Wonder Woman Review

So I got to see the Wonder Woman movie, which is far sooner than I would expect. By sooner I mean a few days after the premiere. I was planning to watch it on premiere day, but real world issues has gotten me into quite the flunk, if you know what I mean, that I may not be able to watch the film for a long time even with the Home Video release. But a stroke of luck has managed to have me watch the film. And I must say, it did lifted my spirits.

Another is that Wonder Woman is a breath of fresh air on so many levels. One, it helps you forget the previous movies from the DC Expanded Universe. Let's face it, despite the money raking in from those movies, they were pretty bad. Wonder Woman is basically what Warner Bros. SHOULD HAVE done with their Cinematic Universe, instead of what they've been doing lately. And in spite of the production problems Wonder Woman has faced, it was well worth it.

Before I give more thoughts on the film, a quick summary of the plot - It is indeed an origin story, though how much accurate it is to the comics, I have no idea as I am not that knowledgeable with regards to DC's lore.

In Wonder Woman, Diana is the only female child living in Themyscira, the Land of The Amazons. The history of the Amazons and its ties to Greek Mythology have been revamped for the modern audience. In the film, the Amazonians are given character that of the goddess Athena, with the role of providing wisdom and guidance towards humankind before Themyscira isolated itself from the world after the battle between Odin and Aries. Now the way they told the history of these two Greek Gods got me surprised a bit, as it made me question how it affects the history of Shazam, aka Captain Marvel, with regards to his origin story in the upcoming film.

Anyhow, fast forward to World War I and a grown-up Diana encounters Steve Trevor, a spy of the Allied Forces on the run from the then German Emprie. This resulted with the latter entering Themyscira and a battle ensues. I have to say I commend whoever constructed this battle scenario - on one hand, we have the German Empire with their firearms; On the other, the Amazons on horseback, bow and arrow, sword and shield. You'd think the Germans have this, but in reality, it was the Amazons who have the advantage and the fight comes out nicely without feeling like it's forced to make the Amazons look good.

Or to put it another way, imagine the sword fight scenes from 300, except with the Amazons taking down German troops. Yeah, that kind of bad ass-ery.

Steve reveals that he has information of the German Empire developing a poisonous gas as a WMD - Weapon of Mass Desruction, and thus he must report  to the Allied Forces. Diana thinks that Aries is the cause of the war and naive-ly believes killing Aries will end all wars. And so she joins Steve in the war in hopes of finding Aries and ending him for good.

The one thing I hate about the current DC films is that they happen to be totally dark, literally speaking. It's not just the tone, but the overall atmosphere and scenery as well. Color and brightness, as trivial as they seem, play a big role in making a visual work appealing. Dark and bleak colors may work in horror or suspense films, but in the case of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad, it only made them less appealing to watch.

Wonder Woman fixed that by making the colors brighter and more attentive to the naked eye. Essentially they followed Marvel's example, directly or otherwise, when it comes to using these visuals even in projects like Daredevil. Another way of seeing this is in Bruce Timm's "Batman: The Animated Series". While much of the show's setting is at night and in dark places, it still uses bright colors. This means your eyes are indeed glued to the screen because "ooh! birght colors! me likey!"

And thank god, the so-called ban on 'no jokes allowed' on DC films is gone. Because you get a lot of humor in this film and all of them are quitte funny. There is great chemistry with Gal Gadot and Chris Pine as Diana and Steve, while the rest of the supporting cast really helped keep the film on a steady course of its greatness, as opposed to having Gadot take the bulk of the film.

Gadot really pulled it off as Diana and presented herself worthy of being the definitive version of the modern-day Wonder Woman. If there is any criticism I have of Gadot, it's that for a Amazonian who tends to fight a lot, she sure as hell wears a whole lot of makeup.

Some say Wonder Woman's plot seems simlar to Captain America: The First Avenger. Understandable, but I think the similarities don't harm the film in any way. I would say it's more of a flattery. That being said, Diana's interactions with the outside world reminded me a lot of Starfire from Teen Titans, which I find amusing.

The fact that the movie neither has an End Credits scene, nor provide any reference to the upcoming Justice League film makes Wonder Woman itself a stand-alone DC film you can watch and enjoy without having to backtrack to the previous films to get an idea what's going on.

Not to talk about feminist themes, but they are indeed present in Wonder Woman. Unlike others such as The Powerpuff Girls and Ghostbusters reboots where the themes are pressed against your face, Wonder Woman presents the theme naturally, it isn't forced, and is presented in a way that lets you appreciate, and even support, its existence. Diana is a feminist in this film, but also shows a lot of compassion and even learns to love Steve, making her all the more appreciative and likable.

The success of Wonder Woman by both critics and the box office have some analysts believe that Warner Bros can just throw their money with Justice League and not worry about it, pointing to the success of the Wonder Woman film. I honestly hope they don't do that and the studio does work hard to make Justice League a really good film, and not because Wonder Woman is in it. What is certain is that DC has laid the groundwork f a very good superhero film with a female lead, and the pressure is on for Marvel to do the same, if not better, with their upcoming Captain Marvel film starring Brie Larson.

It may sound bias of me saying this, but Wonder Woman has redefined the superhero genre in the 10 years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe began and has raised the bar on how to make such films, and not just the superhero genre itself. Marvel and other studios should take note from this. Whether you are a long-time fan of Wonder Woman, or just stepping in to the character herself, the movie is, no pun intended, a "Wonder" to behold. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give the Wonder Woman film, a 5 out of 5.