its success or failure may dictate whether Hollywood will greenlight other female superhero movies. Oh, and millions of ardent Wonder Women fans are praying that the studio treats the iconic hero respectfully.

So, you know, no pressure.

I’m glad to say that Wonder Woman delivers on virtually all fronts.

It’s heartfelt and action-packed. You really root for the good guys. Production design is gorgeous, especially the Rivendell-meets-Atlantis aesthetic of Themyscira. It remembers that superhero movies can be fun, full of cheeky humor and sly observation. It’s occasionally uneven, a tad formulaic at times, and the third act is overblown, but Wonder Woman is arguably the best DC movie of recent vintage; it easily eclipses the last three DC/Warner films, with a sharp sense of humor and a capable, self-assured princess in place of dark, brooding heroes.  

After briefly introducing modern-day Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) and connecting Wonder Woman to the events of BvS, the film shifts to Themyscira. Diana is a lively, precocious young girl, eager to join the ranks of her legendary Amazon warrior sisters. Her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) tries to keep her safe by refusing to let her train to fight, instead regaling her with stories of ancient gods, epic battles, and a distinctive take on Greek creation myths. Her aunt Antiope (a very buff, nearly unrecognizable Robin Wright) secretly trains Diana, recognizing that she may not always be safe merely by living on an inaccessible island. That foresight proves prescient when Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes a stolen German plane into the ocean nearby. Diana pulls him from the wreck, inadvertently allowing the outside world to intrude on the hidden island. Once she learns about the fighting raging across Europe, she insists on returning to England with Trevor, determined to track down and kill the divine hand behind the war. With her rag-tag group of liars and smugglers, she demolishes machine-gun nests, saves villages, and discovers a German plot to use a horrific new gas weapon capable of killing millions and prolonging the war. It’s one part effective origin story and one part traditional comic book storyline.  

Gal Gadot is everything you could want as Wonder Woman. She is a strong, capable actress. She leans into her role with palpable joy and deep reverence for the character. She kicks ass and takes zero crap. It’s very much a comic book movie; the dialog, characters, framing, and story arc could come straight from the best issues of Wonder Woman.

Director Patty Jenkins fought to keep the rating PG-13, saying “I was very aware that little girls were going to want to see the film, and I was very protective of that.” The opening sequence on Themyscira is a testament to that goal. A young Diana (Lilly Aspell), mimicking her sisters’ training fights with fierce, joyful determination, is a charming, unabashed gift to the countless little girls who revere the Amazon princess. As an adult, Diana is implacable in the face of horrific warfare, perplexing women’s fashion, and blustering British army officers. She’s a breath of self-assured fresh air after so many brooding caped crusaders, bearing almost no resemblance to the doubt-plagued heroes of DC movies since Christopher Nolan revamped Batman. Her always-do-the-right-thing ethos could easily have seemed contrived, but Gadot sells it with earnest, no-nonsense panache.

Diana’s ‘stranger in a strange land’ scenes are consistently entertaining. The absurdity of Victorian clothing — they are just so impractical for fighting – is a funny, clever send-up, poking gentle fun at outmoded women’s norms. Her banter-filled scenes with an often tongue-tied, exasperated Steve Trevor are even more effective, providing a stark contrast between Themyscira’s pragmatism and the strict conservatism and social mores of WWI-era Europe.  They’re also cheeky and funny as hell.

Unfortunately, the third act threatens to derail all of that. It reeks of Zack Snyder’s heavy hand, a relentless onslaught of bloodless slow-motion fighting, melodramatic voice overs, flying CGI tanks and masonry, and messianic imagery. There’s an attempt to inject an interesting message about human nature and our capacity for good and evil, but it’s lost among the fetishized, hyper-stylized action sequences. Fortunately, it doesn’t completely overwhelm the fun, earnest, well-made first two acts.

Wonder Woman is a rare summer blockbuster from a studio not named ‘Pixar’ that both parents and kids will enjoy. Little girls of all ages will love Diana; so will anyone who enjoys watching a no-nonsense hero kick ass. An overblown third act can’t derail the subtly wry, consistently entertaining fun. Here’s hoping it makes the same bank as the vastly-inferior Batman Vs Superman did.

Ephemera

• PG-13 seems right. While there’s no swearing, nudity or graphic violence, really young kids might be a little overwhelmed by the intensity of the WWI battle scenes.
• Sorry, folks…no post-credit scene.

Wonder Woman (Warner Brothers; PG-13): B+