If Hollywood isn't producing a ton of sequels, reboots and franchise films, there're churning out superhero movies by the truck load. We've seen a plethora of them: "Superman", "Batman", "Spider-Man", "Deadpool", "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Dr. Strange", "Captain America", "Ironman" "X-Men" to mention a handful. So in this day and age of gender equality, Hollywood had to pacify its audience by producing "Wonder Woman".
An Amazon princess named Diana (Gal Gadot) lives in an idyllic existence with her mother, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and her warrior trainer, Antiope (Robin Wright), on an island occupied solely by female warriors, but her life changes forever after American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands nearby. When he tells her that a massive war is engulfing the planet (WWI), she decides to travel with him to the outside world, hoping to use her powers to put an end to the conflict. In her world, the god Aries (War) could possibly return one day to cause havoc, so she has concluded that this evil German leader, officer Ludendorff (Danny Huston) has got to be Aries, so she vows to rid of this mad man. Along the way, she becomes the legendary superheroine known as Wonder Woman.
Others to round out the cast are David Thewlis as Sir Patrick, Said Taghmaoui as Sameer, Ewen Bremner as Charlie, Eugene Brave Rock as The Chief, Lucy Davis as Etta, Elena Anaya as Dr. Maru and Lilly Aspell as Young Diana (8).
This was meticulously directed by Patty Jenkins ("Monster" '03, "Five" (TV movie) (segment: "Pearl") '11, "Exposed" (TV movie) '15) plus shorts and TV. I say meticulous because this script chronicles Diana's life from age 8 to adult hood centering on her obsession with being a warrior knowing this was her calling. Each transition was delineated carefully. Jenkins work, although isn't aplenty, however it is definitely quality. It was surprisingly well written by Allan Heinberg (Tons of TV) based on a story by Zack Snyder, Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, which is based on the DC comic "Wonder Woman" created by William Moulton Marston. I say surprisingly since this is his first feature film screenplay. What has served him is all the TV he has written. He, in a sense, has 'paid his dues'. Don't get me wrong, this script has flaws, such as when we see Diana in her world, it seems like she is living in the old Roman days centuries ago. Then when Steve Trevor crash lands, you think that he had inadvertently found a time portal and went back in time to her world. Obviously one comes to realize that the idyllic island Diana lives on is 'time trapped' and they share the same time period. Now, if one is a "Wonder Woman" afictionato, which I'm not, this wouldn't seem like a discrepancy. But this is where the writer should be writing for the mass audience. Plus there were a few small places of choppiness, but otherwise, this screenplay was well executed especially considering the newness of this screenwriter in the feature film biz. And the visual effects created predominantly by MPC (Moving Picture Company) and Double Negative were seamless and actually added to the story without it appearing to be hyped up.
Certainly if you're a Wonder Woman or comic book fan, you'll be in comics heaven, but even if you're not, it is still entertaining. Look, I'm not a comic book fan, but this even moved me through this script with ease. You can also see this in IMAX or a nifty 3D format. Enjoy!
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 141mins.
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