This summer was a series of major hit and misses at the box
office. Huge productions that had big hype and great marketing fell flat and
movies with massively talented casts like Mother floundered opening weekend.
The Dark Tower and IT were two of Stephen King’s greatest works, both of which
were long considered to not be viably able to transfer from book to screen.
Both movies were well cast and shot, had excellent marketing, and looked
amazing in trailers, but IT broke box office records and the Dark Tower never
seemed to get out of the gate.
Movie goers appeared to be using the power of their wallet to
make sure movie makers knew that their budgets were limited and fans were only
going to pay to see movies that promised more of what viewers wanted to
see. Dark Tower’s story is amazing but
not widely known whereas IT already had a made for TV movie. So viewers went to
see IT because they knew what it was about. Meanwhile, movies like Mother and
Dark Tower looked great, but we never got a feeling for what the movie was
actually about. With so many flops movie goers were only coming out to see
something they already wanted to see.
Amid this minefield, one unlikely film rose up and not only
claimed the top spot, but also made film history while changing the current
landscape of cinema. On paper, Wonder
Woman should have never succeeded. A comic book heroine with no major fan base
taking place in the failing DCU and directed by a woman with no prior
experience directing action movies. Several times in the past Wonder Woman
failed to even get greenlit so for it to dominate a Summer blockbuster season
was a complete surprise. So what about Wonder woman made it stand out so much?
Well, for
starters it was extremely well written. The story spends just enough time on
origin backstory to fill in viewers before moving on to its epic action scenes.
This helps keep the viewers interested from the start. It spends small periods
developing the side characters in between series of eye popping visuals. The
only fault in the story is the incredibly small amount of effort taken to flush
out any of the antagonists. Most of the action centers around Wonder Woman
fighting the Germans soldiers (this was WWI so no, not the Nazis!) so the story
did not need it as “War” was the antagonist at its core though. However, it would have added a whole
different level of interest in the story had we had more time to really have a
tangible bad guy. There are the German officer, a scientist, and Aries. The Germans had no depth and are completely
forgettable. Aries isn’t revealed until the climax and it’s not even shocking,
more so rather a letdown since the character quickly dissolved to just a flashy
CGI effect. In the end you don’t get the
feeling that there ever really was a boss battle but rather than a series of
events that led to the conclusion.
The acting is not amazing. That being said, it doesn’t need
to be. The characters are all played very well and this is a comic book movie,
not Shakespeare, and that’s a good thing. The characters and acting are great
filler in between the real star, the action.
The cinematography and score were designed for high paced, visually
amazing action scenes and it shows. The action moves just fast enough to keep
you on the edge of your seat but not so fast that like Transformers you end up
missing small bits and getting an overall unmemorable feel to it.
But what made this movie stand out apart from all of the
others? We had been promised a
remarkable season of high octane movies and with a few exceptions we were left
wanting. This movie not only met those expectations but set a new standard as
well. Prior to its release viewer weren’t really open to the idea of a lead
actress in a major action or superhero role.
Women have dominated the lead roles of horror movies and have started to
own almost half the lead roles in comedies as of late showing that viewers
already wanted to see women in what used to be male dominated roles. In fact,
several action movies in the last couple of years tried to be the first big hit
with a female lead with varying levels of success but Wonder Woman not only succeeded
but broke the record for highest grossing super hero origin film beating out
the likes of Ironman, Spiderman, and Batman Begins.
Audiences embraced the change with open arms. On playgrounds across the country young girls
and boys alike are choosing her character to play superheroes. Grown men are
wearing her image on shirts, no longer bothered by the stigma of liking female
characters being associated with lower masculinity. This opens the doors for so
many great stories featuring strong female leads to be given a legitimate
chance at being greenlit effectively changing the way make movies.
