Wonder Women- Movie Review

By: Hamza Shafique

Who doesn’t like a strong female action character on screen whether its Trinity from Matrix and her iconic slow motion opening kick or more recent android Scarlet Johansson from Ghost in a shell, I love them all, even the most exciting part in horrible Batman vs Superman movie was when wonder woman joins the end fight sequence. Now imagine what will happen if you add elements of romance, innocence, will-power and humor to this female action figure. You will get the wow movie of all time.

Wonder Woman is the most iconic female comic character of all time and with this movie based on this character DC cinematic universe finally delivers a movie, all of us have been waiting for. Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman displays all the aspects of an awesome origin film very well. Wonder Women is not the usual comic book, flashy popcorn flick. It’s different and is on the lines of recent Marvel’s movie Logan, a perfect blend of glitz and substance.

                                                                                                                                    

My all-time favorite movie from this genre is Marvel’s Captain America-Civil War and that’s my benchmark for such films, so is Wonder Woman as great as Civil War? I would say this one is very close only half a point down which I will explain later.

Story line is set in the early 20th century and is the origin story of Amazon princess Diana. For 141 minutes, we will see about her early life on the island of Themyscira, her interaction with military pilot Steve Trevor when he washes ashore and her journey to/events in London to bring an early end to the war. This movie is more coming of age drama rather than action-adventure. I will not say much about the storyline but screen play is neat and takes its own sweet time to narrate everything. This film has romance, humor and action to the finest. it 141 mins long but storyline goes so smooth that you will not feel it. Screenplay also has a very interesting surprise element that is very well hidden throughout the film and at least I wasn’t expecting it, when the revelation happened at the end.

Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman is spot on. Gadot described her character as having "many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she's a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence" and that’s exactly what we see on screen. she looks innocent, naïve, beautiful, strong, intelligent and super human all at the same time with perfection. Her sincere performance raises the entertainment value and her screen presence keeps audience glued to screen. At least I couldn’t get my eyes off her. Chris Pine is also very convincing as Steve Trevor: A captain from the United States Army Air Service who is the love interest of Diana Prince. His comic timings and chemistry with Gal Gadot enhances the humorous and romantic elements of Wonder Woman. Rest of the cast is good as well but these two characters are only focused and hence they are only memorable.

I am so glad finally someone used slow motion in action sequences properly. I hate movies with choppy fast paced action with thousands of camera switches. I like my action Matrix style, where one can appreciate the stunts and actually see who punched who. All the action sequences in the movie are unique not only compared to other movies but from each other as well. There are three grand action sequences and each is set so different from each other that one cannot say if they are from the same movie.

In a super hero film usually action sequences appear repetitive as the main protagonist always has same fighting style with exactly same super powers, what makes it different for Wonder Woman is that in all the three big main action sequences we see Diana Prince at different level of self-realization and confidence which makes each action sequence refreshing and unique. Civil War achieved that with dozens of super heroes but here wonder woman achieves that with only one super hero which is sheer display of Petty Jenkins’ brilliant storytelling and needs to be acknowledged.

Me at the Wonder Women first Middle East Screening by
 Novo Cinemas UAE

The only flaw that keeps it from becoming 4.5-star classic like Civil War is the absence of strong antagonist. There are couple of villains but they all are not terrorizing or intimidating enough to be considered rival of Diana Prince. They more feel like fillers to move personal story of Diana Prince, as I said earlier it feels at times like a very good coming of age drama.

Overall Gal Gadot’s perfection as Diana Prince, Unique action sequences and smooth flow of screenplay makes it, the best DC cinematic universe film till date, I go with 4/5 stars

I also would like to thank Novo Cinemas UAE for inviting me to Wonder Woman’s first Middle East screening and making it possible for me to get this review out before the official release (which is 1^st June).