Wonder Woman

 2017’s “Wonder Woman”, directed by Patty Jenkins.
Starring Gal Godot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nelson, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, and Elena Anaya.

First introduced to the world in the atrocious “Batman Vs. Superman”, we see Godot on her home planet as a child, aspiring to be like the rest of the all female Amazons, training as fierce and disciplined warriors. We learn through a lovely flashback that in the past Zeus and Ares fought each other, and although Zues was gravely injured, he defeated Ares who retreated. In the event that Ares was to return, Zeus left a god killer weapon on the island, who grew to be Princess Diana, portrayed by Godot. She is groomed for combat by Wright and Nelson, with them not telling her complete history and how she came to be. Growing into an adult, she one day witnesses a plane, mistakenly coming through a portal of some kind into her planet and into the ocean water. She saves a drowning man’s life, who turns out to be Chris Pine. Unfortunately, Pine is followed by WWI Germans, who decide that allies are highly overrated. However, the Germans have yet to learn that the planet is dominated by warrior goddesses, who show the men that pants are optional for gender superiority. After a quick victory, it is determined that Ares, the god of war, has influenced the Germans to act the way they do, and Godot travels back with Pine and his group of eccentric soldiers to stop Aries (Huston) and his chemical engineer (Anaya), and end WWI. Along the way, we get plenty of fish out of water sequences from Godot, learning humans’ ways in the 1910’s, as she begins to believe in herself and her considerable powers, and witness plenty of female bad assery in a genre usually reserved exclusively for the men.

“WW” is meant to be the origin chapter to one of the key figures of DC’s “Justice League” series, it’s answer to Marvel’s “The Avengers”. Regardless of the sex in both character and female director, “WW” is a fine opener, that shows both how lacking in personality Thor’s home world is, and how badly DC has underperformed in the comic book adaptation craze (notwithstanding the Christopher Nolan’s directed Batman trilogy). “WW” does something fascinating here, in flipping the damsel in distress trope- here, Pine’s character constantly finds himself in over his head, with his Amazonian visitor needing to repeatedly bail him out of tough scrapes. Meanwhile, Pine’s character is no shrinking violet, he’s just not some kind of god created super weapon that has bracelets of steel, an invincible shield, a lasso of truth, and a special sword designed to smite Ares. In creating an action-adventure comic adaptation, Jenkins swings for the fences, and shows us that Kathryn Bigelow isn’t the only female director capable of smash mouth action. But she also has some nice tension between the Pine and Godot characters, as she knows she can kick his ass and comes from a man less society, but still finds herself attracted to Pine’s rascal ingenuity and face. As well, fascinatingly enough, we witness Godot initially start out taking a page out of Batman’s handbook, being non lethal on her fellow combatants, but as the god of war enters her consciousness, she becomes more Charles Bronson-esque than she would care to. “WW” is so fresh in it’s approach to feminist equality that it’s almost easy to ignore the trappings of cinematic spandex and armour, with it’s ending surrendering to the formula of a climatic showdown with plenty of beams of light shooting out everywhere. This is one woman who is full of wonder, and it’s about time DC showed up to the party.

4/5

Trailer: Click Here.