Review: ‘Wonder Woman’ Is a Blockbuster That Lets Itself Have Fun
“Wonder Woman” begins with ominous, lugubrious music (composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams), a voice-over invocation of “darkness” and an aerial view of the Louvre that seems full of sinister portent. The viewer may be forgiven a shudder of dread. Are we really going to pick up where “Batman v Superman” left off? Must we endure another dose of the grandiose self-pity and authoritarian belligerence that have characterized the DC-Warner Bros. synergy in the “Dark Knight” era? (This is the cue for unhinged fans to come @ me on Twitter and accuse me of being a shill for Marvel and Disney. The rest of you are invited to keep reading.)
The question is not rhetorical, and I’m relieved to report that the answer is no. Once franchise continuity is established — a mysterious package from Bruce Wayne arrives at the office of Wonder Woman’s alter ego, Diana Prince, who works in the Louvre’s antiquities department — we are transported back to the heroine’s earlier life, long before she became mixed up with Wayne and Clark Kent. “Wonder Woman,” directed by Patty Jenkins from a script by Allan Heinberg, briskly shakes off blockbuster branding imperatives and allows itself to be something relatively rare in the modern superhero cosmos. It feels less like yet another installment in an endless sequence of apocalyptic merchandising opportunities than like … what’s the word I’m looking for? A movie. A pretty good one, too.
By which I mean that “Wonder Woman” tells an interesting, not entirely predictable story (until the climax, which reverts, inevitably and disappointingly, to dreary, overblown action clichés). It cleverly combines genre elements into something reasonably fresh, touching and fun. Its earnest insouciance recalls the “Superman” movies of the ’70s and ’80s more than the mock-Wagnerian spectacles of our own day, and like those predigital Man of Steel adventures, it gestures knowingly but reverently back to the jaunty, truth-and-justice spirit of an even older Hollywood tradition.
This is an origin story, first and foremost, establishing the mythic background and modern mission of its main character. That kind of movie can be tedious, but “Wonder Woman” is leavened by touches of screwball comedy, espionage caper and romantic adventure, as well as by what might be the most credible superhero screen kiss since upside-down Tobey Maguire planted one on Kirsten Dunst way back in “Spider-Man.”
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