They really should have cast Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman. Never thought I'd be typing those words--even if it is just voice casting--but Dawson is so much better than Keri Russell, whose Wonder Woman comes off as dependent on Nathan Fillion's male for everything down to pseudo-feminist banter. Russell's voice defers and doesn't suggest any authority--well, except the script also bestows Fillion's character kung fu on par with the Amazonian goddesses (are they goddesses, it's never clear), which confuses things even further.
But Wonder Woman is still pretty good, even if its sexual politics are all trite platitudes. The most honest moment comes at the end, when it's suggested men, even acting under the best of circumstances, need to be coddled by women into believing they, men, are still capable of offering something to the "weaker" sex. It seems completely unintentional, since only a few scenes before the whole problem with the world is boiled down to warrior women stepping away from it. You know who should have written Wonder Woman--Lily Tomlin. Was she too busy? A Wonder Woman movie written by a feminist icon, one who's had time to reflect on the movement... would have been spectacular. Instead they turned it into a... pardon the expression... neutered Disney movie.
Well, neutered but still with lots of killing, sexual innuendo and almost a curse word.
It's a pleasant surprise to be sure, but would have been as a feminist reaction to the Disney Princess "franchise."
CREDITS
Directed by Lauren Montgomery; screenplay by Michael Jelenic, based on a story by Gail Simone and Jelenic and the DC Comics character created by William M. Marston; edited by Rob Desales; music by Christopher Drake; produced by Bruce W. Timm; released by Warner Premiere.
Starring Keri Russell (Diana), Nathan Fillion (Steve Trevor), Alfred Molina (Ares), Rosario Dawson (Artemis), Marg Helgenberger (Hera), Oliver Platt (Hades), Virginia Madsen (Hippolyta), Julianne Grossman (Etta Candy), Vicki Lewis (Persephone) and David McCallum (Zeus).
Related posts:
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.