Wonder Woman (2017) – Blu Ray Review.
We are now four years into Warner Brothers’ DC Extended Universe and the fourth film, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, has proven itself a huge critical and commercial success taking in a worldwide gross of over $820 million on a budget of $149 million. Immediately after the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight Trilogy Warner gave the green light to a project they hoped would copy what Marvel Studios had done with its interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first film was a modern reboot of Superman in the form of Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel. It took a pleasingly realistic approach to the character with a more grounded explanation of his powers and their connection with our sun and was in many respects a character study of Clark Kent and his struggle with the huge responsibility placed upon him. Sadly Man Of Steel was let down by a messy final act with its over indulgent use of some weightless and frankly shoddy CG effects. It was a fairly solid film but had a great deal of detractors and was only a moderate financial success recouping less than three times it’s production budget, a budget that doesn’t account for the huge cost of marketing the film globally. Critically it was less well received earning a Metacritic score of 55%.
It was here that Warner Bros were in something of a quandary, do they push ahead with a sequel to Man Of Steel or give fans something they haven’t seen yet. A film featuring DC’s two biggest draws, Batman and Superman, had been a pipe dream for comic book fans ever since an advertisement hoarding was seen in the post apocalyptic Times Square of the 2007 film I Am Legend. The logical step here would have been one of two things, either incorporate the established version of Batman from Nolan’s Trilogy or recast and establish the new version in a standalone Batman film. The issue Warner Bros had was twofold. Firstly Christian Bale was done with that iteration of the character whose arc was wrapped up quite nicely in the third film. Secondly 2012’s The Avengers was the third highest grossing film of all time and Warners desperately wanted a piece of the ensemble superhero movie pie whilst the genre was still on an upward surge. So instead of establishing its new version of the caped crusader Warners instead jumped straight to the team-up feature that would become Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Sadly BVS was a mess of a film. It has its defenders but the vast majority of critics weren’t impressed with its convoluted plot with a needless emphasis on inane subplots involving Lois Lane tracing a bullet and a terrible performance from Jesse Eisenberg. It also clumsily set up a forthcoming alliance of heroes, the Justice League, with some terrible exposition in the form of an email. I’ll say no more about BVS here but what it did do was give us our first glimpse of Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, also known as Wonder Woman. Whilst she had little to do other than to open the aforementioned email and drop into the badly executed final battle, she was for many fans one of the better aspects of the film.
The third DCEU film was, on paper at least, a pleasingly bold step in the form of an adaptation of the gleefully subversive Suicide Squad, where a team of villainous miscreants including fan favourites Deadshot and Harley Quinn are recruited by the government to do the jobs too dirty for the regular good guys. Sadly Suicide Squad was a dreadful mess of a film and aside from a decent performance from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn it was mired by a threadbare plot, terrible script, derivative action sequences and received a well deserved critical drubbing and remains by far one of the lesser comic book adaptations since the genre exploded in the last decade. For a film with such a colourfully enticing marketing campaign and decent cast it completely failed to deliver anything even remotely entertaining and was a crushing disappointment.
And so after that brief overview of the first three DCEU films we lead into the fourth film, a standalone origin story focussing on the Amazonian goddess Wonder Woman. Patty Jenkins stepped up to the director’s plate after Michelle McLaren had to leave the project. Jenkins received acclaim for her 2003 film Monster and criminally hasn’t directed a feature film since. So following 14 years away from film focussing instead on TV, Jenkins is thrust headlong into a major movie franchise and a film that is also the first to feature a female superhero as its lead since 2005’s risible Elektra. Following the critical mauling of the previous three DCEU films all eyes were on Jenkins to help pull the franchise out of its self imposed quagmire of quality.
Much has been said of late about the frankly ridiculous fan mentality of “Marvel Vs DC” where critics have even been accused of taking payment in order to skew their reviews one way or the other. The truth is there is no Marvel Vs DC. As much as both companies have always had a degree of healthy competition, the truth of the matter is that comic book writers and artists frequently move between the companies to work on their respective properties and the general state of health of the comic book industry affects both companies. It’s the same with the films. If either company makes a bad film it will likely fail either commercially, critically or both. A DC film won’t be adversely affected by the success of a Marvel film and vice versa. If anything when a comic book movie is a success then any company making such movies will stand to benefit as the genre obtains a greater degree of momentum and credibility. The matter is exacerbated by a small but vociferous group of fanboys/girls who precipitate the idea that you must reside in one camp or the other. This is a frankly ridiculous concept as the truth of the matter is that the majority of comic book movie fans like both Marvel and DC, often to varying degrees but the two aren’t and never have been mutually exclusive.
So, as a fan of comic book movies, and by that I mean good ones irrespective of which studio they hail from, it pleases me to declare, as is now no secret given it’s well deserved theatrical success, that Wonder Woman is the first genuinely great DCEU movie. Patty Jenkins has crafted a film that is at times visually sumptuous with some satisfyingly coherent action and moments of genuine pathos which will occasionally have the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. Wonder Woman is not just a step in the right direction for the DCEU but a giant leap. Wonder Woman rights so many of the wrongs of the previous films and top of its list of achievements are its central characters. Gal Gadot, somewhat wooden in BVS, is utterly charming here. Her beguiling beauty aside she is easily the most likeable character we’ve seen so far in the DCEU. She commands the screen with an effortless charm and compassion but also a fiercely resolute inner strength. She’s not bound by brooding self doubt as to her cause like Superman was in Man Of Steel, she’s an overwhelming force of good but far from being written as a paper thin heroine.
Jenkins does what BVS completely failed to do, she takes time to establish both the central character, her origins and her growth into a fully fledged superhero. If only this film had come before we first saw her in BVS her appearance there would have truly earned the audience’s cheers. There’s seldom a moment where Gadot doesn’t earn our adoration and her performance will bring a smile to even the most jaded fan. The first act, set on the shrouded mythical island haven of Themyscira, has something these films have sorely lacked, a vibrant colour palette. The visuals in this opening act are on the whole eye-poppingly gorgeous and both Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright as Diana’s mother and aunt are both convincing in their regality and their standing as capable warriors. There’s some beautiful, painterly exposition of their godly heritage which sets up later events and also gives a clue as to Diana’s true origins. It’s not long before the First World War raging outside their haven encroaches upon their idyllic life. And it’s here where the second lead player literally drops into the film, Chris Pine as American spy, Steve Trevor. Pine is the perfect foil to play alongside Gadot and he delivers a brilliant performance and like Gadot is eminently likeable. The chemistry between the two leads is a joy to behold and their affection for each other feels honest and organic. It’s this focus on character that the other films have sorely lacked coupled with a great script that’s one of the film’s main strengths.
Credit to Jenkins for taking her time and letting the characters breathe, develop and interact giving them a much needed depth and allowing their relationships to cement. The action beats come after a suitable buildup, most prominent amongst these is Diana’s heroism at No Man’s Land, the area between the Allied and German trenches. Trevor pleads with her to stay focussed on their mission but by this point both we the audience and Diana have seen far too much of the effects of this war and the moment where she steps up out of the trenches is a moment of heroism that feels truly earned. This is simply due to the patience and maturity Jenkins shows to take the requisite time to build to these moments instead of just jumping into them unexpectedly. As much an anti-war film as a comic book adaptation, Wonder Woman could have skewed things further from the male dominated feel of the vast majority of comic book films but credit to Jenkins and the writers for not making Steve Trevor a vessel for feminist humour but instead almost Diana’s equal. Whilst he lacks her powers and abilities he’s every bit as noble as she is. Wonder Woman still manages to convey its anti-war message whilst quite rightly pointing the finger of blame firmly towards men and their inherent warmongering tendencies.
The whole depiction of a WWI era London as well as the devastated European battleground is an effective one and the blending of sets, CG effects and locations is on the whole a success and is bolstered by some superb costume and production design. Wonder Woman is a far better looking film that its predecessors and has far less of the look of artificiality that plagued the previous three films. The score by Rupert Gregson-Williams (brother of fellow composer Harry) is superb. I was concerned that the slightly jarring Wonder Woman theme heard in BVS would dominate but it’s used to great effect and only when needed and the remainder of the score is appropriately balanced between rousing and poignant.
So far so good then? Well, sadly one area where Wonder Woman falters is in its wobbly third act. The main antagonists, Danny Huston’s Ludendorff and Elena Anaya’s Dr. Poison aren’t particularly memorable and are rather one dimensional. One brief comedic exchange between them involving the sadistic use of a gas mask feels totally out of place with the tone the scene is aiming to achieve. As we move to the big showdown there are a number of problems that creep in. Firstly the big twist isn’t that much of a surprise and secondly the depiction of the Greek god of war, Ares leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of his traditional brute strength and skill with weapons, he instead relies mostly on telekinesis, a newfound ability for him if my knowledge of Greek mythology is correct. His final form is also less than convincing as is the overuse of some rather questionable CG effects in the final big scrap between Diana and Ares. In fact the effects throughout, whilst great when depicting environments, do come apart at the seams during shots where characters are engaging in physics defying, acrobatic combat.
What Patty Jenkins and Co. should be most proud of is how effectively they’ve adapted Wonder Woman to the big screen. With its godly heritage it could have come across as campy and somewhat laughable but as Marvel did with their adaptation of Thor, Warner/DC have done a damn fine job of selling an Amazonian princess as a viable superhero and most importantly of all she’s the most successful representation of a female superhero thus far and goes some way to addressing the balance in a very male oriented genre. Comparisons will rightly be drawn to both Captain America: The First Avenger due to its similar wartime setting and Thor with its god amongst men theme but Wonder Woman never feels like it’s plagiarising from either of these films.
Video/Audio
Wonder Woman arrives on Blu Ray courtesy of Warner Bros. The film is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with a Dolby Atmos/True HD 7.1 soundtrack. Whilst the 1080p image retains the slight veneer of grain of the theatrical presentation it also perfectly recreates the lush cyans and turquoises and detail is crisp with little aliasing and artefcting that I could discern. The audio presentation is simply wonderful with superb balance amongst the channels with dialogue remaining clear throughout. Overall this is a fine audio/visual presentation.
Extras
The Blu Ray features consist of the ‘Epilogue: Etta’s Mission’ short, six fairly concise featurettes, six deleted/alternate scenes and a blooper reel. The extras are certainly worth a watch and are more entertaining that the usual EPK stuff that accompanies such big releases but a more comprehensive package and a Patty Jenkins commentary wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Overall
Wonder Woman isn’t the outright masterpiece that many overly excited reviews initially declared it to be upon its theatrical release. It’s maybe 15 minutes too long, has a pretty shaky third act and other than a strong female lead, it doesn’t show us that much that we haven’t seen before in a pretty stuffed genre. That said it’s a heck of a lot better than it has any right to be given the state of the franchise thus far and proudly stands head and shoulders above the previous three films that form the DCEU. The performances from the two leads and some extremely assured direction are what help make this a film fully deserving of its success. I went into Wonder Woman with fairly even expectations given the character’s depiction in BVS but came out pleasantly surprised to say the least. Wonder Woman is a huge boost for the DCEU and I for one can’t wait to see what Patty Jenkins has in store for us next. Having shown what she’s capable of here, Warner Brothers could do a lot worse than to hand her the keys to the DCEU. I can think of no safer pair of hands.
Film ‘89 Verdict – 8/10
Wonder Woman is available on DVD, Blu-Ray, 3D Blu-Ray and digital download now.
