Flix!
My wife got into a thing this last weekend and decided she wanted to see Wonder Woman. I am really burnt out on super-hero movies. But even though I had to give up a rerun of Jeopardy!, I went because she was interested. And I'm glad I did.
Wonder Woman began in DC comics back in the 40's and I was not introduced to her until the 60's when I was reading every comic book I could get my hands on: westerns like Kid Colt, war comics like Sgt Rock, and Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, Superman, Batman, The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, The Atom, Antman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, Ironman, The X-Men, and yes even goofy comics like Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Wendy the Good Little Witch, Baby Huey, Ritchie Rich the poor little rich boy, Hot Stuff, and all the Disney comics.
I say this because I want you to know of comic books I have vast knowledge. And yes I read every Wonder Woman I could get my hands on. So I knew the back story. And it's a great back story. And the movie does it justice. The golden rope. The arm shields. The Shield. And in future movies, an invisible jet.
The movie does a clever job of slickly telling the back story of Wonder Woman and not taking a lot of time doing it. Even though there is a lot of action along the way, when she gets into the thrust of the action she is ready and willing to do the right thing.
Wonder Woman is played wonderfully by Gab Gadot, a Israeli actress. Even though through most of the movie I thought it was Olivia Munn - Sloan Sabbath from The Newsroom. Chris Pine plays the male counterpoint to this wonderful, tough, and great woman.
The story takes place during WWI and Wonder Woman takes charge, kicks ass, and takes names. But it's done in great way.
This was directed by Patty Jenkins, and the media is making a horrible mistake. They are making a big deal about the fact that this is a woman. And that the superhero is a woman. The media tonight made a big deal about the fact that half of the audience this record breaking weekend were women, 52%. Hey, that's only half. Stop trying to make it sound like this is a woman's movie. It is not. It's just a very good movie.
The story is good, the cast is great, and it is edited masterfully. It's two hours, but that's not unusual. And it's fun. And the character, coming from an island of strong, independent women, just knows right is right and wrong is wrong.
Even though I don't understand how in the middle of a flip to deliver a kick she can suddenly go into slow motion, I think this a solid movie worthy of your visit.
Grade: a high B+
