--Hippolyta, Wonder Woman
"The war. The war to end all wars. Four years, 27 countries, 25 million dead, soldiers and civilians."
--Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman
What a wonderful movie, pardon my pun! Wonder Woman succeeds as a superhero movie, a period piece, an action film, a comedy, and a romance . . . practically every aspect of it is expertly delivered! Also, it is not stuffed with random events and references to set up future installments in DC's shared film universe, which may strike some viewers as refreshing in the current cinematic environment.
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Production Values
I must applaud Gal Gadot for the fantastic performance she offered. She so skillfully portrays someone fierce yet naive, a person who rarely hesitates in living out her values and who must confront the fact that very few share that same moral impulse. A character who is presented as this exceptionally noble may not seem to have room for significant character development, yet Diana's arc contains the exact character growth that makes her seem to really change. Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have great chemistry--Chris Pine acts superbly as well, with his Steve Trevor providing a great companion for Diana, romantic and otherwise. The two flirt and fight alongside each other very convincingly. Really, everyone is acted well, although not every character is developed much.
The action scenes look great, and the World War I period piece atmosphere remains intact for the whole movie. From early 1900s London to European battlefield trenches, the tone is fairly grounded in history once Diana leaves the secluded paradisal island of Themyscira. And I don't recall a single scene that didn't further the story or pay off in some way. That latter comment is a high compliment that not many movies can legitimately receive. I also think that I have never seen a more appropriate usage of exposition than the scene where Hippolyta explains the creation of humanity and the fall of Olympus. That a multi-minute exposition scene could be so effective testifies to the quality of the screenplay.
Story
(Spoilers are below)
Diana Prince grows up in Themyscira, an island hidden from the human world and populated by a race of female beings called Amazons created by Zeus to temper the flaws of humans. As Diana ages, she is told of how at the beginning of time the Olympian deities watched as Zeus created humans in his image, how the god of war Ares charged humans with corruption, how the Amazons were created, and how Zeus eventually defeated Ares for a time.
When a British spy crashes a stolen plane through the veil of protection around the island, he is chased by Germans, whom the native Amazons repel quickly. Once Steve tells of a massive war engulfing the world that has killed 25 million people, including women and children, Diana decides to leave with Steve and stop Ares, whom she believes is behind this catastrophe. She brings her shield, lasso, and sword. But the outside world proves very different. Diana finds women are discriminated against in some ways and that people live quite differently. She passionately complains about how generals would knowingly sacrifice the lives of their soldiers, how inefficient human politics can be, and about the way that Steve and his band are content to just walk past atrocities and evils both minor and large.
She and Steve assemble a little group of mercenaries to try to prevent the use of a gas developed by the German Luddendorf and his chief chemist Dr. Poison, a psychopathic woman who seems to enjoy her work. Ludendorff is suspected as Ares, and Diana eventually is able to kill him, shocked that the war did not end with Ludendorff's death. Diana is shattered when she realizes that no god of war is necessary for humans to lapse into gratuitous warfare, cruelty, and selfishness. A rather clever villain reveal shows that there was an Ares, a British politician, yet he admits to nothing more than providing ideas and opportunities for human warfare, saying he does not actually make anyone carry out the actions Diana has been repulsed by. Ares is soon defeated, Trevor seemingly dead, and Diana finds her naivety changed, yet she remains committed to the ideal of love.
Intellectual Content
Greek mythology itself is not quite this "Christian." This movie's summary of how Zeus created humanity and the Amazons and how Ares revolted against Olympus and corrupted humans has a very distinctly Christianized tone. From Zeus making humans in his image and creation being called good to Ares embodying a Satan figure, Wonder Woman's version of Greek polytheistic theology doesn't really resemble the mythology from Hesiod or Homer very much, much less other contemporary takes on Greek mythology, like the God of War video game series. Other than the Olympian brand of polytheism and story of the Amazons presented, this is an overtly Christian story of human origins and corruption.
The overlap with Christian ideas continues deep into the third act. Ares, the god of war and perhaps the only surviving remnant of Olympus and its lineage other than Diana (I do not recall hearing what happened to Zeus), says several things that form a very honest description of humankind. He says that he never actually overrides the wills of humans when he entices them into evil, he merely plants ideas. During a poignant scene before he is revealed in which Diana and Steve wonder if there even ever was an Ares, the two share an important revelation about human nature. Diana, thinking she has killed Ares, asks aloud how the war has not ended, and Steve tells her the sobering truth that the people themselves may not need external influence to practice evil. "What if it's them?" he asks. Diana almost retreats from helping defeat Germany over this, partly brought back by Steve's insistence that what matters is not what people deserve but what one believes. Wonder Woman tells Ares soon after that she believes in love and will not destroy humans over their capacity for deep flaws.
Now, love is not contrary to justice (giving people what they deserve) and no one can deserve to be the recipient of an evil act like someone with immense power choosing to not abolish a world war. I strongly dislike how the last scenes of the movie tried to pit love (which is not the same as mercy) against justice, as if 1) giving people what they deserve involves doing morally erroneous acts (like letting World War I continue out of disdain for human nature), as if 2) love is based on subjective sentiments, and as if 3) everyone deserves to be terrestrially destroyed for their sins. Mosaic Law clearly disagrees with all three. The movie did begin to preach a form of vague and emotionalistic ideology near the end--but that does not nullify how much of the film's theology and anthropology agrees to a surprising (to me) extent with Christianity. Although love is spoken of by Diana in a loose, undefined, sentimental way around the very end, she does again echo a quasi-Christian idea when she says that only love can save the world.
Now on to gender equality! In a story about a character known for being a feminist icon--and no, feminism is not itself misandry, though various people may hijack the term for, ironically, sexist purposes--Diana and Steve are presented as equals in their relationship. The movie never puts down Steve to elevate Diana or vice versa. Ares even highlights that men and women alike are susceptible to corruption and evil by using Dr. Poison, a woman, as his specific example of selfish malevolence that can lurk in the human heart. Both men and women commit acts of heroism and atrocities throughout the movie, and never does the story attempt to divide human nature down into arbitrary social consensus on "male" and "female" nature. This film is an egalitarian's dream! My egalitarian mind also relished the fact that a woman directed this outstandingly crafted superhero movie.
Conclusion
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Wonder Woman certainly breaks the cycle of crappy recent DC movies and has hopefully saved the DCEU. Interestingly, it shares some of Logan's strengths: a largely self-contained story, excellent acting, a great script, and perhaps not a single useless scene. If only more superhero movies could be like Logan and Wonder Woman, giving more than just cheap comedy quips and unsubtle foreshadowing for sequels--giving stories about characters with depth who effectively reflect human nature. I am extremely excited about the confirmed sequel and that Patty Jenkins will return to direct again!
Content:
1. Violence: Mostly bloodless (at least I never noticed any obvious blood) wartime combat is shown in a handful of scenes, but deaths are never graphic.
2. Profanity: Very rarely one may hear a few slight words used as profanity.
3. Sexuality: While on a boat Diana and Steve talk suggestively but not in explicitly detail about sexual anatomy and pleasure. There is one other scene where Diana admires and inquires about Steve's naked body, though no total nudity is actually shown (hence why I didn't put it in a separate category). It has a flirtatious atmosphere, though, this isn't a particularly sexualized scene. It is more a scene about playful, humorous flirtation.
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