“Wonder Woman: Older Than She Looks”
(8.5/10)
Wonder Woman is probably the most famous female superhero in any universe and DC is really lucky that she belongs to them. Wonder Woman is definitely the DC Extended Universe’s (DCEU) breakout hit. A lot of people did not like Man of Steel or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, so this movie’s expectations were a little mixed. To our surprise, and joy, It was actually really good. It had action, a little romance, and it incites a wide range of emotion.
The story behind this one is not something we were very familiar with so we had to do a little research. The director decided to set the movie in WWI, which, even though that's one war earlier than the original, made perfect sense for the character development they were going for. They put more emphasis on her idealistic view of the world and her belief in humanity’s goodness. That kind of sets up for her to be disappointed when WWII comes along, because she'll realize that the things that happened in WWI are not the worst humanity can/will get. I think that's an interesting aspect to add to her character, even if we never see her response in film, it's implied from the way she acts in this movie. She’ll end up in a world that is worse than she could imagine. That changes her story, but only slightly since in the original she comes to our world during the 2nd World War. That being said, the story overall is solid. It matches up with the comics near perfectly. It's in just about the right time period and I think the best thing about the story is that they told it in this time period. The right time period. They would have lost an aspect of her origins if they had tried to modernize it and I'm so glad they didn't. It works to the advantage of the whole DC universe to have her around the whole time, mostly observing. She only shows up when it's really important; just looking out for the world.
Her comics, and pretty much all comics, make a statement about the socio-political conditions of the time period. This movie does the same. She represents a certain hope in humanity because of her unwavering idealism and belief that Ares is the one making them do all of the terrible things. The movie makes a statement on the human condition and our capacity for good and evil. In comparison to the comic’s storyline, one of the differences in the movie was that she and all the Amazons already knew english. This was not the case in the original. She learned it when she got off the island of Themyscira and goes to America. Another difference was with Steve Trevor. He actually didn’t meet Diana until she had already left the island to try and stop Ares’ plot to destroy the world, but the way they met in the movie worked to their benefit. Though it differed from the original, it provided a way to show her emergence into our world in an entertaining and amusing fashion. Their interactions, and her interactions with all of the people she meets in our world, are some of my favorite scenes and lines from the movie. They did keep the most important things about her origins the same as the comic: the big war, Ares’ plot against the world, where her powers come from, the integration of Greek mythology, and, my personal favorite, the island where she is from.
At the conclusion of this film we are left knowing quite a lot about this character, but not so much that we don’t want more of this character. We didn’t know much about Wonder Woman before this movie but now we know how fierce and impressive a hero she really is. I actually thought she was lame before and now I know that’s not the case. She’s awesome! I can’t wait to see more of her. Throughout the film, they subtly showed her abilities. Instead of her knowing or being told about what she’s capable of, she and the characters found out at the same time we did as she does impossible things. The only thing they didn’t have her do was fly. She jumped really high and far at times but she never actually flew like she did in the original. Ok, I mean she technically did at the end of movie, but it was more of a sustained jump and a slow descent back to the ground. If that can count as flying then fine she flew, but I digress.
Wonder Woman is a fantastic film. The amount of action was pleasantly surprising and every one of those scenes were well done. There was a perfect ratio of comedy, action, and emotion. There is something in this movie for everyone. For me, it was an unexpected hit and I think it was the best DCEU movie so far. They did a great job on this movie and definitely did the character justice. I wasn’t a fan before this movie, but now I can say with certainty that I absolutely love Wonder Woman and am now a huge fan of this character.