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.
 |
| Although Diana (Gal Gadot, center) reluctantly allows Steve (Chris Pine) and Etta (Lucy Davis) to dress her in the fashion of the day, she's unwilling to abandon the sword and shield that define her as an Amazon goddess ... which presents a bit of a problem. |
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.
