Wonder Woman Review

Last night, I saw the first good movie in the DCEU. I’m gonna explain the plot a little bit, and then let you know what I thought of the film. Enjoy…

---

SPOILERS FOLLOW!

---

The movie starts off on the Amazon’s island of Themyscira. Diana, who is Wonder Woman, is a little kid who wants to be a warrior but can’t, as her mother won’t let her. Antiope, the best fighter on the island, takes her up anyways and trains her over the years to become the most powerful warrior in the Amazon’s history. Oh yeah, and there’s this sword called the Godkiller that is meant to kill Ares, the last remaining Olympian, left to the Amazons by the dying Zeus.

After Diana beats Antiope in a training battle, discovering her powers in the process, Steve Trevor, an American spy, crash lands in the island’s waters after fleeing a German base in the Ottoman Empire. Diana saves him and brings him ashore. He is the first man she has ever seen, as the island is occupied only by warrior women. Unfortunately, the German navy follows Trevor onto the island, and the women are faced with their first invasion ever. They fight with swords against guns, and some of the Amazons die, including Antiope, who takes a bullet for Diana. The Germans are all killed, and eventually, Steve and Diana are allowed to leave the island so that she can kill Ares, who she believes is causing the war.

They get to London, meet Steve’s assistant, and deliver the book stolen by Steve to his military superiors. They are negotiating an armistice with Germany, and do not want Steve to lead an attack on the last base producing a very dangerous gas. He is supported by one of the men, on the down-low, and recruits some old friends to help him and Diana assault the Germans.

General Ludendorff and Dr. Poison are working on the new gas, as they plan on winning the war, not signing a peace deal. They kill all the remaining German generals and proceed with their own plan for winning the war.

Steve, Diana, and their friends make it to No-Man’s Land, which has experienced no change in ownership in a year, as the Germans and British remain embattled in never-ending trench warfare. Diana draws fire from the Germans and protects herself with her shield, prompting the rest of  her crew to follow and take out the German soldiers. The British army follows suit. They then liberate a town controlled by the Germans, finally bringing peace to the one small area. They celebrate at night, and Steve and Diana’s romance grows.

The next day, the group goes to a castle where Ludendorff is hosting a gala. He intends to show off his new chemical weapon. Steven disguises himself as a German, and gets in to the party. Diana ends up taking another woman’s dress and getting in as well. She meets Ludendorff and tries to kill him, but is stopped by Steve. Ludendorff then fires an artillery shell into the village that was liberated, using the new gas to kill everyone there. Diana blames Steve and takes matters into her own hands.

She approaches a compound where Ludendorff has moved, infiltrates it, and kills Ludendorff with the Godkiller. Steve shows up, and Diana is confused, as the war is not over immediately. Steve explains that humans are not perfect beings and there is no singular enemy that will end a war. He goes off with the gang to destroy the compound and take out the gas once and for all. Diana is then visited by Sir Patrick, the man who supported their break of protocol. He reveals that he is Ares, and that she is the Godkiller, not the sword, as it is easily broken by him.

He tries to convince her to join him in destroying mankind and bringing Earth back to the beautiful state it was in before they arrived. Diana refuses, and Ares fights her. Meanwhile, a plane carrying the hydrogen-based gas is going to fly to London to kill EVERYONE. Steve hijacks the plane as it takes off, and his friends destroy the compound’s hangar. Diana continues to fight Ares, and is losing, and she is thus far no match for him.

While in the air, Steve kills himself by blowing up the plane, saving everyone below. This causes Diana to go beast mode and kill Ares with her newfound power (of stopping lightning and throwing it back at Ares). She is about to kill him when he presents her with Dr. Poison, whom he cites as a perfect example of humanity’s corruptness. She decides to let the mad doctor live, and eventually kills Ares with his own lightning. She and the crew return to London and see Steve’s picture on a board bearing the names of all those who died in service. She sees that she truly did love him.

Alright, now that that is out of the way, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. What did I like? Well, for starters, Gal Gadot is actually very good as Wonder Woman, and is optimistic without being cheesy. She is funny and fierce when she needs to be, and she plays the fish-out-of-water concept well. Chris Pine is also charismatic and likable as Steve Trevor. I admire Chris Pine as an actor, so this was no surprise to me. The supporting Amazonian cast is ok, like Robin Wright, and the gang of fighters that are alongside Steve and Diana are for the most part good. The scene where she fights in No-Man’s Land is pretty cool, and I like a lot of the story’s beats. Most of the action is good to excellent, with some cool set pieces. Also, the character writing and interactions are for the most part excellent. It manages to make someone who could seem like a bland character lead her own movie very convincingly. This movie is also a lot more colorful and humorous than the other DCEU movies, and it really helps. The color grading is pretty good for the most part, as every place feels different from the other. Set design is also stellar.

Now, what did I not like? Like I said, the action was mostly good. What wasn’t good was that in the first few action scenes they used slow motion, like, every other second. It was very distracting, and if they used slow motion one more time, I swear I was gonna rip my eyes out. In the beach battle scene on Themyscira, they take what could have been a gripping battle of old versus new technology and made it meh because of the goddamn slow motion all the time. The same happened when Diana liberated the village. She was fighting Germans, and half of it was in slow motion, taking me out of the thrill of the moment, just to get a “cool” shot of her doing something. I think action is better when it is a visceral rush of attacks and counterattacks, letting you soak in the ferocity of a fight while still letting it be clear what is happening. That happened in the No-Man’s Land scene, but not here. Also, the villains were meh. Ludendorff was a boring guy who took a drug to make himself strong. Dr. Poison was played well, I think, but wasn’t very interesting as a character. The Ares reveal was ruined for me by Google (just look up the cast list), but I like David Thewlis, so he was alright. The final fight was generic, but I like some of the effects and the design of Ares, as well as his powers to some extent. Overall, the villains were not that great.

For all the problems with its villains and fu#$!@g slow motion, it is a solid introduction to Diana’s origin and is the first genuinely good movie that the DCEU has pumped out. It’s fun, and the two leads make up for what is lost in good villains and some of the action. Overall, I would rate it:

8/10

If you’ve seen it, let me know what you think! Also, I took into account the fact that this was the first mainstream superhero movie with a female lead. It was a very good first female outing. So, leave me comments and I’ll see you next time!