The COARD: Wonder Woman

Of course we reviewed Wonder Woman this week. If you know us at all, you know that here at The COARD we are passionate defenders of the superior DC superheros. Oh, you want to argue that point? I'll give you all of the Avengers AND the Defenders and I'll take the Justice League thank-you-very-much. Stop kidding yourself. You're losing that fight. This review will go a long way to proving that point. Spoilers follow. However we promise to not spring them on you. And I can't lie. I'm currently tied to my chair with the Lasso of Truth.

Roy: The world has been eagerly waiting on Wonder Woman for aabout a year now. The teaser trailer debuted at Comic-Con 2016. It was widely praised. Mainly because it looked cool, and received a significant amount of help from the catchy Wonder Woman theme. You shouldn't be surprised to find out it was written by Hans Zimmer. Of course it was... The COARD is currently investigating claims that he sold his soul to the devil for the ability to write amazing music. When we know something, you will too... Moving on. Because the teaser trailer had been around for so long I began to wonder if it could live up to the hype. After all, Disney's campaign to destroy anything DC has been wildly successful so far. Why would Wonder Woman be any different? Let's start with how perfect Gal Gadot is in this role. I'm not sure who the casting director was that chose her. But it might have something to do with her history as Miss Israel 2004, a martial artist, and freaking former soldier in the IDF. Yes, Israel has a whole conscription thing going on but that doesn't make it any less impressive. Let's add to this list that she did her own stunts in the Fast and Furious franchise and she filmed a decent portion of Wonder Woman while pregnant. Guys..... Is she like, actually Wonder Woman? Because all the evidence seems to point that way. Beyond all of that, she's a good actress. Gadot made it look easy, which is often the mark of a person who is great at their job. Ok, admittedly I'm gushing. I should just hand off to Cody and maybe we can reset a little.

Cody: Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman. I refuse to believe otherwise. Can't. Won't. I fully expected to love this movie going in, so I guess grain of salt and so forth. That being said, I was still surprised by Gadot. She owned the role so fully. The only other actor to role fit in the superhero universe that compares is Robert Downy Jr. playing himself Tony Stark. I think it's high time for some gloating. DC is here, people. The Hans Zimmer theme actually goes back to Dawn of Justice. Something I fully expect to recur in Justice League later this year, and beyond. To be fair, the Avengers have their own equally awesome theme, but that's my point. It's okay to recognize the success of both franchises. There's room in this single universe for multiple multiverses. Wait. This is getting confusing. Where were we? Oh, right. The DC universe is finally blooming. This movie was obviously great by itself, but it was purposefully made to tie directly to the world of the Justice League. There are a lot of people using this movie as an opportunity to gleefully throw more mud at existing and future DC films. If you like superhero movies and you liked this movie, then you should be excited for the future of DC. After all, the immediate future promises to feature Gal Gadot. Wonder Woman. WonderGal DotWoman?

Wonder Woman has had some help

Roy: Patty Jenkins deserves a lot of credit for making a movie that was visually stunning. And I'm not just talking about Wonder Gal, although she is definitely included in that. This film had three distinct and separate feels to it. The Amazonian island, early 20th century London/WWI, and finally the setting for the final battle. Each setting was filmed in a way that highlighted the story and was fun to look at. The final setting for the boss battle that comes at the end of every super hero movie was especially well done. On a more frustrating note, it should be mentioned that the world is collectively losing their minds over Wonder Woman. While this movie definitely deserves the credit for its excellence, that same credit is hoisting an unfair burden upon its shoulders. Read any article on this movie, and you will be told that Wonder Woman is "saving the DC universe," and they are "finally getting it right." Don't you believe any of that. It's true, Wonder Woman grossed $103 million in its opening weekend, but it failed to beat out the $116 million opening that Man of Steel had, or the $166 million opening that Dawn of Justice had. So as much as critics Disney likes to complain that the DC extended universe is sub-par and has been rescued by the female combo of Gadot and Jenkins, it's just not true. Those two ladies proved to be a powerhouse that can hold their own with any superhero movie out there, and should be praised for their success. However, that success does not mean that Zack Snyder failed in creating the universe in which Wonder Woman resides. And if we could all stop acting like this film is a diamond found in a pile of poop, I would really appreciate it.

I want to go to there

Cody: Cinematography has to be the very best part of today's superhero films. There's just so much opportunity to create beautiful settings juxtaposed with epic action scenes. Love it. I actually already booked my ticket to Themyscira. I'm told I just have to crash land in the Mediterranean Sea, and I'll be there. Sounds easy enough. It is heartening to see a female led and female directed action flick achieving the commercial success it deserves. It's a big deal. I don't see any Marvel movies able to make that same claim; just saying. Have we made it clear we like the DC universe? Fine, we'll let the dead horse be. We know all about Wonder Woman's friends in the Justice League, but she also had some key friends in her own movie as well. Captain James Tiberius Kirk...would have been a way cooler name than Steve Trevor. Regardless, Chris Pine was at his usual level of awesome. The rest of the gang was a bit odd and unexpected, to say the least. A hodgepodge of guys who have been in some things, but are far from household names. Gadot and Pine are so strong, both in their performances and their growing career cachet, that it didn't matter who else was around them. I loved every minute of their shared screen time.

Now we come to the point where we will discuss in detail what happened in this excellent movie that is only slightly more excellent than the first two movies in the DC Extended Universe and you can't make us believe otherwise. 

Roy: Despite all of the goodness that surrounds Wonder Woman, I did have a "Wait.... huh?" moment. Robin Wright plays Antiope, Diana's aunt and the fiercest warrior of the Amazons. My brain was wondering how I was supposed to buy The Princess/Jenny/Claire Underwood in this new role. I just didn't expect it. That's not to say that Wright wasn't a good choice and stunk up the screen, because she didn't. Let's be totally honest with one another, she has never been the problem in a movie. In fact, she only enhances whatever you're watching with her in it. Wonder Woman is no exception. Something surprised me about this casting. She was this revered general of the Amazon army, and I've never seen her do anything like that before. She once again proved that it didn't matter. Wright can pretty much do whatever she wants. I should probably never doubt someone who displayed the ability to co-exist with Sean Penn for any real amount of time. On the other hand, the "fiercest warrior" of the Amazons died in the first 20 minutes of the movie. So how good could she really have been? Kirk wasn't fast enough to save her. He was busy saving Wonder Gal's life, which he can't be blamed for. It wasn't Antiope who pulled him out of the ocean and was giving him the bedroom eyes almost immediately. While we are not blaming people.... Wonder Gal should also not be blamed for the said bedroom eyes giving. Cody has been giving Kirk the bedroom eyes for a few years now.

Cody: Okay, first of all, you haven't been giving Kirk bedroom eyes? You literally created the Coolest Person in the History of All Things Ever award just to give to him. Granted, I enthusiastically agreed with you, but that's beside the point. Everyone loves Kirk, and everyone should! I too was surprised to see Robin Wright in this. It's difficult not to see her as Claire Underwood right now, but yea, we didn't need to adjust for very long. She gone. I really liked that this was set in the 1910s, The women's suffrage movement hadn't even succeeded yet! Juxtaposing the warrior princess against this more misogynistic time period allowed for a lot of effortless "Girl Power!" moments. Diana walking right into the all male strategy meeting for WWI. Diana yelling at a general for disregarding the loss of innocent lives from the safety of his office. Wonder Woman breaking a year long stalemate somewhere on the front lines by just bulldozing through German troops with dumbfounded male soldiers following her lead. Not only is she a freaking sweet super hero, but she is also a great woman. Jenkins clearly wanted to make exactly that point, and she did so exceptionally well.

The epitome of the every man's body

Roy: Speaking of Jenkins, I really enjoyed how well she kept the bad guy reveal under wraps until the exact moment that she wanted you to know who Ares truly was. There was no telegraphing moments that amounted to the bad guy all but winking at the camera and twisting his mustache. From the moment that Diana figured out who Ludendorff was, it was obvious to me that he was not the main bad guy. He had lackey written all over him. With this film being heavy on the girl power I expected Dr. Maru, the biochemical creating madwoman to end up as the top villain. Learning that the always excellent David Thewlis was handed that role surprised me. He spent the majority of the movie being helpful and supportive, yet not overly so. Thewlis gets some of the credit for playing the character so well. Which is not surprising because when hasn't he been brilliant? Unfortunately, he was also central to the only truly laughable moment of the movie. Once he transformed to Ares, the god of war, he had a body that one would associate with a Greek god. Jenkins went with talent over physiology. It was the right move. It was still funny to see him jacked. 

Cody: I really did not expect him to end up being the main villain. I had started to wonder if Ares was just not going to appear in the movie despite the clear foreshadowing from the Amazons earlier. I was impressed by that as well. I was also impressed by the central theme of believing in humanity. Not since The Dark Knight has a superhero movie so perfectly nailed the relationship between heroes and humanity. In order to keep doing their job, they have to believe in us as much as we believe in them. In the climactic moment of Wonder Woman, she is ready to walk away from humanity for good. She finds a reason to believe and fight despite the fact that humanity doesn't deserve her (what could be that reason? Oh, I don't know. Maybe her love of Captain Kirk!!). The final battle was great, but it was made so much better after watching her debate walking away from it all. Completing the Justice League connection, Bruce reminds her of how she once believed in humanity, by well, reminding her of her lost love. We all love Wonder Woman. We all love Batman. Superman is...dead? Let's get ready for Justice League!