The
Best DC Cinematic Universe Film To-Date: Equals a Mediocre Film
Today
we’re talking about Wonder Woman (2017), a film that has garnered lots of money
and positive critical acclaimed. The former being the true test of
success for box office standards has all but guaranteed more DC films.
This is a problem for the superhero film genre. While Marvel is making
quality action films that are worth watching, DC is competing by making
horrible films in an effort to kill the genre. It’s the only logical explanation.
From
the 70s to the 90s DC was the only major comic book publisher to churn out
films. Once Marvel got into the game with the concept of a unified film
universe it was the biggest gamble ever. A gamble that’s paid off huge
and is currently reshaping the blockbuster film genre.
DC is
now trying to capitalize on the hard work of Marvel by making their own film
universe. Something they could have done decades ago...Unfortunately for
fans DC has no clue how to do such a thing. They hire people to
make films with no understanding of the characters or any idea on how to make
a film. DC translates Batman Begins success as being a dark gritty story to, every comic book movie must be dark and gritty. Batman is a dark
character hence the darkness. Superman is a hopeful character, but DC
fills it with despair.
The
Wonder Woman film is supposed to be about woman empowerment but she just runs
around nagging people for the first half of the story. It finally steps
on a theme worth its weight in gold but quickly abandons it for “almost
awesome” action that never quite measures up. The film’s story is a giant
puzzle where most of the pieces fit but there are sections that still need
work.
When
she finally heads off on her adventure to kill Aries the God of War we’re
inundated with a love story that is forced into just about every DC comic
film. Marvel does not do this in every film, but it’s DC’s go to plot
point and sends the deeper meaning that women need men to define them (even
empowered women).
While
in “Man’s World” Wonder Woman states her mission a few hundred times, some
jokes ensue, we get another mile long obvious plot twist thrown at us in the
guise of who Aries really is. One of the better moments in her
endless nagging was when she told a general of the British Army where to stick
it. Perhaps more generals need to be reminded of the lives they are
responsible for. That moment gave me some hope the film might evolve into
something of substance.
Steve
Trevor, Wonder Woman, and some riff raff friends meet up, talk about WW's endless
beauty then take a journey to the war zone. From there we witness the
PG-13 version of the horrors of war. The pressure builds, or at least
tries to build to the point where when we finally see WW sport her full on
armor and a fight we’re supposed to be moved by. And the film almost succeeds,
almost.
The
team is stuck in a trench (trench warfare was a big deal in World War 1) as women,
children, and soldiers are dying. Wonder Woman wants to end the
fighting but Steve Trevor is like no stick to the mission. The mission he
doesn’t even believe in, he’s only taking her there at WW's insistence, as part
of the deal for her to take him off the island. Therefore WW getting a
speech to complete a mission she wanted to go on by a guy who didn’t want to go
in the first place. Trevor’s character through the entire story is the
equivalent of J. R. Smith’s basketball career. You want to like him, you
root for him, but what they hell is he doing at any given point? Wonder Woman
ignores the "don’t go out there" orders, leads a charge in slow-motion, bleak dull
color, and stops the "bad guys." It was almost moving and touched upon a
theme of women breaking off on their own against men’s oppression (war is
oppressive) and winning the day, this is a great theme, though it gets lost in
the inconsistent action of the no man’s land battle. The action picks up
immensely when she invades the town and frees the civilians.
After
the big sequence the film doesn't tread back to the women empowerment angle.
It gears toward the love story again. A by the numbers film motif that is
wasting everyone’s time and slows down the plot.
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| Whedon would have hit the right plot points... |
MAJOR
SPOILERS
When
the film finally gets back into progressing the story it’s just all par for the
course action and those predictable plots twists. Like the mighty God
killer weapon created was WW all along and not the armor she brought with
her. Aries is actually the man pushing for peace and not the evil German
making deadly gas. The film skipped another potentially wonderful theme
when WW killed the evil german dude and mankind was still fighting. Steve Trevor
give her a solid speech that mankind is weak and needs to be saved from
themselves yada yada yada which would have been a wonderful summary of mankind
and a brilliant direction to take our hero who chooses to strive for peace in
spite of that. But of course Aries does show up and a lackluster battle
between Gods ensue. But the male costar of the story cannot be outdone so
he must find a way to get in on the action and save countless lives. If
the genders were reversed Lois Lane can just standby on the sidelines while the
hero fights the good fight. But with Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor has to save the world
in his own way. We should probably be thankful he didn’t find a way to
help her defeat the God Aries and his life saving action was a separate battle
altogether.
The bad
guy is defeated and the film concludes and I’m sitting in the theater bored out
of my mind. Behind me is a row of teenage girls justifiably giggling
through the campier plot points of the film. My main regret what is
likely their first exposure (in my brain anyhow) to an empowered female
character and the superhero genre, is that of a mediocre comic flick, that
garnered positive reviews because it’s the least shitty DC cinematic
universe film. It in no way measures up to any of the Marvel films.
And if we’re looking at comic films, the standard should be Marvel’s films.
Above standard are the Christopher Nolan Batman films.
Why
does this film fail? Because it has no follow through with its themes.
They are all shallow and poorly explored. It hits a point but fails to
follow-up. The action has moments but nothing unique or even something by
the book that’s executed in an enjoyable way. The giant lightning God
fight at the end was bland. The characters lacked depth, Trevor’s
character was whatever the film needed him to be in the moment. Wonder
Woman was a tough as nails fighter but was irritating when things didn’t go the
way she wanted. It wasn’t empowering it was annoying.
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| DC films take word for word dialogue from the comics but they never lift from the DCAU which is the best adaptation of DC in visual media. |
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
