A follow-up to 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (which I loathed), the summer hit Wonder Woman is a fun, exciting film with lots of memorable characters and a pretty compelling storyline.
In present-day Paris, art dealer Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) gets a photographic plate of herself and some others were taken during World War I. The plate prompts Diana to remember her youth on the Amazon island of Themyscira, where she was raised by her mother Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen). Vigorous training undergone by Diana under her Aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) and a belief that the God of War Aries will someday return to destroy humankind helps Diana keep her perspective.
Then, in 1918, she rescues American pilot/spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) after he crashes lands his autogyro near Themyscria. Following a savage battle between the Amazons and German sailors who were pursuing Trevor, Diana decides to leave with the flier to kill Aries, believing he’s the cause behind the Great War (as World War I was originally called). If Aries is killed, she reasons, the war will end.
With the aid of Trevor and his pals (including Said Taghmaoui as spy Sameer, Ewen Bremneras Charlie the Sniper, and Eugene Brave Rock as smuggler Chief), Diana makes it into enemy lines to confront German General Ludendorff (Danny Huston), believing he’s Aries in disguise. But she and the others are in for a rude surprise…
Director Patty Jenkins, along with the cast (plus Lucy Davis as Trevor’s secretary Etta Candy and David Thewlis as Sir Patrick of the Supreme War Council), delivers a rousing adventure that despite the overuse of establishing shots (we get it: Themyscira is a BIG island) and an oddly structured third act, hold the audience’s attention from the first scene to the last. Both Gadot and Pine, not to mention the supporting cast, seem to enjoy themselves without resorting to camping it up. Plus Jenkins and screenwriter Allan Heinberg stress characterization as well as big screen spectacle (the “No Man’s Land” sequence is especially good).
Wonder Woman is definitely recommended! And be sure to watch the deleted last scene with Etta, Sameer, Charlie, and Chief.
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