Wonder Woman (2017)

Film: Wonder Woman (2017)
Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen
Director: Patti Jenkins
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I kind of made a promise to myself that when Ben Affleck got recast as Batman I wasn't going to go to any DC Comics movies again, as investing in that universe felt like such a pain in the butt, and considering the reviews on Suicide Squad, Justice League, and Batman vs. Superman, I've largely been rewarded on that front.  Still, though, the OVP beckons, as does trying to get at least a somewhat complete portrait of the year, and so skipping Wonder Woman before I decided my year-end awards felt like a cheat.  As a result, on Friday night I plopped in my Netflix disc (yes, I still get Netflix discs-the world is burning, let's focus on the larger picture here), and tried my first taste of DC post-Christopher Nolan.

(Spoilers Ahead) The tale of Wonder Woman, and really the cinematic decades it took to get the film finally to the screen has been an ordeal, and it's sort of mind-blowing to catch such a film in the flesh. The movie is yet another origin story, but honestly that seems to be the best part of Wonder Woman, mostly because Wonder Woman's origin is so unique within popular superhero canon.  She grew up on an island in the middle of nowhere, the daughter of an Amazon warrior and a god, and has never seen a man until a rugged Chris Pine shows up washed on a beach (it's all downhill from here, honey).  Gal Gadot gives her Diana a freshness that seems very reminiscent of Chris Hemsworth's Thor, but while Hemsworth has gained his footing in the character through snark and the strange juxtaposition of someone so attractive he literally has to be a god (even though he's of course a mortal in real life), Gadot gives her a candor that is refreshing, though they don't entirely dismiss the former Miss Israel's physical attributes (my favorite line of the movie was Etta Candy's "Really, specs?  Suddenly she's not the most beautiful woman you've ever seen?").  I get why Gadot is well-liked though.  At this point the superhero genre is so tired and redundant that it is completely reliant on proper movie star charisma to sell these characters (perhaps why Affleck's Batman is struggling, as he's never really been a good enough actor or movie star to pull off such a demand), which Gadot has.  She's a rare find, and is able to play an earnest character with gusto-that's not easy, and I'm excited to see what she does as a performer outside the confines of a multi-billion-dollar franchise.

The movie itself never really escapes the early high points of the scenes on Themyscira, so full of light and energy it's impossible to deny them.  I did like the "No Man's Land," sequence, where she battles the German army in a deeply humanizing sequence where we see Diana defy the men around her who say that "in war, casualties are inevitable."  But as the movie proceeds, it becomes a bit dank.  The villain, David Thewlis's Ares (masquerading as an activist for peace earlier in the picture), is poorly-constructed.  I felt like it was really obvious from the moment that he walked out he would be the villain (it clearly couldn't be Danny Huston as we needed a "twist" and he was the only actor famous enough to be the bad guy that wasn't Chris Pine, and that wasn't going to happen).  I did like the idea of Pine dying (there was no way to tie him into the present day, as he's obviously not a god), but his character was actually quite fun and he played the gender-reversed "damsel in distress" so well that it's a pity he won't be able to rejoin Diana in future adventures.  But the film's last thirty minutes were a bit predicable and generic after a refreshingly female-centric look at the superhero world in the hours that proceeded it.

Still, though, a lack of a good villain is hardly a mortal offense for a film, and I did like the movie, mostly due to Gadot.  I'm genuinely curious where this goes next, though-can Gadot, who isn't famous enough quite yet to start refusing which entries in the DC Universe she wants to partake in (ala Robert Downey Jr. or Scarlett Johansson), keep the momentum of one good movie going when she's saddled with two bad ones?  How does DC proceed when all of its films seem to be making money, but only one of them is actually any good?  I'm genuinely curious where this franchise goes, and will probably show up for the sequel, even though my newfound Gadot infatuation won't extend to me watching Justice League.