It seems apt that the very first popularized superheroine in comics, Wonder Woman, be given a movie of her own. Superheroines in film haven't always been met with the warm reception that this film has been getting; films like Elektra, Catwoman and the reprehensible Supergirl (1984) have been critical and commercial failures. What Wonder Woman does right is it sticks to a tried and tested formula, it does it right and it does it really well.
Wonder Woman takes place in the backdrop of the first World War. Diana (Gal Gadot) is part of a tribe of warrior women separated from the rest of the world. When the realities of the war reach their isolated island, Diana goes to the frontlines to defeat the God of War, Ares, who she thinks is behind all of it.
The first half of the film, where Diana experiences a society completely unfamiliar to her, is quite clever. We often view superheroes as modern day gods; here, we see Diana as superhero and modern day god experiencing the folly of mortal men. She becomes this metaphorical magnifying glass that helps us see the absurdity of the society we have created, where rooms full of men (and only men) wage war and affect the lives of innocent men and women. To Diana (and the audience) the senselessness of it all shows itself in full force.
The period where the movie takes place is also proves quite resonant, because it is during the interwar period that women gained the right to vote in countries like the UK and the US. People saw how women contributed to the ongoing war effort, and this started to shift popular thought. In this context, Diana's appearance coincides with this paradigm shift where women were no longer seen to be too weak or inconsequential to decide the fate of their country.
Diana is portrayed as an ideal (if a little naive) hero, poised and ready to help those in need and serve the better good. On the battlefield, she exudes power and courage, embodying the qualities of what we want our heroes to be. It's a far cry from the previous installments of the DC Cinematic Universe, composed of films filled with wacky antiheroes or brooding superpowered men who can't help but whine about how sad they are. The mere fact that this film doesn't pretend to be a dark, edgy deconstruction highly works in its favor, and I hope it sets a precedent for future films in the same universe.
Diana's naivete ties into one of the most interesting themes in the movie. Diana comes to know that war does not stem from a single cause; as her friend Steve Trevor points out (and I paraphrase), war is messy. She comes to learn the inherent nature of humanity, and her idealism is challenged by this notion. However, the ending of the film seems to undermine this theme, as it scapegoats the source of the conflict with a simpler explanation.
Wonder Woman is a fun movie. It goes back to the roots of what superhero movies can be, and it plays a few things a bit safe, but this is the film that DC and Warner Brothers need right now.
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