I have to confess, I am not a fan of big-screen comic book/superhero films, especially of the last twenty-plus years. In fact, the only one of these I sat through in my life was the original SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, arguably the best film of its kind ever made-and this was back in 1978. But while I probably can't change my mind about the genre after seeing it, the 2017 film WONDER WOMAN has more than enough to distinguish it from the others of either the DC Comics lineup (which it is a part of) or Marvel.
The character of Diana, the Amazon warrior princess who became Wonder Woman, originated in comic books the late 1930's, but the most famous iteration of this character was on television during the late 1970's, when the role was portrayed (and legendarily so) by Lynda Carter. Fortunately, in the midst of Hollywood's (and the film going public's) obsession with comics, the character finally made a stand-alone big-screen bow in 2017-and with no less than a woman in the director's chair, Patty Jenkins, here making her first film as a director since 2003's MONSTER.
Israeli actress Gal Gadot steps into the role of the Amazon warrior princess, whose background of growing up among fellow goddesses on the mythical island of Themyscira is brilliantly depicted by Jenkins and her crew on location in Italy, and is mentored by the best of them (portrayed by Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright). But everything changes for her when an American pilot (Chris Pine) working as a spy for the British crashes his plane close to the island. Pine tells of a war to end all wars happening in the world outside of Themyscira, which is shielded by an invisible force field; and Gadot, having realized her abilities, makes every effort to try and stop it all. She and Pine take a boat into the worst of the fighting on the Western Front in France near the end of this war, World War I, and try to stop a ruthless German general (Danny Huston) from manufacturing a lethal gas sure to make an already atrocious body count in this first example of genuine mechanized warfare even higher than it is. The adventures that Gadot and Pine go on force Gadot to not only understand her own powers, but the weaknesses of the human race in general, and men in particular, and the penchant they have for killing each other through hatred. In her relationship with Pine, she realizes that love is the one thing that can save the world.
Unlike so many other superhero comic book movies, Wonder Woman, besides having immense powers of her own, is also able to show empathy and understanding, only using her powers when nothing else will do. And even though her Israeli accent is very obvious in her line renderings, Gadot makes a completely credible Wonder Woman all the same-likely, she was the only actress capable of creating a Wonder Woman for this era (even though this film is set more than a century in the past) and still paving a certain amount of homage to Carter, whom Jenkins gives very special thanks to in the final credits. The visual effects and the costumes are all first-rate, of course; but the reason they, and the film in general, work as well as they do is because of Jenkins' fine direction and Gadot's portrayal. This is not just a slam-bang, hypersonic Hollywood spectacle. This is a spectacle with a heart and a conscience; and that's why it gets a '9' rating from me.
The character of Diana, the Amazon warrior princess who became Wonder Woman, originated in comic books the late 1930's, but the most famous iteration of this character was on television during the late 1970's, when the role was portrayed (and legendarily so) by Lynda Carter. Fortunately, in the midst of Hollywood's (and the film going public's) obsession with comics, the character finally made a stand-alone big-screen bow in 2017-and with no less than a woman in the director's chair, Patty Jenkins, here making her first film as a director since 2003's MONSTER.
Israeli actress Gal Gadot steps into the role of the Amazon warrior princess, whose background of growing up among fellow goddesses on the mythical island of Themyscira is brilliantly depicted by Jenkins and her crew on location in Italy, and is mentored by the best of them (portrayed by Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright). But everything changes for her when an American pilot (Chris Pine) working as a spy for the British crashes his plane close to the island. Pine tells of a war to end all wars happening in the world outside of Themyscira, which is shielded by an invisible force field; and Gadot, having realized her abilities, makes every effort to try and stop it all. She and Pine take a boat into the worst of the fighting on the Western Front in France near the end of this war, World War I, and try to stop a ruthless German general (Danny Huston) from manufacturing a lethal gas sure to make an already atrocious body count in this first example of genuine mechanized warfare even higher than it is. The adventures that Gadot and Pine go on force Gadot to not only understand her own powers, but the weaknesses of the human race in general, and men in particular, and the penchant they have for killing each other through hatred. In her relationship with Pine, she realizes that love is the one thing that can save the world.
Unlike so many other superhero comic book movies, Wonder Woman, besides having immense powers of her own, is also able to show empathy and understanding, only using her powers when nothing else will do. And even though her Israeli accent is very obvious in her line renderings, Gadot makes a completely credible Wonder Woman all the same-likely, she was the only actress capable of creating a Wonder Woman for this era (even though this film is set more than a century in the past) and still paving a certain amount of homage to Carter, whom Jenkins gives very special thanks to in the final credits. The visual effects and the costumes are all first-rate, of course; but the reason they, and the film in general, work as well as they do is because of Jenkins' fine direction and Gadot's portrayal. This is not just a slam-bang, hypersonic Hollywood spectacle. This is a spectacle with a heart and a conscience; and that's why it gets a '9' rating from me.