Wonderful Gal

I don't really have much to say about Wonder Woman (2017). We loved it, of course. It was a welcome relief to the Man of Steel, B v S downers coming from the DC-verse. But the main things is: Gal Gadot - What a Wonder Woman!

We meet the young Diana frolicking on the hidden island of Themiscyra with her mother Connie Neilsen and woman-at-arms Robin Wright. Yes, Princess Buttercup all buffed up and leathery, training little Diana to use weapons. Years later, when Diana is grown into Gal Gadot, a lifeboat containing Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) pierces the storm wall that hides the island. Yes, it appears that Themiscyra is Monster Island, or at least is protected the same way.

When the German gunboat that is chasing Pine shows up, there's a nice little battle scene: Amazons with swords, spears and bows vs. Germans with guns. It's not as one-sided as it sounds, given the out-gunned Amazons' skills. When Pine explains about the War (WWI) and the fiendish plan he has discovered, Gadot agrees to go to the outside world and help him fight.

There's a nice scene in London - the old fish-out-of-water scene, with Gadot trying to find clothes suited to a warrior and still fit into pre-Sufferage London. We also get to meet Etta Candy (Lucy Davis), Pine's chubby secretary. She acts a bit ditzy, but solid - always one of my favorite characters. Then Pine rounds up his misfit band to go undercover in Germany. Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui), the Algerian conman, Charlie (Ewen Bremner), the drunken marksman, and Eugene Brave Rock as Chief, native American tracker and smuggler. They are actually pretty ineffectual - the conman never does much, the sharpshooter is too PTSD to kill, and the Chief is just a little embarrassed of his nickname. Still, a fun crew, especially Bremner.

There are also some villains: Dr. Poison, a poison gas scientist with a facial scar, played by Elena Anaya and her commanding officer Danny Huston. They feature in party for the Germans that Pine infiltrates and Gadot just blows through. Then we go to the trenches, where Wonder Woman isn't going to sit around while a little Belgian town gets massacred. She goes over the top and we get some nice bullets and bracelet work.

The final villain is Ares, god of war - SPOILER - it's scrawny balding David Thewlis. That was cute, but under-motivated. Then there's a superhero fight that's somewhat routine.

But so what? Throughout this whole thing, Gadot as Wonder Woman has been fierce as heck, just really leaning into it. She's a striking looking woman, with a suitable Mediterranean accent, but she just radiates strength and determination. It's white-hot and the best thing in the movie. Patty Jenkins did a great job in letting her do her thing.

However, one thing Ms. Spenser pointed out - someone once said, "Every war movie is a pro-war movie." The action, the excitement, they make war look fun, somehow. The horror of the trenches gets short shrift here. Even though Bremner plays a man damaged by killing, you don't feel it that much. That is a problem in a movie where the big bad is literally the god of War.

Still. that's just a weakness in the movie's story - or maybe just the subtext. Just watch Gadot do her thing and be happy.