‘Wonder Woman’ a hero
Review: Fresh film throws out tired superhero formula.
Diana Prince, we’ve been waiting for you.
Wonder Woman ( out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters nationwide Thursday night) is a departure from most superhero films you’ve seen. It’s a female superhero film — revolutionary enough — but it’s also a genuinely surprising film that plays with genre and throws out the tired superhero movie formula. It’s an action film, a romantic comedy, a coming-of-age story, a period piece and a war movie. Above all, it’s a hopeful story about humanity.
Unlike the recent parade of bleak superhero tales, Wonder
Woman makes you feel good. The film, set in World War I, takes us back to the beginning of Diana’s (Gal Gadot) story, showing her growing up on Themyscira, home to the Amazons. When pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes there, his description of the Great War compels Diana to help.
Gadot and Pine have fantastic chemistry and Pine does well as the audience’s surrogate, displaying appropriate amusement and curiosity at Diana’s strange ways.
But it’s Gadot’s film and she is electric as Wonder Woman, a role she debuted in last year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice. Unshackled from that film’s dreary baggage, the actress shines as brightly in Wonder
Woman’s smaller moments as she does when she lifts a tank.
The film’s action is explosive and engaging. While many recent superhero films are overstuffed with heroes, director Patty Jenkins wisely chooses to focus on Wonder Woman alone as she takes out her foes.
It’s only when the film feels the need to check off the boxes of the modern superhero movie that it loses its momentum.
Diana and the film are genuine about everything, which is what makes it feel so special. In a time when public discourse is fraught and full of hatred, watching Wonder Woman fight so hard and so earnestly for love is a profound experience.
It’s hard not to feel, well, wonderful.