Wonder Woman. Directed by Patty Jenkins. Starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright and Danny Huston. Opening at Cineplex Cinemas Esplanade and Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver today.
Rating: 7 (out of 10)
I have certain expectations for DC Comics’ latest film, having rocked a Wonder Woman lunchbox in the late ‘70s.
That puts me in a certain age group, part of a generation of girls who were awestruck to turn on the TV and discover that women could fight crime and kick butt just like the men did. (Sure, Linda Carter did it with too much blusher and accompanied by a cheesy horn-shot heavy soundtrack, but she did it.)
Since then, there has been a smattering of feminist victories but big-screen superheroines were definitely not one of them. However, in an age of pussy hats and men in positions of authority truly making a mess of things, the time seems ripe for some genuine cinematic girl power.
Enter Israeli actress Gal Gadot, a marvel in a DC world.
Diana is a princess, and the only child on an island of warrior women. Diana’s mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) tells her their history: how Zeus created the island as a refuge for the Amazons, the only beings powerful enough to defeat Ares, destructive god of war. The entire island is in a constant state of high alert; Diana trains in secret with her aunt (Robin Wright) against her mother’s wishes and longs to go to battle.
A war finds her instead. A plane piloted by Steve Trevor (an all-round excellent Chris Pine) crashes through Themyscira’s forcefield, with German boats in hot pursuit.
Diana (Gadot) saves Steve from drowning then joins her Amazon sisters on the beach in a silly-but-spectacular battle that pits men with guns against women doing gymnastics with ropes and arrows. (Can someone please start an Amazon exercise class? I would totally do it.)
The First World War is raging outside Themyscira’s timeless bubble and Diana feels called to help “the world of men,” even if she has been taught that while useful for procreation, men are pretty good-for-nothing in the pleasure department.
She believes the war must be orchestrated by Ares – surely humans wouldn’t be stupid enough to kill each other otherwise? – and sets off with Steve to London, then to the front.
There is a ragtag and wholly unnecessary group of allies which sounds like the lead-up to a joke (“a Scot, a Native American and an Arab meet at a bar”) and baddies including a disfigured nerve-gas genius (Elena Anaya) and the psychopathic Nazi (Danny Huston) who commands her. The narrative is thin, while the dialogue is less than super. It’s a credit to both lead actors that they can utter lines like “I believe in love” without smirking or bursting into song.
But Wonder Woman was arguably the best thing about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and we are here primarily to watch Diana deliver some thunder-fisted sanctions on mankind without the help of her Bat friend or Super pal.
Apart from some uneven CGI work early on, the film never disappoints in that regard, with several memorable fight scenes (how apropos that it’s a woman who leaves the trenches and strides into no man’s land) and plenty of scenes of Wonder Woman using her sword, indestructible bracelets and, yes, magic Lasso of Truth.
Thank you, filmmakers, for hiring a woman and not a girl fresh out of high school for the role, and for settling on a female director (Patty Jenkins, director of 2003’s Monster). Wonder Woman may not be perfect, but it’s a validation for young girls everywhere of their strength and value, and it’s the first superhero film in a long time that made me look forward to a sequel. Now they just need to re-issue my lunchbox.
