Here’s a confession; two weeks ago, instead of seeing Wonder Woman, I fell flat on my face in a Kroger’s parking lot. Well, I would have, if my left arm hadn’t broken my fall. Though some helpful passer-by suggested the paramedics be called after I (finally) managed to get on my feet I hobbled back towards Kroger. Even though I arrived ten minutes before it opened I found myself second in line at The Little Clinic behind a tall bearded guy. As the Nurse-Practitioner took him back to the examining room, he began describing his flu-like symptoms. Which is when he used the same chilling phrase inevitably uttered by Patient Zero in every plague outbreak movie and paperback medical thriller, “I just got back from overseas...”
The good news? I hadn’t contracted the plague (unless it’s still in its incubation period) or broken any bones. I had “just” bruised some ribs and sprained my wrist - all the way up to my elbow. Being left-handed, everyday tasks suddenly acquired an incredibly high degree of difficulty, and that was before I had to start wearing an arm brace. Which explains why there wasn’t a column last week. But in the interim, I finally managed to see Wonder Woman.
I can’t imagine I’ll be able to find anything new to say about it, especially at this late date, not that that will stop me from trying. It has a running time of 2 hours 21 minutes, and while I couldn’t detect a wasted moment in it, I still wish the movie included more scenes of Diana discovering that the wonders of Man’s World went way beyond babies and ice cream, And as a well-known connoisseur of plus sized sidekicks I have to say, boy, do I wish there had been more of Lucy Davis. Who, along with being scene-stealingly wonderful as Etta Candy, she clearly “gets” it. In an interview with Cosmopolitan she’s quoted as saying “All the superhero stuff, somewhere deep down I think it nudges us into remembering that really we’re all fabulous if you let go of fear.”
Robin Wright made for one impressive, if unlikely, Amazon general. Unlikely perhaps, because in spite of her decades of acting credits, I still primarily think of her as being “Robin Wright from The Princess Bride.” But you know who else would have made an impressive, unlikely Amazon? Geena Davis. Think about it, she’s tall, imposing, has done her share of action movies, plus like a lot of the other women playing Amazon's she’s an accomplished athlete. Back in 1999 Ms. Davis finished 24th out of 28 women competing in the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic trials. Her archery skills certainly would have come in handy during that pivotal battle scene on the beaches of Themyscira.
Not that there was ever much doubt but, I loved it. Instead of going on (and on) about why, I’ll just use a DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns quote from the piece that appeared on The Wrap. “Get to the essence of the character and make the movies fun. Just make sure that the characters are the characters with heart, humor, hope, heroics, and optimism at the base,” said Johns.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
