Wonder Woman

RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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ONE SENTENCE SYNOPSIS: In the midst of World War I, Diana Prince, the daughter of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons, rescues American spy Captain Steve Trevor after his plane crashes off the coast of Themyscira, watches as the Germans attack and kills several of the Amazonians, and goes against her mother’s wishes by leaving the island to go stop the war by defeating Ares.

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In the midst of numerous other superhero blockbusters, Wonder Woman emerged as a step forward for the furtherance of female-led blockbusters. I was really excited to see this film because I kept hearing how wonderful—no pun intended—it was.

Okay, let’s just get straight into it: Diana Prince is a super-badass. How did she get this way? Well, she was trained by her aunt, Antiope, and was inspired by the Amazonian warriors around her. The warriors are seemingly trained in about as many types of combat as you can think of. They are also skilled in archery and sword fighting and are well-read individuals. Their kryptonite? None of them know how to use a gun. These warriors are fit women who can literally jump off horses’ backs—you tell me why that is even a thing—but they have no guns. When the Germans come and attack the island, the Amazons fighting skills are on full display through overuse of slow motion. Apparently, years of training did not serve all of them well as several of them are killed and many injured because of the Germans’ guns and the Amazonians lack of fighting strategy. They had the high-ground on that cliff; why didn’t they just pick the Germans off that way?

Side note: this is WWI not WWII. This film likes to treat Germans as if they were Nazis. They were not Nazis at that time…

For a film about fighting stereotypes, Wonder Woman delivers a number of clichéd roles: the drunk Scotsman, the sneaky Frenchman, the wise Native American, the evil scientist, the heinous German general. It’s about Diana, I know, but stereotypes, guys, come on!   

This film uses slow motion so much. Slow motion can be effective, but using it in every fight scene five to ten times can get mundane, especially in an action-packed superhero flick. Though, I understand why it was used so much because this film is packed full of great shots. I just wish that that temptation to use slow motion was avoided and saved for those really great shots or for moments meant to have a big impact.

Speaking of moments with a big impact, the climax of the film is drawn-out and overblown. So many superhero/action films have a needless fight scene between the villain and protagonist. Sometimes it works, other times, it doesn’t work at all. We don’t need to see Diana fighting this try-hard big-and-bad villain. The conflict Diana faces, whether or not to have faith in humanity, is more intriguing than this realization of yet another over-the-top, boring villain.

In the grand scheme of things, these complaints are minor. What the film does best is give us good characterization for Diana, minus the big fight scene, of course. Also, more than most other superhero films out there, this film manages to work in a likeable and interesting love story. I didn’t think that I would be a sucker for it, but this was a solid love story. Yes, another Steve needlessly sacrifices himself by crashing a plane, but it works.

Overall, I enjoyed this film. Is it the best superhero film ever? No, but it is integral in showing that female-led superhero films can and will be profitable, which seems to one of the major blocks Hollywood has had up against making big-budget female-led films.