Four stars. Rated PG-13, for fantasy violence, dramatic intensity and mild sensuality
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 6.2.17
It’s darn well about time.
During the big-screen superhero eruption
that began when Christopher Reeve first donned Superman’s iconic blue-and-red
garb back in 1978, no super-heroine
has been able to carry her own film.
Until now.
(Misfires such as 2004’s Catwoman and ’05’s Elektra are best left forgotten.)
We caught a glimpse of Gal
Gadot’s interpretation of Wonder Woman in last year’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and there’s no question: The
5-foot-10 Israeli actress sold the outfit and the essential regal bearing. But
that soulless film gave her no opportunity for anything approaching emotional
gravitas, so the jury remained out.
Until now.
Director Patty Jenkins’
thoroughly engaging depiction of Diana — first daughter of the sheltered
Amazonian island of Themyscira — owes its heart to both Gadot and a respectful
script from Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs. The narrative honors
the character’s origin, as laid down in October 1941, in issue No. 8 of DC’s All Star Comics.
Much more crucially, this film
blends its myth-making and furious action with just the right touch of humor: a droll undertone that has been
lamentably absent in recent Batman and Superman entries. Much of this wit
derives from Diana’s fish-out-of-water reaction to so-called civilized society,
which Gadot displays with a charming balance of innocence and sparkle. She
definitely catches her character’s (ahem) sense of wonder.
But that’s getting ahead of
things. Diana’s story begins on Themyscira, where — rather oddly — she’s the
only child amid hundreds of Amazon warriors. She’s a precocious child (adorably
played by Lilly Aspell), eager to battle-train, but her mother (Connie Nielsen,
as Queen Hippolyta) rejects the very notion. Diana thus practices in secret,
under the tutelage of champion warrior Antiope (Robin Wright).
The years pass; Diana achieves
maturity. Fate places her on a high island cliff just as a strange object — a
crippled plane — penetrates the invisible “cloak” that conceals Themyscira from
the outer world. The craft crash-lands and sinks rapidly beneath the ocean
waves; the quick-thinking Diana rescues the lone pilot just in time, thereby
getting her first glimpse of a man.
He proves to be American pilot
Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), on loan to the British military for clandestine
operations against the German army. He reveals all of this only when bound by
the Amazonian “Lasso of Hestia,” which forces those so encircled to speak the
truth. (Handy toy, that ... and boy, we could use one on Capitol Hill these
days.)
All of these details are alien to
Diana, who knows nothing of the outer world. Queen Hippolyta, on the other
hand, suspects that a long-feared crisis has come to pass. The well-educated
Diana quickly deduces the same: The dread god of war, Ares — defeated eons ago
by Zeus — has risen and manipulated mankind into “the war to end all wars.”
(It’s intriguing that Wonder
Woman — a character whose published origin was tied firmly to World War II —
has been “back-dated” to the previous global conflict. Intriguing and refreshing: Too many filmmakers
insist on dragging iconic characters out of their indigenous surroundings, and
into our modern world. Taking Diana back to 1918 was ingenious, as it perfectly
suits the “great war”/“god of war” premise that drives the narrative.)
Diana, a straight-line thinker,
believes that the war will stop if she can find and defeat Ares. She therefore
accompanies Steve back to Merry Olde, where — to her dismay — she discovers
that the world of man is not inhabited by straight-line thinkers.
Even so, some things are obvious.
The potential armistice is threatened by Germany’s dogmatic and maniacal Gen.
Ludendorff (Danny Huston), who with his pet chemist — Dr. Isabel Maru (Elena
Anaya), her face partially concealed like the Phantom of the Opera — plans to
unleash a chemical weapon that will disintegrate gas masks and kill everybody
it envelops.
It’s a credible, scientifically reasonable
hazard that feels appropriate to the era, and therefore resonates far more
successfully than the universe-warping threats that have become go-to slogs in
far too many recent superhero epics. On top of which, we identify with Diana’s
despair, as she’s repeatedly shocked by mankind’s inhumanity, causing her to
question whether we’re even worth
saving.
That notion also strikes home,
quite uncomfortably, in our modern era of terrorists who think nothing of
blowing up scores of innocent civilians.
Gadot handles this angst with
heartfelt credibility, and she believably covers both ends of her character’s
wide emotional spectrum. On the one hand, her frequently flinty gaze suggests
the omniscient disapproval of a godlike parent whose multitude of children keep
misbehaving; alternative, wanting to blend in, Diana tolerates — with patient
bemusement — Steve’s efforts to “ordinary” her.
Pine gets all the best
one-liners, though, as Steve constantly struggles to explain himself, and his
world. Pine radiates boyish charm, particularly while trying to describe — and
justify — human “mating rituals.” We’ve seen this sort of exchange many, many
times before, but Gadot and Pine nonetheless make it fresh, sweet and quite
amusing.
Lucy Davis is a hoot as Etta
Candy, introduced here as Steve’s secretary. (“We call that slavery,” Diana
opines, after learning the nature of Etta’s responsibilities.) This plus-size
character also has a long comic book history, mostly as Diana’s best friend and
resourceful “Man’s World” sidekick; this film doesn’t quite go there, but
Davis’ Etta is no less plucky, and no less invaluable.
She has a particularly good time
while trying to outfit Diana in the manner of 1918 London.
Steve also has a set of friends
eager to participate in worthy missions. The multi-lingual Sameer (Saïd
Taghmaoui), a former Moroccan soldier who’d rather be an actor, is adept at
gentle persuasion. Charlie (Ewen Bremner), once a crack sniper, suffers from
shell shock and wishes to redeem himself. The Chief (Eugene Brave Rock) is a
transplanted Native American turned black marketeer: a noble, even-tempered man
pleased by the personal freedom that only a war can bring.
All three are well played and
thoroughly engaging, although Bremner’s blustering Charlie is the most vivid.
Huston makes a reasonably nasty
villain, but he’s an odd casting choice in a film laden with international
actors. He’s simply too “American” to look or sound right in the part, and he
pales alongside Anaya’s diabolical Dr. Maru, who is credible enough to be
genuinely scary.
David Thewlis introduces welcome
civility as the eminent Sir Patrick, the lone British cabinet member willing to
support Steve’s clandestine mission to prevent Ludendorff and Maru from
unleashing their deadly gas.
A mission which, no surprise,
quickly dispels Diana’s futile attempt to “blend.”
Production designer Aline Bonetto
and visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer build convincing worlds at both
extremes: from the opulent, paradise realm of Themyscira to the massive,
smog-choked city of London. Our initial overview of the latter is sensational:
a depiction that could have sprung from history book photos of the era.
Jenkins’ film is self-indulgently
long at 141 minutes, our emotional involvement most noticeably threatened
during a climactic, landscape-shattering battle that has become obligatory in
superhero epics. Even here, though, the director holds our hearts and minds by
cross-cutting between this physics-defying excess, and a much more realistic
struggle involving Diana’s comrades.
Jenkins and her writers also obtain
poignant weight from a wrap-around prologue/epilogue that quite cleverly
explains Diana’s place in our contemporary era.
It would be hard to ask for — or
expect — more. Let’s hope this attention to personality isn’t left behind, when
Gadot’s Wonder Woman reappears later this year, in Justice League.
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