Wonder Woman

Hello dear reader, hot off the heels of my ever so slightly overdue Guardians Vol 2 review I bring you in all its glory, the one, the only (appearing at a cinema near you) Wonder Woman. Now, there’s a lot of ground work to catch up with here, so if you’ll permit me I’ll get right down to it. Wonder Woman was officially created William Marston. However, the characters original conception and mythology was hugely influenced by the two main women in William’s life, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston & domestic partner Olive Byrne. So much so that they would continue to write Wonder Woman comics after Williams’s death in 1947. As far as female superheroes go, Wonder Woman is effectively ground zero for every female superhero character that has come since. Her influence cannot be underestimated and without her the comic book, superhero and movie industry today would be a very different place. It’s also worth pointing out that this is the first time Wonder Woman has ever made it to the silver screen in her own movie, played again by the very capable Gal Gagot and the first time that any comic book/superhero film (to the best of my knowledge) has ever had a female director. The director in question is Patty Jenkins, who coincidently was going to be the in the hot seat for the MCU’s Thor: The Dark World but walked away, almost taking Natalie Portman with her, citing ye olde ‘creative differences’. Jenkins herself doesn’t have what you would call an extensive CV. Apart from the film Monster, for which Charlize Theron won the Oscar for her portrayal of real life serial killer Aileen Wuornos, her directing duties have been mostly confined to television. Sheparding episodes of Arrested Development, Entourage and The Killing onto the small screen. Thankfully someone realised that she is very talented and decided to trust her with a nine figure budget and before you could say ‘go forth and show the world how female superheroes should be depicted’ she went forth and showed the world how female superheroes should be depicted.

So, as always, let’s begin at the beginning. Wonder Woman’s origin story was first set during the Second World War. However, this time they’ve pulled it forward by twenty’ish years and set the film during World War One. There are many reasons for this but I think the main one is it helps solidify the whole ‘we live a long time’ angle and given that the photograph of Wonder Woman’s team, which was first seen in last year’s Batman v Superman masterpiece (sarcasm claxon ahoy),  it went some way to creating a mystery about Wonder Woman’s age. Wonder Woman herself or Diana if you’d like to keep this casual was born and raised on a secluded island paradise called Theymscira. Populated entirely by women, these Amazons live in peace, away from the outside world but are fully prepared to kick butt should the occasion call for it. Just a little aside here, most of the Women that were hired to play the Amazons are professional athletes, including a boxer who I would actively go out of my way not to irritate. Unfortunately for them, the occasion does call for it when their seclusion is interrupted when a spy, flying a freshly stolen German plane, crashes just off shore. This in then closely followed by some rather annoyed German Navy types who are not at all impressed that someone has made off with one of their planes and more importantly, are moving heaven and earth to put small pointy metal projectile thingys into this spy, in order that he won’t do it again. Thankfully, and in no small part down the Amazon inhabitants of the island, the spy is rescued and the German Navy is dispatched from whence it came. Unfortunately and this may upset a few of you, the Princess Bride or again if you want to keep things casual, Robin Wright, gets shot and deaded. This is a sad moment in the film as her character Antiope is responsible for training Diana is the ways of combat and the aforementioned arse kicking. On the plus side though it does save the audience from hearing a very suspect accent that Robin had been using, which seemed to be a mixture of South American, Dutch and possibly Klingon. Having been rescued the spy, Steve Trevor, who I haven’t mentioned yet is being played by Chris Pine, tells Diana of this great war that is ragging across the globe. Wonder Woman is convinced that given the scale of conflict she’s just been told about, it must have something to do with the God of War Ares. So armed with nothing more than a sword, shield, a lasso of truth, impressive bracelets and a very expensive looking alice band, she leaves the island with Steve, determined to stop Ares at any cost and bring peace back to the world. 

And that is basically the set up and plot that drives the film forward for another two hours or so. However, unlike previous DCEU films, and as they say ‘forth times a charm’, this film actually works and is a pleasure to sit through. And just in case you were thinking that if it has Chris Pine in it then he must be the star of the show and Gal Gadot is just there in a secondary supporting role then let me allay your fears right now. This is a female centred superhero movie and Wonder Woman is the leading role. It has a great supporting cast too, including a very nice performance from Lucy Davis as Etta. David Thewlis as Sir Patrick, a rather stuck up British military type who tries to do the right thing but doesn’t always succeed and fresh from Trainspotting 2 we have Ewen Bremner as a sniper with some fire arms issues. As I mentioned before this is the best DCEU film by a country mile. It’s clever when it needs to be, has emotional impact when required and overall it looks like someone over at Warner Brothers may have actually taken the time and trouble to sit down and think to themselves ‘you know what, I’ve heard people say that these script things are terribly important. Why don’t we try and make sure we get this one right!’ Now, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are some pretty ‘iffy’ CGI moments and I do have a problem with the ending of the third act. I’ve read some reviews that have stated that it ‘falls of a cliff’ in the last ten minutes. Which I think is a tad unfair. Prometheus falls off a cliff in the last ten minutes, Wonder Woman is more like a stumble down a steep footpath, whilst battling an inside out umbrella in the wind and rain. The final battle is my main gripe and here’s why. At times it felt like a very polite game of tennis. 

‘I believe that’s the end of my go. Would you care to take a couple of swipes at me now?’ 

‘That’s very decent of you. Don’t mind if I do.’ 

‘Splendid, and when it’s you turn to come after me again, I’ll make sure I’m stood in front of something that’s flammable and highly explosive.’

‘That would be marvellous, what a simply stupendous way to spend the evening.’ 

Apart from that small grumble I can and will recommend Wonder Woman as a great film to go and watch. It does have that great musical riff that was first used in the Batman v Superman film, which I recently found out isn’t produced on an electric guitar but rather an electric Cello. (Every day’s a school day). It does have the potential to be the best Superhero film released this year but with Spider-Man, Thor: Ragnarok and the ‘very long shot’ Justice League still to come, I suspect that that crown may end up upon the head of another. Patty Jenkins can be very proud of the work she’s done here and I hope that she’s given numerous opportunities to repeat it. The king is dead, long live the Queen…  

Twitter Review:

A very large step in the right direction. Script & direction work Special effects need either more time or more money.

#WonderNoMore

Usueful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q8fG0TtVAY

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/wonder-woman/review/

Gaurdians of the Galaxy Vol. 2





Hello dear reader, so it’s time to tell you about the first of three MCU films due out this year. The other two being Spider-Man: Homecoming in July & Thor ‘He’s a friend from work’ Ragnarok, in October. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 is the third film from Marvels third phase. Or if you’d prefer it converted to decimal, it’s the fifteenth film in the Marvel cinematic universe to come along since Iron Man first hit our screens back in 2008. As I’m sure most of you are aware the first Guardians film was unleashed in August of 2014 and was more than a little left field. Even by Marvel standards it was a bit of a risk. Considered by most, as a B-list (some would argue C-list) comic franchise that had never really garnered the same level of attention or celebrity as say Thor, Black Widow or the Hulk. That said, credit must go to Kevin Feige for giving it the green light. Anyone who has the foresight to see that a CGI racoon with anger management issues, a talking tree, two sisters with blue and green skin, that it’s fair to say don’t exchange Christmas cards, a renegade with an arrow that even Robin Hood would be jealous of, an annoying  warrior that just doesn’t get sarcasm (basically Sheldon with muscles) and the leader of the group, a space age Indiana Jones with a wondering moral compass and a libido that left unchecked could easily repopulate an average size M Class plant in just under a fortnight. Now as odd as all that seems, it gets even stranger when you look at who was cast to play these assorted roles. A three time Oscar nominee got the racoon role. The talking tree was given to a man with a voice that seems to be lower than the Mariana trench. The sister in green was given to a leading actress who’s most famous role was in blue. The sister in blue was entrusted to a very competent thespian that recently spent a lot of time sauntering around a different universe, in a box that was bigger on the inside. The renegade with the pointy stick was awarded to an actor who looks like Voldemort’s stunt double, which then just leaves the role of Star Lord to be filled. Unless you’re a fan of Parks & Recreation you’re very unlikely to have heard of Chris Pratt, prior to 2014. His IMDb résumé, which starts back in 2000, is a treasure trove of bit parts and having to pay your dues, including great titles such as ‘Strangers with Candy’, ‘Wieners’ & ‘Take Me Home Tonight’. That said, Mr Pratt not only plays Peter Quill perfectly it’s also one of those rare occasions when I honestly can’t think of anyone who’d be better at playing the part.

Guardians, at least on paper, shouldn’t have worked. It didn’t have a big A-List Hollywood star as the lead, hardly anyone knew who these characters were and its screenwriter and director, Mr James Gunn, had absolutely no track record when it came to big effects films. Thankfully it did work and not only did the risk investment pay off, it became the third highest grossing film of the year behind The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Transformers: Age of Extinction. It even made more money than Winter Soldier, so it can’t be too much of a surprise that a sequel was given a very hasty ‘go’ and we now find ourselves finding out what everyone is up to and who they’re saving the Galaxy from this time…

So, to begin at the beginning, I have to issue the standard ‘spoilers warning’ for what you are about to read. It’s an impossible task to not mention who the big bad of the film is without giving major plot points away. So, if everyone is sitting comfortable, I’ll start. The main plot, narrative, tale, chronicle, parable, saga, yarn or if you will 'Story’ is centred on Peter Quills parentage and how he deals with the revelation that his daddy is basically a living planet called Ego. Again, if you’d prefer that in good old fashioned decimal, Kurt Russel rocking a galactically cool beard. Now, the problem with his as a story device is that throughout the entire film, even at the end when Mr Russell turns out to be a being of questionable moral judgement, it never really feels like Star Lord, or any of the rest of the gangs lives, are ever really in danger. It all just feels like a very expensive looking chapter of the old 1930’s Flash Gordon Serial and you know that everything is going to turn out just dandy. That said, one of the characters I have mentioned previously does decide that dying is a good would be a good career move and doing so will somehow get him back in the good graces of his previous employers. But of course this is a Marvel film and I think it’s a contractual obligation that no one really ever dies in these films, baby groot anyone???

So if you haven’t already jumped to the conclusion I was eluding to in the previous paragraph, let me help you vault to the correct conclusion. Mr Kurt ‘Ego’ Russell is the villain of the piece. Which is to say he is a very naughty planet. This naughtiness comes on two fronts. The first being that he’s not opposed to the odd episodes of genocide, if the occasion calls for it and the second being a history of over indulgence when it comes to procreation. So much so that it would pretty much guarantee him a three hour exclusive episode of Jeremy Kyle, with enough disgruntled people, aliens and assorted creatures, waiting in the wings to put the ratings through the roof and keep the aforementioned Mr Kyle on the gravy train for life. I suspect I’m going to be in the minority here but I didn’t really enjoy Vol 2 as much I thought I was going to. There seemed to be a very heavy over reliance on crass humour that just didn’t work on me at all. There’s nothing wrong with toilet humour is batches but Vol 2 seemed to be overdosing on it at times. My other concern with this film was that it stimulated they eyes to the point of distraction but very really reached the same levels when it came to the little grey cells. I shudder to think how much computing time was needed to finish the effects in this film and I suspect Marvel just kept telling James Gunn something along the lines of ‘Yeah, sure whatever you need’ and kept writing cheques to get the job done. I just wish the same level of time and effort had gone into the story and the screenwriting team had chosen a different road to journey down.

I also came out of Vol 2 thinking that it hadn’t really advanced the MCU in any way at all. It had introduced a few new characters, including a very serious Sylvester Stallone, trying to convince us all about code and honour but ultimately nothing much had changed. I do know that the guardians ensemble are all due to appear in next year’s Avengers Infinity War and possible it’s sequel the following year too but I do hope that from a story point of view they are given more heavy lifting to do than they were here. It all just seemed to be an exercise in how shiny Marvel can make the silver screen look and they seemed to have dropped that ball when it comes to how to portray its characters. Which is something Marvel normally excel at and something DCEU could really learn from.  It does have an excellent cameo from ‘The Hoff’ and if you have a spare second or two, take a look at his IMDb character name for the film. Along with Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel’s audio contributions another famous voice that may have slipped past most of you is that of Miley Cyrus. She plays Mainframe but which I can only assume is a computer, having not picked up Ms Cyrus was in this when watching it.

I’ll finish by saying this. Guardians Vol 2 isn’t a bad film overall but it could have been so much better. I’m sure Mr Gunn has a story arc that he wants to complete and Vol 3 is already earmarked for the summer of 2020  but this film just seemed incomplete and ever so slightly rushed through. It has a fantastic opening credit sequence but after that it’s like watching a car, with the handbrake off, slowly roll down a hill. You know it’s going to crash but you don’t want to stop watching. I hope Vol 2 is just a minor speed bump in another wise great series of movies. We have Spider-Man next and from what I’ve seen in the trailers it does look like normal service is about to resume. Keep watching the skies…

Twitter Review:
Trying to distract you with smoke & mirrors does not a good movie make.
#LessBangMoreBrainsNeeded

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3896198/?ref_=nv_sr_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duGqrYw4usE
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/guardians-galaxy-vol-2/review/