Ask anyone and they’ll go on and on about their favorite comic book movie character. It could be Batman, Superman, The Hulk, Ironman, Spiderman, etc. You’d be upset to know that no one could ever say “Wonder Woman” in that pile until now. What took so long? They had come out with a TV show way back in the 1970s but even Batman had a TV show in the 60s and Superman before that. Wonder Woman is one of the most popular characters in comic book history and no one had the sense to come up with a decent flick about her until a 2017 release? Well, the wait is over and it seems Hollywood knew it had to come up with something incredible after such a long wait or else pitchforks and torches would be at their doorstep. …And they did! Home run on the first swing.
Note that audiences were able to catch a little bit of action of Wonder Woman in the 2016 film, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. In that film, the DC Gods of comics, Batman and Superman fought over frivolous nonsense until they could finally come to the conclusion that a huge monster was about to destroy the city. It was then Wonder Woman came to the big screen portrayed by Gal Gadot; a relative unknown previously in the Fast & Furious series. Complaints ranged from her not having the acting chops to being way to skinny to pull it off yet, along with her theme music, made a HUGE impact on the movie and doubts of her ability to portray the Amazon began to wane. In fact, she was the best thing in that flick. Once rumors of her own movie finally released, they set it off carefully and Gal was on her way to portraying Diana Prince.
Note: This movie is one entire flashback based on a photograph introduced in Batman v. Superman. It begins with Bruce Wayne finding the original photo of Diana with soldiers posing during World War I. Of course, she’s aged about 3 seconds since that photo and looks perfect. She begins reflecting how that whole photo came about and how she met the men in it. Starting off as a child who had the warrior spirit in her, little Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and the Greek God Zeus, enjoyed hearing stories of the mythologies. Of course, they were stories of history to her from her birth to the wars her mother fought. Adamant against Diana becoming a warrior, Hippolyta’s sister, Antiope (Robyn Wright) secretly taught Diana how to be a warrior up through her early teens. Once finally caught training young Diana, the Queen knew it was destiny for Diana to become a warrior and allowed her to be trained on one condition: to be harder on her than any other warrior trained. And she did. Displaying her skills as a woman, Diana was tested hard and her bracelets reacted harshly toward her aunt which injured her slightly. Whatever the secret of Diana’s strength was wasn’t fully aware at that moment. And that pivotal point in the film led to her questioning the limits of her powers but never fully exploring them.
It was then, when Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) landed accidentally in Paradise Island, the hidden island protected by invisibility to avoid Hades, the God of War, from finding these Amazons. With Diana there to save him, she glimpses her eyes on a man for the first time. Although captivated by her beauty, Steve knows the war outside of this paradise was where he was needed and eventually, Diana goes with him. Her mission is different. He wants to kill the Germans in power and Diana wants to kill Hades, who she believes is responsible for this war. Of course, their on the same mission but are living two different realities. Steve is after an evil regime and in his world, Diana, an Amazon innocent of the outside world, is after a mythological Greek God she believes is responsible for the war. If she kills him, then all wars will cease. Steve runs with this theory anyway and allows her to visit London.
They pay homage to the 1970’s Wonder Woman where Lynda Carter protects her identity by wearing military garb and glasses. This Wonder Woman wears glasses for a few minutes until a fight knocks them off. You realize she doesn’t care about identities or fitting in much and is very much mission-driven. The action in this movie is top-notch!! The speed and strength of Wonder Woman isn’t realized until later in the movie when she has several levels of “evil” to test her powers. She and Steve have a common enemy, Ludendorff, who is trying to have his chemist, Dr. Maru create a gas to kill swarms of people at a time. He’s trying to kill him to stop the battle. She believes he’s Ares, the God of War in disguise. Same mission, different purposes. Without giving spoilers, they never mention her name as “Wonder Woman” in the movie. Her name isn’t important as she proves this time and again with her unique abilities. Diana’s naivete is adorable in how she doesn’t understand anything about this new world and only applies her experiences on Paradise Island and the stories she’s grown up with as a guide for her principles. Her chemistry with Steve Trevor grows over time and they’re challenged in various areas such as how to deal with conflict. He’s a spy and likes to do things covertly. She’s a warrior and doesn’t mind making a lot of noise. Eventually, they blend techniques which builds chemistry and trust. Their methods and methodologies blend. The writing was done really well in this aspect of bridging gaps.
In the comics, Wonder Woman is extremely strong. Some say she’s almost as strong as Superman. In the cinematic universe, it would almost seem so but you don’t get to see this strength until later as Diana develops her powers. Sometimes it’s not always the training but also the meaning behind Antiope’s words to finally kick Diana in gear. Patty Jenkins deserves praise for her adaptation of Wonder Woman and bringing this superhero to life. As one of the people who believed Gal Gadot was ill-fitted to play such a character, I tip my hat. Gal Gadot IS Wonder Woman! I don’t even know how long this movie was supposed to be because it flew by so quickly with incredible action scenes, beautiful scenery on Paradise Island, and a great story that mixed Mythos with war and made it all work without being over-the-top. I look forward to seeing this character in the upcoming “Justice League” movie out later this year. Come Halloween, expect a lot of God-killer swords, shields and bracelets. It’s about time, too.
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