Wonder Woman (2017) (Movie Review)

Dir: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine
Dur: 2 hrs 20 mins
Genre: Superhero - Action

PG: Its rated U/A. Except for a kiss shared between the lead couple and a sensored scene where Steve is nude, nothing else takes place on the sexual front. However, being a superhero film the violence is catastrophic.

Wonder Woman is the DC’s first superhero film starring a female as the lead. Although there have been films of superhero women in the past viz. Catwoman and Elektra. It is sad to note that both of these were received poorly and did badly at the box office. With this background it was quite an intimidating task for Patty to take up the direction of this film. A lot was riding on her shoulders and I must say she really showed us ‘girl power’. Patty is the first woman to have directed a superhero film starring a female lead and she undoubtedly did a fantastic job.

The film has all the elements of a typical superhero film: a story of origin, a romantic interest, a cataclysmic disaster and a criminal mastermind. Diana (Gal Gadot) is a princess of the Amazons, a special race created by Zeus, the Greek God, who are charged with the task of maintaining peace on the earth, or so they claim. How they do that while remaining holed up on their precious and pristine paradise island, I cannot fathom! Diana, however, feels that they are not remaining faithful to their task by keeping away from the world which is tearing itself to shreds by means of war.

World War I is raging and Diana whose heart calls her for something more discovers an injured British spy in the sea and rescues him, unwittingly attracting the German forces who were following him to the Amazonian island. The battle that ensues influences her in a major way and she decides to leave the island despite her queen-mothers’ orders. This incident gives birth to Wonder Woman although the name in never once mentioned during the film. The story builds up steadily although there is a lot of ambiguity as to the real villain. The story has its share of incoherence and despite the writers best efforts they become very evident to the reflective mind and the keen eye.

Does Love trump duty? Is Peace the true aim of mankind? These are some of the dilemmas that are thrown up during the movie. What strikes about Wonder Woman is that she is a hero we can relate with. She embodies wishes and dreams that nearly every one of us harbour. She isn’t merely a villain battling, earth-saving heroine. Instead, she stands up for much more than simply the triumph of good over evil and this for me is the fulcrum of promoting her as a role model. There is little doubt that superheroes have created an impression on us at some point or the other. Usually we are most impressionable in our younger days. Wonder Woman struck a chord with me and does provide inspiration for this day and age.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great Grand Masti 2 (2016) (Movie Review)

Image
Dir: Indra Kumar Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela Dur: 2 hrs 10 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: 1/10 Comment: The jokes, gestures and costumes are sexually suggestive. An absolute waste of time. “What an opening line”, you might think. But to say otherwise would be an absolute lie. This film is in fact, a great grand waste of time. It’s horrible whichever way you look at it. The story is weak and thrives on cheap thrills and sorry jokes. The actresses are no doubt eye-catching but the rest is all a blur. The comedy is in fact tragedy and the film attempts to play on the basest desires of man. It’s unbelievable that actors like Riteish and Vivek would do such a film. I am not a big fan of bollywood but I still feel bad when I see bollywood making films like these. All of a sudden, I see that sex is being propagated through Indian cinema. The views of sex are changing and filmmakers and actors are not hesitating to take on unconvent
Read more

The Challenge of Mercy

Image
Pope Francis has declared this as the year of mercy, and up until now plenty of reflections have been preached and published on mercy. Perhaps each of us too have made our own reflection on the theme of mercy. Since the inauguration of the year, my mind has often reverted to this theme. Every night when I make an examination of conscience, I evaluate myself: my thoughts, words and deeds vis-à-vis mercy. I realize that I am not merciful most of the time and that I resort to do what benefits me over the merciful thing. Pope Francis realized that the Church needed to revisit the theme of mercy; to reflect upon it and put it into practice. Mercy is at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus is the personified revelator of the Father’s mercy. Through his words and deeds he suffused the scent of mercy. His teachings on mercy are appreciated and continue to inspire people even today. The Church itself was founded on mercy: Christ became the expiation for our sins (1 Jn 4:10; Heb 2:17). He for
Read more

Andadhun (2018) [Movie Review]

Image
Dir: Sriram Raghavan Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte and Tabu Dur: 2 hrs 18 mins Genre: Black Comedy Crime Thriller Rating: 3/10 I watched this film on good recommendations. It was hailed as one of the best films of 2018. The mystery surrounding the film went well with the mystery that was actually the film itself. I learnt a hard lesson after watching this film and that is not to go by what other’s say about a film. Given Bollywood’s film making standards, I should not have been surprised. Yet, I found myself pleasantly surprised at the end product. Andadhun tells a complex tale of blindness in a world that is not blind even though it appears so. Confused? Well then, watching the film is not going to make it any better. This film is a classical example of postmodern film-making. It is replete with ample plot twists that don’t allow you to settle into its tricky narrative. Just when you think you have it all figured out, a new twist emerges and challe
Read more