It is kind of crazy when you think about it, but Wonder Woman has not had a big screen appearance in all of her 75 years until Batman v Superman came out last year. The movie itself was decent, but when the chords from the electric cello drops and she appears on screen you sat up in your chair and probably said to yourself, “Oh, things are going to get good now.” Well friends, not only did it get good, but her first full-length movie took that to another level. Yes, Wonder Woman was worth the wait.
If you have read some of our other movie reviews, we tend to keep them short and sweet so you can read it quickly and then go out and watch the movie. We are going to change that a little for this movie and really tell you why you need to go see this on the big screen.
The movie starts off in the present time with Diana (Gal Gadot) working in the Louvre in Paris. She is given a gift from a friend that leads to the story going back in time to Themyscira when Diana was still a little girl. When we are first introduced to the young Diana we already see that she is rebellious and curious about learning how to fight like the other Amazonian woman, but for some reason unknown to us her mother, Hippolyta (Connie Nielson) does not want her to learn how to fight.
We learn about the history of mankind and the purpose of the Amazons through a story Hippolyta tells Diana. In this story we learn about how Ares, the god of war corrupted man and how it is the Amazonians' sole mission to destroy Ares if he were to ever return. While we learn about the story of Zeus and Ares, we are introduced to the weapons that were created to help destroy him. The main one being the sword called the “God killer”.
Enter Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, a soldier whose plane is shot down and enters the island of Themyscira by breaking through the barrier that makes the island hidden from the world around it. This is the first time the Diana has seen a man and her curiosity about who he is makes for some funny moments throughout the film. After a battalion of soldiers, that were searching for Trevor, break through the barrier we see the Amazonians in battle for the first time. You can see a little bit of Zach Synder's influence in the fight scenes, due to how they have a slight "300" feel to them. The slow motion technique is pretty cool, but does seem to be used a little too much sometimes.
What I will say about Gal Godot as Wonder Woman is that she is Diana Prince. If you have ever seen her do an interview she has this charm and innocence about her that just makes you smile as she rambles on with her answers. She is still fresh to this newfound stardom and that newness and innocence works great when Diana leaves her home and goes to London. Everything around her is new and just watching her facial expressions when seeing a car for the first time, going shopping for clothes or even eating ice cream brings a smile to your face.
As for the other characters in the movie, they all have a purpose and they are all just great. None of the supporting characters are put in the movie as comedic relief, although they do have funny moments. Sameer played by Saïd Taghmaoui has a few of the best lines in the movie, but really hits one of the messages of the movie when he says he "wanted to be an actor but was the wrong color". There are a lot of great messages in the movie, but they are not forced on the viewer. The viewer experiences them like Wonder Woman does and that alone makes this movie an important one for our time. Through Diana's eyes we see how her perfect world compares to the world of man and how it does not treat everyone fairly.
If I were to compare this to other movies in the DC Universe, I would have to compare it to Batman Begins. It is a great origin story and runs at a somewhat slow pace. This is good because it helps in setting up character development and we don't just have one-sided characters on the screen. There are also a few similarities with Captain America: The First Avenger, in that they are both set up in the early world wars and sacrifices are made for the greater good, but unlike Cap, Diana faces other obstacles than just fighting bad guys. When she walks into a all-male meeting, they are all aghast at a woman being in the room with them. Her willingness to do what is good, is at times stifled by Trevor's actions on telling her what is and what isn't acceptable. There is one moment where Steve tries to hold Diana back from doing the right thing and she tells him why his thoughts and actions are wrong and she goes against his will. It is at this moment when Wonder Woman shows Trevor and the audience why Wonder Woman is important.
Unlike Captain America who just throws and uses his shield to blocks oncoming assaults, Wonder Woman does one thing with her shield that I have never seen Cap do, she uses it to slide across the floor to fight her attackers. I thought this was a pretty cool move and watching her fight with the lasso is also pretty fantastic to see. As I stated earlier, the slow motion in the fights gets a little tedious, but in some parts of the fights it just works. I do admit the twist of the final villain was kind of a shock, but I can see why they made it who it was to throw the viewers off. The final minutes with her fighting the main villain is pretty much ok and felt like it was a "we need to have a full on fight scene in the night" add on. Maybe the final battle could have been done differently, but it might have taken away from the big reveal and sacrifice that was made.
Wonder Woman is a fantastic movie and hopefully a great direction for the upcoming Justice League movie. Patty Jenkins did a phenomenal job on bringing this character to the screen and showing her compassion and toughness without simplifying her for the masses. I can not wait for them to make a sequel and I can not wait to take my daughter to see this movie.
Quick Points:
The first time we see the Lasso of Truth used is hilarious and Chris Pine plays it up perfectly.
Although it takes about an hour and a half until we see Wonder Woman in her costume, it is an incredible moment and the audience cheered when she walked on the field with it on.
I would have liked a little more into the back story of Dr. Poison.
Robin Wright is a bad ass in this movie!
My wife mentioned: How is her hair still so perfect after all that fighting?
Is she really talking about the watch when she says "You let that little thing tell you what to do?"
Funniest line in the movie: "I am both frightened and aroused."
Kid Friendly - The movie is a little slow paced and might turn some children off until the action scenes. I would say this movie is good for children 7-8 and up.
Violence - There is fantasy violence in the movie and a scene showing the after effects of a chemical weapon used on a village. They do not show much, but it may be a little intense for younger viewers.
Fandads Rating - 5 out of 5
To commemorate this awesome movie we have teamed up with Warner Brothers to give a few of our lucky readers this fantastic Wonder Woman prize pack below. To enter, tell us what Wonder Woman means to you and winners will be chosen around noon on Friday, June 9th. Mark that date in your calendar to make sure you come back to see if you have won.
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