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Rating: If we really want to split hairs, it's necessary to start by saying that Wonder Woman is not a feminist film, or rather, it is in its most overt and banal aspects, I dare say, but in its cinematic grammar, it is the opposite. It is a film completely adhering to the "chauvinistic" canons of the usual Hollywood, where the protagonist must essentially be a model, always beautiful and heavily made-up, shot in long close-ups reminiscent of commercials, always making big eyes, and constantly viewed by others as a sexual object. This supposedly feminist Hollywood is actually a machine producing unattainable and thus detestable female models.
Closing the parenthesis, Patty Jenkins' film about Diana Prince's adventures only confirms the heavy-handedness of DC cinema, at least in aesthetic terms. The usual drabness, the usual taste for dated emphasis in depicting battles; better than Snyder's film, there is a minimal underlying coherence that, of course, avoids ridiculous plot twists. But here boredom peeks in: a movie that is really long and in many parts flat, gray, and uninteresting.
The ending at least holds some surprises, but on the other hand, it loses the aesthetic restraint (so to speak) of the first part and stumbles into the usual rather tacky final duel. Nothing comparable to Batman v Superman, but we're not that far off either. Snyder, after all, is among the screenwriters.
It is particularly striking, the DC films' lack of skill in depicting characters, especially when compared to Marvel's magnificent results, for example in the recent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange. Diana herself is quite crude in her characteristics: apart from a few harmless humorous moments about her not knowing the world's customs, she remains a largely two-dimensional character, driven by a single impulse, redundant and tiresome. Let's not even talk about the others, who are caricatures or little more.
The narrative gets lost in long preambles, in an equally meticulous as it is unnecessary narrative, which doesn't leave much room for the heroine's growth journey, favoring the war and espionage part of the story, which calling it mannerist would be generous. An already-seen and over-seen between war scenarios and mad scientists, even in some of the more unfortunate episodes of the MCU. And instead, the most interesting thing in the entire film is not explored: the moment when Diana realizes she has powers. It is a hasty passage, almost overlooked.
Gal Gadot herself imposes a significant limitation on the protagonist: beautiful, incredibly beautiful for sure (and it’s emphasized way too much) but her performance is more of a model than an actress. Honestly, not much substance, lots of wide-eyed looks, smiles, pouty faces, and little else. She does not break the gender barrier and maintains her primary connotation in beauty. In short, female heroism in Wonder Woman is quite chauvinistic. However, Robin Wright’s performance as the warrior Amazon is fantastic.
The film partially redeems itself in its final phase when it accentuates the conceptual issue underpinning the entire plot: Diana sees evil as embodied in a single god, Ares, while humans and Ares himself know that evil is somewhat in everyone. And then a series of emphatic platitudes about love.
I’ve read around that it would be a well-written film: it's not terrible, but there are indeed many borderline moments. The plays on double meanings between Diana and Steve are elementary school level, the repetitiveness with which she repeats her goals of peace and love almost nerve-racking. But aside from these flaws: in a superhero film, they managed to include over an hour of substantial boredom.
5/10
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