Wonder Woman June o2, 2017

The most exciting thing about the Wonder Woman movie is all the pseudo controversy stirred up when  the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema  decided to have a “Women Only” opening night showing of the film. The movie itself, well, it’s not the worst superhero flick ever made, but it’s definitely not the best. It’s just . . . sort of okay. I know, I’m going to be in a lot of trouble with my friends over this, but just because the producers of Wonder Woman (2017) want to advertise it as a “breakthrough” for women’s rights in the film industry . . . it really doesn’t even discuss women’s issues except for making a few comments about a “woman’s place” in English society during WWI.

The best part of Wonder Woman happens in the very beginning scenes with a very young Diana running through the streets of the mythical city-state, Themyscira, the capital of the Amazon peoples’ government. She’s stops at the top of a hilltop and looks down on a pristine beach where the great Amazon Warriors sharpen their fight skills. Diana wants nothing more than to become an Amazon Warrior but her mother, Queen Hippolyta, tries to keep her away from becoming a warrior because Diana is just too young. However, young Diana will not be denied her rightful place as a warrior, and with the help of her aunt, General  Antiope, she trains in secret the sacred skills of the Amazonian fighter. And what a warrior she becomes! And then . . . Well, this is where the movie veers off course and becomes just another action packed, CGI infested comic book movie.

The Horrors of War

It’s not that this movie doesn’t try to mean something, it just doesn’t do it well ,depending on rather cartoonish CGI gunfire and explosions and a slight tip of the hat to The Horrors of War. There’s a scene where Wonder Woman and her band of hero-outlaws head for the “front lines” of WWI. On their way they run into a group of wounded soldiers heading towards the field hospitals . . . and Wonder Woman's shocked and sadden to see the carnage left behind by human warfare. At the front lines, Wonder Woman sees a crying woman holding her child and the woman tells WoWo how the Germans have stolen ALL their food, and Wonder Woman has a Popeye moment, “That’s all I can stands ‘cause I can’t stands no more!” and she runs into no man’s land and takes out a machine gun nest (single handedly) and moves on to Amazonian ass-kick every German soldier she can find.

If you want to make a statement about the horrors of war you must create scenes that not only force the Wonder Woman character into taking action.  The scenes also must move the audience. There are many, many movies, Saving Private Ryan ( 998), Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and even Captain America: Civil War (2026) show extremely moving, unique  images that depict The Horrors of War. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman doesn’t.

Love is Never Having to Apologize for Blowing Yourself Up

Today, my friend told me that the reason I don’t get the love connection between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor is that, “You don’t understand love, and you don’t understand woman.” Well, I can’t fault her for that. I sure don’t know nothing about love or women. However, when we saw the scene where Trevor proclaims his love for Wonder Woman and then goes off in a plane full of poison gas and in midair blows himself AND the plane up, my friend and I wondering where the hell did that come from? I mean, yeah, Steve and WW flirted with each other but where the hell did that love all of a sudden come from? There was absolutely no “love connection” between the characters. I never saw it. My friend never saw it. All this lovey dovey stuff was created out of nothing to supply a ‘'good reason” for Steve to commit suicide. And hey, no better reason than love to off yourself, right? 

So,Yes. Wonder Woman is an “important film” that finally gets us away from the male superhero image and finally gives a woman the lead role in a major superhero movie. And yes, It is a big movie for DC Comics, and I wish them all the success in the world. However, as iconic as the Wonder Woman movie might be, it’s still a flawed and only a slightly above average superhero movie.