It’s about time they got DC’s third longest-running character on the big screen. I readily admit, doing Wonder Woman well has always been a challenge. Unlike Batman and Superman, this character has undergone several major reboots in her comic book. Originally, Diana shows up around WWII to bring America out of its neutral stance; then in the Eighties, she’s an emissary trying to stop the god Ares; I lost track after the George Perez reboot in 1986 since there’s probably two or more given DC’s annoying addiction to rebooting. Superman and Batman often work out just fine with them being eternally 29-35 as their backstories line up. Wonder Woman not so much despite her immortality. I think DC tries to keep the appearance of its core characters as recent developments while some can be locked down to pre-WWII (aka the Golden Age characters who didn’t age gracefully) and now they’re probably running into a possible second generation locked in the late Sixties to early Seventies.
But I digress.
Wonder Woman does a solid job integrating the character into a believable story by moving her origin back to the closing events of WWI. To me it was a good move, WWII is played out cinematically and this year is the centennial of the US joining the pointless fray. It also makes her into a superhero who has been working in the shadows, similar to say MacLeod from Highlander. The story did Germany a favor too. Diana doesn’t see the Germans as the enemy but as puppets of Ares…well, all participants are being manipulated by the god of war. The Germans are under the evil god’s sway the most because Captain Trevor (the always bland Chris Pine) has intelligence on renegades General Ludendorff and poison-gas expert Dr. Maru. Based upon the time of the story, all sides are actually starting to work on the armistice while Ludendorff wants one last opportunity to turn the war in Germany’s favor.
I also applaud the Time Warner empire for appointing a woman director. Patty Jenkins cut her teeth 14 years ago on Monster and definitely showed prowess on the action scenes. Ergo, gender isn’t relevant when it comes to making superhero (or other) genre films. Jenkins keeps the pace going for I don’t recall any slow sections or over-dramatic, telegraphed sequences making a point; Man of Steel was very guilty here. One other thing, the Amazons aren’t all white women. If they’re derived from the ancient Greeks, people of African decent would make sense as probable Amazons. Being an Amazon is more of a state of mind than an ethnicity; their name comes from the Greek word mazos (breast; the “real” ones amputated their right breast so they could wield bows better).
My only complaint is the “muddiness” (or Instagram filters) which I don’t think Jenkins could avoid since this movie has to fit into Zack Snyder’s vision of the DC cinematic universe.
I highly recommend Wonder Woman. Best of all, you don’t really need to sit through the slog of Batman v. Superman to understand any previous plot points. It stands on its own just fine. I do hope the movie succeeds enough to get Hollywood to rethink superhero franchises with female characters. I personally like woman superheroines and I also believe they should have sensible outfits. Nobody wants to get punched, kicked or stabbed in the midriff, upper chest or thighs.
Alamo Extras: Trailers for Amazons of Rome, The Super Stooges v. The Wonder Women, Clash of the Titans (the original!) and The Battle of the Amazons; a Department of Labor ad with Batgirl (the late Yvonne Craig) asking for equal pay; Brief Histories of Wonder Woman in cartoons: Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network; the failed 1967 pilot from the Batman (1966) people who tried to make it a comedy (terrible execution); scenes from the 1974 TV show with Denise Crosby and of course, the Linda Carter version in 1977; closed with a Mego commercial.