Review: Wonder Woman Is Almost Exactly As You Expect
- Jun 1, 2017
- 2 min read
Wonder Woman is indeed the next film in the awfully named DC Extended Universe, DCEU, really rolls off the tongue. Its has all the trappings, excessive slow motion, poor writing and weak characters. The only thing it manages to do differently is it isn't overstuffed to the point of self destruction.
When a fighter plane crashes just offshore of the hidden island of Themyscira, Princess Diana (Gal Gadot) leaps to the rescue, dragging Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) from the wreckage. Trevor is a spy and one on the run from a contingent of the German military. The island of Themyscira, untouched for thousands of years, very quickly learns that the rest of the world has advanced somewhat and gotten themselves involved in a few wars along the way. Believing Ares, the god of war, to be behind the war that now ravages the world, Diana and Steve set off to stop a diabolical plot and bring peace to mankind.
To say Diana is the least interesting character in her own movie would be colossal understatement. Every other major character is infinitely better written, probably because they aren't constrained by years of past and future content. Her character shifts between generic hero character and a person confused by the time difference between her world and ours. There's literally nothing you haven't seen before. Even the directing is standard DCEU fare. If I wasn't aware Zack Snyder didn't have the helm, I could have sworn he was.
Wonder Woman is all style and no substance. It's not a very good superhero movie and it's an even worse war movie. There's no risks taken here, outside of the supposed "risk" of having a female lead in a genre film, though this really isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. They could have mixed it up with the action, done something interesting there and while the Lasso of Truth has a few good moments, it's just about the only thing that sets this movie aside from everything else.
Nothing remotely exciting happens for at least the first hour. There's a mildly enjoyable action scene set in no mans land but you've already seen 90% of that in the trailers. Wonder Woman is just another so-so entry into the DCEU. If you're dying to watch some bland action packed with poor effects, there's plenty better out there.
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