Despite my opinion of Alien: Covenant getting lower and lower with more reflection, I put Wonder Woman on hold to see it with my sister; that fell through, but at least I eventually got to see Wonder Woman, a film I was very cautiously optimistic for, and that, I'll be honest, is not the movie I was expecting. Usually that's a bad thing, but I'll again be honest, now is not one of those times.
Following our obligatory friendly reminder that this is a DCEU movie, we get a surprisingly good introduction to Diana, as she watches the other Amazons training and is told a story by her mother, which serves as our heavily expository back story to the Amazons and prelude to the fight with Ares. The film then rushes through a few years of training, also establishing that something is special about Diana, without being super in your face about it. Diana AKA Wonder Woman in this film makes for a very engaging and enjoyable character; unlike Batman and Superman, Wonder Woman has an immense amount of optimism about the world, and while we all know how wrong she is, it's just warming to see a hero who only sees the good in people. But when Diana's world starts coming apart in this film, you really feel that sense of disbelief and horror, and it's really well done, it hits you where you live. Steve Trevor is in a lot of ways an equally interesting character, as both of them have to help each other adapt to the new world they're experiencing, and for a good amount of the movie his mission to stop Ludendorff and his mad doctor girlfriend actually takes prominence over Wonder Woman's crusade against Ares. You'd think this would make the film very jumbled, but I thought the whole Ares plot was really well handled, and I was enjoying their adventure through World War I with the really scary super mustard gas anyway. Which is to say this film is fun, Trevor and his band are some great comedic relief, and every now and again the film hints at a deeper struggle in their characters, which is a nice touch, as it fits perfectly into the film's greater conflict. Seeing Wonder Woman's world crumbling doesn't feel forced, rather it feels earned, and it gives the film a good amount of emotional weight, and makes Diana a fantastic character to watch. Something I actually like more than I should is the villains of the film; it's fun to watch the evil Garman and his mad Scientist plot their evil scheme, even if their villainy at first appears very cut and dried, but it's where the film goes with its villains that I really love, and what I wasn't expecting to see in Wonder Woman. Without going into specifics, one of the film's primary conflicts is the idea that the world is not black and white, while it's warming to see the hope in Diana, she is foolishly naive about the world of man, and goes for the typical moustache twirling villains, while not seeing malevolence elsewhere, it's a surprisingly heavy character ark, as she is forced to learn that the world isn't simply good and evil, and that everything has a shade of grey in it. Where it counts, Trevor and Diana really deliver the feels, as you see the horror in Diana, and the depressing weariness in Trevor, who came to know this truth years ago. My only real problem with the film's story is that at the end, it can get a bit cheesy, though how is obviously a spoiler, but overall I had a lot of fun with the story, and found it's themes surprisingly heavy and well handled, and I love it, I genuinely do. And because I'm politically minded, I'll just quickly address the Elephant in the Room. This film doesn't even bother with that shit, which is simply amazing, since that would have been so easy, unlike other films I can think of *cough* Ghostbusters *cough*, this film approaches it's empowerment angle very mutually, far from being a complete idiot, Trevor is in a lot of ways just as badass as Diana is, taking out Germans along side her and doing things to further the plot. Again, the film could so easily have taken the route of Ghostbusters, but it didn't, a stunning amount of integrity from this major studio production.
Wonder Woman is very nice to look at, and no, I'm not just on about Diana, but seriously holy shit, every time someone comments on how beautiful it is, you seriously can't not nod in agreement. But the film itself is very nice to look at, the opening scenes on Themyscira look like Jason and the Argonauts if it was made today and had a budget, very pretty, and I love the colour contrast between Themyscira and the world of man, not only are they very visually distinct, but it reflects the film's primary conflict, as Themyscira is a very bright, colourful, hopeful place, while the world is much more dull and grey and morally ambiguous. The visual effects are very nice to look at for sure, but it does suffer from the same problem I have with Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, that being that the fighting is entertaining, but seeing these people who are gods throwing each other around just looks off. I've always had a less is more mentality when it comes to these films, and I liked Suicide Squad's action for that reason, since they weren't unconvincingly launching themselves and their enemies across entire city blocks, like Wonder Woman does in this film's action scenes, I'd actually prefer a sword or fist fight, which this film does have, when she's storming a building and just wiping out Germans, but CG people never look perfect, and the more unnaturally they move, the less perfect they look. Regardless of that fault, the action scenes are very entertaining, the first big fight on the beach is stupidly fun to watch, a great example of bows and arrows against the lightning, or more literally, Gewehrs. But by far my favourite fight is the fight on the front, the scene in all the trailers where she's walking across the No Man's Land deflecting bullets and mortar shells is fucking badass, as is watching them liberate the town, and seeing Wonder Woman tearing the Germans to pieces, it's easily the best action scene in the film. But weirdly they're not the most memorable scenes in the film, this film has a bunch of much slower, quieter scenes, and they're weirdly fantastic. It's just little dumb things like Trevor teaching Diana how to dance or the hysterical conversation they have on the boat, that help these characters grow, and give the film that emotional weight it exploits brilliantly in its final act, there's one scene in particular that I really love, and I can't say what it is, which sucks, because the fact they made the decision they did in that scene really speaks to the integrity of the film, and of the characters. More than that the film also has some really good laughs, Trevor and Diana have some really good scenes, Trevor's band are good comedic relief, and the fish out of water scenario that plays out in the film's opening act is really funny, as Trevor first has to get to grips with Diana's world, and then Diana has to get to grip with Trevor's. And in a striking move, the film has no post credits scene, how weird is that, a shared universe film, a superhero film in fact, that doesn't have a post credit scene. Shit, even Kong: Skull Island had one, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters isn't even being filmed yet, yet with Justice League just a few months away, Wonder Woman seems more occupied with being a film than the set up for another film, bold.
I think everyone can agree that the DC films have been very hit and miss, but Wonder Woman is easily the best of the bunch so far, and it's even more than that, it's just a solid, immensely enjoyable film. The film's leads; Diana and Trevor are excellent, and have some fantastic moments together, the film's supporting line-up is great also, with good laughs and some solid emotional undertones, and while it's villains at first seem very flat, where it takes it's villains is something I genuinely didn't expect, and something I genuinely loved. The film also has some kick arse action and is stunning to look at, and makes sure to build it's characters with some great quieter moments. I still think the film has flaws, and I know one of my biggest problems with it is subjective, but there's no getting around it, Wonder Woman is a great movie, I loved it, and it's definitely worth watching.
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