Will you take your wonder woman out this weekend?
Last night I went to see the latest addition to DC’s superhero universe, Wonder Woman. If you are here to read my feminist opinion about Wonder Woman, I’m sorry, I will have to disappoint you. I think the world has been discussing the female heroine for a couple of weeks now, and I’d rather discuss the story, characters, and my selfish opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely understand that in a world where we have Trump as the American president, a female voice is necessary.
The story starts with Diana, walking in very high heels in the Louvre at Paris (let’s get real, what’s feminist about that?). She seems to be the director of art, a real girl boss. She looks at a photo of herself and others, after a battle, in a time where there were only black and white photographs. And thus the story begins to the origin of Wonder Woman, also known as the Amazon princess Diana.
In comparison to Marvel, DC kind of misses a character build up. Who is Batman? Who is Superman? However, in this movie, it seems to be different and almost the entire first half of the movie is about Diana and her background. I’m not referring to Wonder Woman yet, since she will only unfold herself truly in the end. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the story of Diana and her origin. The Amazon princess, who was made out of clay and the power of Zeus, lives on a beautiful island filled with other amazons. This is where she gets her training and lifelike poses of Greek statues. The scenes are beautiful, though filled with slow motion madness and a whole lot of CGI.
Zack Snyder, writer, has a very distinguished style. One of my favorite movies (very under appreciated) is Sucker Punch and seems to go hand in hand with Wonder Woman’s scene structure and image style. Sucker Punch features a female leading role as well and breathes a whole lot of girl power. But, just like Sucker Punch, these scenes seem to be filmed through a Valencia looking filter (ref. Instagram). These color choices and shadows are, however, perfect for DC. Marvel has bright and extreme color choices, very Disney of course.
Just like in every superhero movie we meet a lot of characters. Diana ain’t a princess who’s a candle in the wind, she’s a full blown fire with a team to guide her to the battle she is looking for. It actually sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. An Indian (sorry, Native American), French guy, Scottish lad, American playboy and an Amazon walk into a bar. It kind of upset me that everybody is talking about the fact that this movie is about a woman, but it’s about the whole damn community. Literally, nobody can get offended by watching this movie. Well, there’s always a hater out there of course.
In every movie, I watch I get irritated by little, stupid mistakes. For example, the character leaves their house but doesn’t turn off the light. Seriously, who does that? Luckily there are no light switches in this movie. It did bother me that the Amazons were speaking English with a very thick accent. We all know that Gal Gadot is Israelian (Wonder Woman) and she speaks with an accent, but why do all the other actors change their sound? The Amazons can speak every language in the world, so why do they sound like they just moved from an exotic land? I could not help laughing when I heard Robin Wright speak English with an accent. It’s just weird and doesn’t add up.
Miss Gadot does portray Diana very well. If you want to know how she got the part, you should definitely watch her Jimmy Fallon interview on Youtube. She is hilarious. Truth is, though I’m not a feminist at all, I am very proud. She is a mom of 2 small kids – did you know she was pregnant during filming? – and was actually in the army. I can’t even imagine the discipline it must take. In Israel, everybody goes in the army for a couple of years, boys, and girls. I can only imagine this character building must have helped her become Diana and eventually Wonder Woman.
This movie is full of metaphors and meta-stories. Greek gods become guidelines in a new story and make the link between the Amazons and the modern world. I hate to confess, but I kept comparing characters and story lines to movies I’ve seen. The villain, Dr. Maru a crazy lady doctor who invents a super gas, reminded of the Phantom of the Opera. And her boss, Ludendorff, could have been a member of Hydra (ref. Marvel’s Captain America). Can there still be originality in these sort of movies? Even costume designs seem to be the same. Though, congrats to the Wonder Woman suit, which is beautiful and fierce. But then again, why should Wonder Woman be so ladylike and why does she need to wear a dress?
Zack Snyder wrote a great story line, though, for me, it didn’t have to last 2h20min. I was happy with the character build up, though the tempo could have been a little faster. The scenes were amusing and not too long, nor filled with boring dialogues. Some characters didn’t need to be part of the story, like Etta, Steve’s (Diana’s love interest) secretary. Sometimes we just don’t need all these parts to make a good story. Also, the scene where gets a makeover, was a bit chick flick, even for me.
In my opinion, Wonder Woman was a good movie, not great and not bad. There was a beautiful epic battle, which I truly loved. And then there was the love between Diana and Steve, which made it even more approachable for women and girls. Let’s get real, every girl loves a good love story. And, as you might have expected, that’s what it’s all about. Love. I know, very Hollywood.
I will rate this movie 7/10 and suggest you go see it in 3D (if possible laser ultra) to experience the movie and the beautiful scenes. Guys, take your gals, they’ll love it. And for those single ladies out there, we don’t need a superman, we all are a little bit of wonder woman.
