Summary
5 tech score
“Wonder Woman” (Warner Brothers)
There are some wonderful reasons to like the new film “Wonder Woman”. (1) Wonder Woman is a strong and heroic action figure. (2) The film is directed by a woman named Patty Jenkins. (3) Gal Gadot is fully able to manage the physical and emotional requirements of this character So there they are – the three things they got right in this film. All of the other aspects are fairly blah.
To start, it takes forever and a day to get all of the “Wonder Woman” history spelled out. We see her as a child, a teenager and then a young woman. We learn how much she admires her aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) and how her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Neilsen), tries to protect her from her fate. This spelling out of who and what she is drags on and on until finally Steve Trevor’s (Chris Pine) airplane crashes in the sea near her island home and things liven up – a bit.
Then things slow down again while Steve and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman make their way to London where he is working as a spy for the British government. World War I is waging and the world is in chaos. Diana decides she must go where the most severe battles are being staged and this ties in with Steve’s plan to prevent a horrible war gas from being launched against the Allied forces.
That plot is not particularly engaging, and were it not for the magnetism of Gadot would be entirely wasted time. She dazzles in every scene in which she appears, even those with Pine who is at his most bland in this movie. She deflects attention from his poor performance, and that helps prop up the film. The supporting players are also not impressive, especially David Thewlis who is just silly in his role.
When you watch the film listen to the variety of accents that different characters use. Robin Wright must have been from an island different than the one where Diana and her mother were raised. She definitely has a unique way of speaking.
“Wonder Woman” is not one of those movies that swallow you up in the glory of her determination to save mankind. Since it is all played out against a background of mythology her aim to defeat the god Aries is just a weak motive. And when she switches to an “all we need is love” commitment it borders on ludicrous.
The film is rated PG-13 for violence.
It is great to have a female action player in the DC Comic arsenal, and with a better story Wonder Woman could have made a better entrance into this world. Thanks to Gadot this Amazon heroine is impressive but next time she needs a stronger story, a more romantic co-star, and better villain to battle
I scored “Wonder Woman” a less than wonderful 5 out of 10.
Jackie K Cooper –
www.jackiekcooper.com
