The summer blockbuster season so far this year has had a bit of a rough start. With movies coming out like King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Baywatch, it hasn’t started off on the right foot. One of the better movies to come out so far this season was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2., a superhero movie. And here we are again, Wonder Woman, another superhero movie, taking the summer blockbuster in the right direction.
The Wonder Woman movie is, first of all, an excellent origin story movie. In the past there’s been a problem with superhero movies where the first half has to be their origin, and then halfway through they throw in a random villain because there has to be a villain for them to beat. This has lead to the problem where it comes across that superheroes aren’t about using their own strength to protect people, it’s about beating the villain. It takes away the integral justice away from the just.
Patty Jenkins (the director) saw this problem, and overcame it in her movie. The villain was well established, and posed an active threat that pushed off the plot. It feels so odd to be saying that this is one of the good things about the Wonder Woman movie, because you’d think that should be the case for most superhero movies. It even played around expectations a bit. I feel like the direction it went in should have been obvious looking back on it, but during the movie I was caught completely off guard. Along with all this, Patty Jenkins made Wonder Woman a hero that cares about people. Wonder Woman went out of her way to use her powers for the sake of others.
I could get into the nitty gritty of all the things that made this a good origin story, but the real reason why would be that most of the story elements melded together fairly well.
The characters throughout the movie felt very genuine. Each of them had their own little story we learn about in a natural way. This really stood out to me because while they would tell the stories of other characters, Wonder Woman remained the central focus throughout. They didn’t need to take away from Diana’s story to give others some time to shine. Steven Trevor (Chris Pine) in particular worried me at first, because one way I could see them messing this movie up was by making it all about him. But I actually really enjoyed his character by the end. He played an important role, but it was clear throughout that Diana is the main character. Even as a love interest he was good.
Of course, like most superhero movies, there was a romance subplot. It can get egregious sometimes with how it just has to happen, even if it feels forced. This wasn’t the case though with Wonder Woman. There was a good and believable development in the relationship between the female and male lead.
The message of the movie was a bit cheesy, but I feel like it earned that cheesy ending. It was a bit of a broad message so of course it fit the rest of the movie. But it felt like classic Lynda Carter Wonder Woman, and I couldn’t find myself being annoyed at it. The movie had sold me entirely at that point that the cheesy message was kind of a fun touch to it.
On my scale of Catch the Premiere, See it in Theaters, See the Matinee, Buy the DVD, Rent the DVD, or Skip It, Wonder Woman lands firmly at Catch the Premiere.
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