• Home
  • Meetings
  • Events
  • Blog
  • E-Board
  • Around Boston
NUFEC
.

AJ Martin on Wonder Woman

6/1/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Up until this point, the DC Extended Universe (or DCEU, I guess) has not had a particularly good track record. Standing at 0/3, I was pretty much losing hope that they would ever make an even passably good film. Man of Steel had its moments of quality, thanks mostly to an excellent Hans Zimmer score, but fell due to its boring characters and cringey story. Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad were both absolute messes, with little to nothing in the way of redeeming qualities. Thus, the bar for Wonder Woman was set quite low. All the movie had to do was be passable and it would be the best film of the DCEU. And passable it is, if still not pretty flawed.
 
Wonder Woman, the first stand-alone superhero film to feature a female lead, follows the titular character, an Amazonian woman named Diana (Gal Gadot). Diana was born and raised on Themyscira, an island of only Amazonian women, who have isolated themselves from the world of men and constantly train to fight Ares, God of War. They believe that one day, Ares will rise from the ashes of his defeat at the hands of Zeus and try to destroy the world, and must be ready for the fight to come. But when American pilot and spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands in Themyscira and tells them about the Great War that is raging all across the world, Diana becomes convinced this is the return of Ares, corrupting men into destroying each other. Thus, Diana and Steve must travel to the front lines of the First World War to stop the Germans from unleashing a devastating gas-based weapon that could end mankind.
 
A comparison I began making when the first trailer for Wonder Woman came out was that it looked similar to Captain America: The First Avenger. Perhaps that was just because both movies take place during wars of the early 20th century, and the leads are both idealistic symbols who bear the colors of the United States flag. But the movies feel eerily similar, as Wonder Woman bears all of the positive and negative qualities of the average Marvel film. It has interesting and likable characters and a good sense of humor, but suffers from a less-than-captivating story and underwhelming villain. 
 
On the positive end, it is nice to finally have a movie in the DCEU with characters that aren’t soulless. Gadot and Pine play their characters with an energy and charisma that has been completely absent from the previous films in the franchise, playing off each other wonderfully. And once Diana finally dons her classic costume and starts kicking ass, it’s hard to resist being invested. Though the camera work in the action segments suffers from some of the issues that many action films have (such as too many close-ups to mask the lack of creative choreography and an over-reliance on slow-motion) these scenes have an infectious energy. This energy likely comes from Gadot’s performance, which is the film’s crowning achievement. She is Wonder Woman and she owns the role wonderfully. 
 
But the problem arises with the rest of the film built around these compelling characters. The story seems to drag along at times as the same basic pattern emerges. Diana thinks she is fighting Ares, Steve uses this to his advantage to get her to help fight the war, Diana does something amazing that shocks people/gives them hope. The entire film feels like going through the standard motions that have been set for a superhero origin movie in the modern superhero era. There are no strokes of originality here, just standard superhero fare. Top it off with a villain which neatly fits the Marvel formula of dullery and you’ve got an underwhelming experience that will likely not stand the test of time.
 
I wanted to love this movie. I wanted DC to give me something to compete with Marvel and Fox’s superhero line-up that could potentially shake up the superhero slog. While Fox is willing to push the envelope and take risks with movies like Deadpool and Logan, it seems like DC’s new strategy is to emulate Marvel movies to a tee. And that’s not a great idea when you consider that the Marvel formula is starting to feel stale and repetitive. Wonder Woman may scratch an itch you have to see a beloved character on-screen, or to at least see a watchable movie in the DCEU, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to a lot of other superhero fare.
 
Grade: B- 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    AJ Martin
    Andy Robinson
    Anime
    Anthony Formicola
    Anu Gulati
    Arjun Agarwal
    Arzu Martinez
    Ben Garbow
    Brandon Isaacson
    Brian Hamilton
    Carter Sigl
    Dan Simeone
    Discussion
    Elizabeth Johnson Wilson
    Eliza Rosenberry
    Emily Fisler
    Erick Sanchez
    Eric Tatar
    Essays
    Festivals
    Gabrielle Ulubay
    Grace Phalon
    Haley Emerson
    Here's Some Movies
    Ian Wolff
    IFF Boston
    IFFBoston 2015
    Interviews
    Isaac Feldberg
    Kunal Asarsa
    Library
    Lists
    Marguerite Darcy
    Marissa Marchese
    Marli Dorn
    Mary Tobin
    Meghan Murphy
    Mike Muse
    Mitch Macro
    Neel Shah
    Netflix Instant Watch
    Parth Parekh
    Patrick Roos
    Profiles
    Reviews
    Short Films
    Television
    This Week In Movies
    Tyler Rosini

    Want to Write for Us?

    Contact NUFEC at [email protected] if you're interested in writing for this blog!

    Archives

    October 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.