Wonder Woman, 2017.
Directed by Patty Jenkins.
Starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Ewan Bremner, Lucy Davis, Eugene Brave Rock, Emily Carey, Lilly Aspell, and Saïd Taghmaoui.
SYNOPSIS:
Before she was Wonder Woman she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war to end all wars, discovering her full powers and true destiny.
Today marks the release of this summer’s huge superhero blockbuster Wonder Woman. Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the film tells the story of Diana before the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as she first comes to man’s world to stop Ares, the God of War, from destroying mankind during World War I.
Wonder Woman is everything you’d want out of a superhero film, with some very cool action scenes to boot, and a nice change of pace for the DCEU. Jenkins’ understanding of the character and her world shines throughout the film while Gadot absolutely nails the character. You can read my full review of the film at the time of its release here, but my opinion largely hasn’t changed.
In terms of the Blu-ray release, the images look just as crisp on the television as they did on the big screen. The colours are vibrant and everything looks smooth. The only downside I can say is that the graphics, as with any film on Blu-ray, don’t look as good on television. Some points you can tell they’re set-up on a green screen or something is achieved with computer trickery, but its also not as noticeable as some other films and, as I said, it’s the same with any Blu-ray release.
I’ve just seen the standard Blu-ray copy of Wonder Woman, which comes with Blu-ray, DVD and digital copies of the film. In terms of special features this has plenty, clocking in at slightly over 2 hours. I’ll go over them individually below, but the features are very insightful, giving fans some great looks at how the film was made. The only thing missing is audio commentary from Jenkins and others on the film. For a film as successful and popular as this, hearing from the director over the whole film would have been really cool as the special features can only cover so much.
Despite the absence of commentary, the features are quite good. What we have is:
Epilogue: Etta’s Mission: (3 minutes) This short scene sees Lucy Davis return as Etta Candy as she meets with Samir, Charlie and Chief to recruit them for a new mission. The brief scene essentially is what Wonder Woman’s post credit scene would have been if it had one. It doesn’t really add much except for quickly catching up with these supporting characters and having a nice tease for Justice League.
Crafting the Wonder: (16 minutes) It follows Jenkins and others through several phases of the film’s development, from shooting scenes to crafting the costumes and weapons. It also explores the decision to place Diana in World War I and how that changed the film as well as the challenges it created in making Wonder Woman seem modern despite its historical setting. There’s a good discussion on the use of the film’s colours and lighting compared to most other WWI or other war films.
A Directors Vision: This consists of 5 short segments, each about 4 – 6 minutes long, that shows Patty Jenkins discussing some of the most important elements from the film and how they were made. ‘Themyscira: The Hidden Island’ and ‘Diana in the Modern World’ detail the choices that were made to contrast Themyscira and the rest of the world, specifically the costumes, set design and locations used. ‘Beach Battle’ and ‘Wonder Woman at War’ explore the crazy level of detail used in the battle sequences. It’s a very cool look at how the fights were made, especially since the majority of them were done practically.
The last one is ‘A Photograph Through Time’. While maybe not as insightful to the overall film as the others, this does examine the importance of the photograph featured in this film and Batman v Superman with Diana and her friends. Zack Snyder is also in this feature as he and Jenkins actually use a photographic process from 1918 to create an authentic photo of that time for the films.
Warriors of Wonder Woman: (10 minutes) An insight into the actresses and stunt doubles that starred as the Amazonian warriors. This explores the amount of training they had to do and the camaraderie they formed. For anyone who were fans of the Amazons, you’ll definitely enjoy this great look.
The Trinity: (16 minutes) A look at the relationship between DC’s powerhouse trio of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Featuring several of DC’s top talents, including Greg Rucka, Paul Dini, Jill Thompson and Phil Jimenez, this explores why those three create the backbone of the DC Universe as well as how their relationship has evolved over the decades. This is probably something more comic fans will enjoy, but with Justice League coming out soon it will definitely interest moviegoers as well.
Finding the Woman Within: (23 minutes) This is a collection of various artists, from writers, poets and illustrators to psychologists, scientists and even a NASCAR driver, talking about how Wonder Woman has inspired them. It doesn’t really have much to do with the film, but it is an interesting look at just how influential Wonder Woman has been to women and men in their personal lives.
The Wonder Behind the Camera: (16 minutes) Patty Jenkins is one of the main draws of this feature, but it really examines the presence of women on the film’s set. From the production’s set to the costume department, they made a big attempt to include women in a variety of positions. One of the coolest things about this feature, however, was seeing a young group of aspiring female filmmakers taking a tour of the set, being shown just how much hard work goes into filming a movie like this.
Extended Scenes: (9 minutes) For the most part, these extended scenes just feature some lines or different shots of scenes that were cut and for the better just because they didn’t feel quite right. The ‘Boat Conversation’, however, is played fairly differently and has much less heart than it does in the film. Its interesting to see what it could have been had this been chosen.
Alternative Scene: Walk to No Man’s Land (1 minute) A very short deleted scene that is easy to see why was cut, though also adds some interesting backstory for Chief as he claims to know exactly when he’ll die.
Bloopers: (6 minutes) For the seriousness of the film, its great to see how much fun they had on set. The Blu-ray has a very nice, fun collection of bloopers from everyone in the film, though its hilarious to see just how many times Gal Gadot and Chris Pine broke character during mistakes or the comedic bits.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Ricky Church
Originally published September 19, 2017. Updated April 17, 2018.
