Film Review: Wonder Woman (2017)

In 2017, the hearts of young girls who had dreamed of Hillary Clinton leading the universe, or at least the part of it known as the "Free World," were broken. At least, that's what Hollywood, or more precisely, Warner Bros., thought when they promoted Wonder Woman, the first high-budget and modern adaptation of the popular comic about the eponymous superheroine. It was supposed to be a feminist project that would correct the wrongs of the real world on the big screen. The new film is set in the fictional universe of DC Comics, specifically as the third installment in the cycle that introduced Superman and Batman. Zack Snyder, the filmmaker whose Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, despite commercial success, did not, to put it mildly, win the hearts of die-hard comic geeks, was replaced by Patty Jenkins, whose most famous work is Monster, a biographical film about Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who gained infamy as the first female serial killer in American history due to her murders of clients.

The titular heroine of her new film also kills men en masse, but that, along with her gender, are more or less the only things they have in common. Princess Diana (Gil Gadot) is the daughter of Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), the queen of the Amazons who live on Themyscira, a paradisiacal and hidden island from the rest of the world, and are preparing for the inevitable confrontation with the evil god of war, Ares. When, in 1918, an American pilot and spy, Steve Trevor (Chis Pine), crashes on that island, it turns out that a bloody apocalyptic world war, which participants have not yet named the First World War, has been raging for several years. Diana becomes convinced that all this is Ares' doing and, together with Trevor, goes to war to kill Ares and thus stop the bloodshed. Meanwhile, the German imperial general Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston), convinced that exhausted Germany will lose the war and faced with the fact that his superiors are considering an armistice, agrees to use the services of Dr. Isabel Maru (Elena Anaya), a chemist who has created a poisonous gas with which she intends to destroy the allied armies, but also additional millions of victims.

Wonder Woman, at least as far as the critical establishment is concerned, was received similarly to previous year's Ghostbusters. By the mere fact that the main heroine is a woman, it has secured a feminist character and, as such, has condemned any critic who dares to say a bad word about it to the status of a patriarchal male chauvinistic troglodyte. However, the audience reacted much more favourably to Wonder Woman than to the box office infamously failed Ghostbusters, so critical hagiographies are supplemented with data on the most commercially successful superhero film that represents a "origin story" and, more importantly, the most commercially successful film directed by a woman. This success, however, seems deserved, as Wonder Woman is far better than Ghostbusters, and exponentially better than Snyder's works (which might not actually be something to write home about).

Patty Jenkins, who reportedly had more creative freedom than Hollywood studios allow today, has made sure that her film looks different from other works in the DC universe. There is no more dark atmosphere and grey colours, and the film is beautiful, especially in the scenes that take place on the paradisiacal Themyscira; even the grey, gloomy London, and the muddy trenches on the Western Front look much more attractive and lively than what Snyder has accustomed us to. The script, however, as one might expect, does not show any particular fidelity to historical facts (especially in the case of Ludendorff, who was a much more complex personality than the maniacal hyper-villain portrayed by Danny Huston with routine hamminess), but it does seem refreshing. Despite the extremely depressing theme of the First World War, a lot of humour, multidimensionality, and hints that the world cannot be treated morally in black and white as Hollywood does (and as it would have to be if the action took place in the Second World War where Wonder Woman would have to beat the Nazis) have been added to it. Particularly interesting are the protagonist's exotic helpers played by the quite cheerful Saïd Taghmaoui (known for his role in La Haine) and Ewen Bremner (known as Spud from Trainspotting). The Spanish actress Elena Anaya also does a good job, whose acting is impressive although the character she plays is missing half of her face. The film maintains a positive spirit despite not having a conventional happy ending (which should not surprise anyone who knows history). The impression, however, is significantly spoiled by the obligatory CGI orgy in the final showdown with the villain, which, of course, takes place at night, as well as the "surprising" twist, which is no surprise to more experienced viewers. Jenkins, however, has done a mostly good job, and she was helped by Gal Gadot, who is much more convincing in the role of the Amazonian warrior than Lynda Carter in the 1970s TV series, extremely popular among teenage boys. Gadot achieves that due to somewhat more realistic and athletic body proportions. Wonder Woman stands out for its quality, but mostly thanks to the ever-lowering standards of Hollywood superhero blockbusters.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here

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