Wonder Woman

(warning: contains spoilers for Wonder Woman, and the films of the DC and Marvel universes)

Marvel seems to have captured the mood for the superhero genre of late.  They've played a long game of drip feeding audiences with minor-character superhero movies (Iron Man, Thor) over a number of years, and then capitalising on their success by bringing them all together for ensemble extravaganzas (Avengers Assemble).  These films have balanced action, humour and pathos in roughly equal measures, and audiences have lapped it up (Avengers Assemble is the 5th highest grossing film worldwide as I write this*).  But where Marvel have been repeatedly called into question is over their portrayal of women in films.  They do well with female characters on television (Jessica Jones, Agent Carter), but the same doesn't seem to be happening for women in Marvel films.
(Exhibit A: there have been 15 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with a further 9 in the pipeline over the next 2 years.  None of them have a female lead. 
Exhibit B: There has been repeated criticism of a lack of female merchandising, with Gamora and Black Widow repeatedly being missed off merchandising lines, despite demand.)

The DC Extended Universe have also had their criticisms.  They have had Batman and Superman in their arsenal, but have yet to make a film that hasn't been onerous, bloated, uber-serious and - at times - nonsensical (>cough< Suicide Squad >cough<).  To compare the two universes critically, Rotten Tomatoes aggregate the MCU range as between 66%-94%.  DC...don't fair as well.  Their scores range between 25%-55%.

But!  Here we have their new line of attack.  DC have brought us Wonder Woman - the first of the female led superhero films.  So if they get this right, DC have upped their game and done something to make them critically and commercially relevant again. 

So no pressure then...

So how did they do...

It's worth noting from the outset that DC have taken up quite the gauntlet.  It's not just the comic book universe that wavers in its portrayal of women - it's Hollywood in general.  There are so few films which are led by powerful females that, when one comes along, the weight of feminism is dumped upon its shoulders and judged accordingly.  Which is unfair - no one looks at Thor and critiques the themes of 21st century masculinity.  But Wonder Woman is the first female led superhero film, and so it sets the bar.

Discuss the use of hammers in Thor as critique of 21st century masculinity

There's a lot to be said for it.  Gal Gadot is tremendous in the title role, as Diana the Amazonian warrior princess who leaves the hidden paradise of Themyscira to take on Ares, god of war, on the frontlines of World War 1.  Powerful, beautiful and driven to pursue peace and a better world, Gadot is easily the best thing in this film.  She is complimented by Patty Jenkins (most notable for writing and directing 2003s Monster) under whose direction the camera focusses on our heroine, but never gratuitously.  Yes, there's still a lot of skin on display but the camera doesn't ogle or leer.  The clothes she chooses in "this world" have deliberate agency and importance to her character: "I can't fight in this", "it's choking me", "it itches".

She rescues Steve Trevor (a strong, non-Kirk performance by Chris Pine), she fights in the war, she crosses No Man's Land, she is enhanced by - not limited to - her weapons.  All her fighting has meaning and purpose and isn't just for the sake of it.  Her use of her sword is limited by choice to the person that she intended to kill with it.  Her lasso of truth is not relied upon - it's a back up to what she can already do.  She literally does what no man can do - and that is a huge tick in the box of feminism. 

This is underlined by the women of Themyscira.  Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright and the rest of their clan are gladiatorial women, fierce, real and marked with the scars of their previous battles, always preparing for a war that they hope doesn't come again.  It's an interesting contrast that the world full of women is paradise, and the world full of men is war.

Love them.  Fear them.  Don't mess with them.

For me, it's when the men appear that this film falters.  I'm not sure how people manage to find their way to Themyscira (could they always find it, but just hadn't yet?  Or is it because Diana managed to do some kind of sonic boom with her bracelets that weakened the invisibility around the island?), but they do, and Diana learns of the war and leaves paradise with Steve to go and end the fighting.  Steve has seen Diana fight, has seen her home and knows of her power, but in the "real world" wastes no time in telling her where to go, who to speak to and what to wear.  And Diana, for her part, mainly just obeys this guy she's just met who has no discernible strengths other than perhaps being a bit "above average" in the genital department.  After heading into battle, seeing Diana succeed in everything she decides to do in true superhero fashion, and being awed every time, Steve then...continues to rob her of her agency consistently until the credits roll.  He also unnecessarily gets his own "hero-arc".  I would argue that Diana brings nothing of her Themysciran self to "this world".  Her world is paradise, and ours is hell, but she doesn't appear to teach anyone anything to try to help rectify that, which feels like a real failing.

What of the other women in the "real world"?  There are two, maybe.  Lucy Davis (as Etta Candy) who is supposed to be comic relief but does little more than hold Diana's sword for a bit.  When describing her secretarial role, Diana confuses her for Steve's slave.  Then she disappears off screen and isn't seen again.
The other is Elena Anaya's Doctor Poison, a more complex and interesting character.  She's a scientist hellbent on creating a more toxic form of mustard gas (a sort of Mengele-figure), and missing half her face.  The film takes great pains to point out that Steve Trevor can't talk to her for more than 5 seconds before being distracted by someone prettier (to her justifiable outrage), but doesn't seem to do anything with that information.  It portrays her as intelligent, determined, and superior to most of the men in the film and sets her up to be the most dangerous villain of the film, and then undoes it all by revealing that all her ideas were given to her by Ares (a male god).  Gah!

It wasn't until the end of the day that Doctor Poison realised
she had forgotten to blend her foundation...

Then again, the men don't fare much better.  The band of rogues (Ewan Bremmer, Eugene Brave Rock, and Said Taghmaoui) tick the box for casting diversity but aren't particularly fleshed out as characters.  I couldn't tell you much about them other than one has some form of PTSD.
And the requisite Big Bad?  Wants to destroy the world...fights the title character in a no-stakes fight until the fighting stops and the villain is defeated for no reason other than the script says so.  Sigh.

This all sounds very damning.  It comes down to this: 

Pros:

• Gal Gadot is the best thing in the film. 
• Diana does what no man can do.  And that's very empowering for women.
• It is intermittently a very entertaining film.
• Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are very compelling to watch.
• The film makes some decent attempts to be light-hearted in places to counteract the solemnity of the other DC films. 
• Generally good direction, and some excellent action sequences.

Cons:

• It would have been a much shorter film if there hadn't been such a reliance on slow-motion throughout.  Seriously.  Cut that out and we could have had a sub-2 hour film.                  
• Some good themes which are set up but unexplored: for example - the relationship between Steve and Diana, or challenging the patriarchal society (there were so many bits where women were belittled and subjugated that I assumed it was a build up for some kind of smackdown that didn't happen).
• Patty Jenkins was brought in when the first choice for director (male) left.  Eight of the ten producers are male.  All of the writers are male.  Would it have been better if it was more female led?  This woman wonders.

* not adjusted for inflation