Wonder Woman (2017)

DC Comics' attempt at a cinematic universe hasn't been the best so far. Every one of the three films they've released has had narrative problems that range from fairly noticeable to downright awful. Only one of them has actually established any kind of concrete tone for the franchise. None of them, from my perspective at least, are films I would consider buying based on quality alone. When you're putting as much money behind movies as Warner Bros. is behind these new DC Comics films, that's never a good thing. That being said, they're still figuring things out, so I decided to give them another chance by seeing their newest release Wonder Woman.

And you know what? I'm incredibly glad I did. 

This is a really solid comic book film and an incredibly enjoyable thing to experience in a theater. Wonder Woman has all the components of a good film and simply puts them loosely over a comic book aesthetic and branding, and that makes it work better than countless other films that rely on branding and marketing to gather any kind of hype. 

I could begin by telling you what Wonder Woman has working to its advantage, but first let me cover something it doesn't have: foundational, structural problems. This is a film with a complete, cohesive, and well put-together narrative. Man of Steel didn't have that. Batman v Superman didn't have that. Suicide Squad definitely had nothing even remotely resembling that. That makes Wonder Woman a much easier film to watch than those others: there's no extra stress put on the viewer through too many plotlines to follow and no extra boredom through poor editing decisions. This is a really well-paced film, and that makes it incredibly rewatchable. There was one point where I was puzzled about a pacing decision, but the plot resolves that with a big twist that actually makes a lot of sense when I think about it, so no complaints in that department. 

There's also a lot of emphasis put on characters in Wonder Woman that pays off a lot. Diana herself is fleshed out really well in good, practical ways. There's very little exposition about characters or situation in the film, actually: everything is explained through action or in interesting enough settings that the exposition never feels stale or forced. I really liked a lot of how they establish both Diana's character and set up some of the plot later on when they show her growing up, as it expedites the process for the audience so we can get to the good stuff in the later acts of the film. Steve Trevor (Chris Pine's character) has a lot of good moments that do the same, albeit later in the film. It definitely doesn't hurt one bit that both Pine and Gal Gadot (Diana/Wonder Woman) give incredibly good performances in their respective roles that made me laugh and nearly made me cry a couple of times. They're really believable even though they are both in some crazy situations, and that made me tremendously enjoy their work here. 

One other thing that Wonder Woman really has going for it is its enticing visual style. To be honest, this is something every DC movie so far has had and makes their films stand out a lot compared to those from Marvel. Every film has some kind of unique style to it, whether it's the operatic nature of Batman v Superman or the epic feel in Man of Steel. Wonder Woman has a really unique blend of Saving Private Ryan, the first Superman film, X-Men: First Class, and just a bit of Thor's ability to tell a great fish-out-of-water story. This film is visually colorful and very well-directed by Patty Jenkins, but not just because of the action sequences: there's a lot of smaller moments that really made the film a lot more emotional and deep, in particular a couple of scenes between Diana and Steve Trevor (including one particularly poignant moment where he teaches her how to dance). Wonder Woman takes its time, and for a superhero movie made in 2017 that fact is kind of a big deal.

If I had to pick out one flaw in Wonder Woman, it is the villains. There's not a lot of time devoted to developing their different backstories or motives, and quite honestly I didn't really feel like they were going to pose much of a threat to Diana in the film. I didn't feel like this brought down the film's overall quality that much, though, as I still cared enough about the protagonists that the action didn't feel stale or meaningless.

Overall, I am very proud to say that Wonder Woman is the first great DC film in this new universe. It focuses a lot on the leads and gives the actors portraying them good opportunities to knock it out of the park through its smaller moments while also giving us some very well-directed action. I now have hope for this franchise and how it can truly be great. Here's hoping it's not a fluke and that Justice League is really solid come November.

My recommendation: Definitely see it, and a big screen would help. 

My grade: 84