Wonder Woman (2017) a (for the most part) right on time review!

Add me to the masses.

I really liked Wonder Woman and would give it a solid “B” or 3 stars out of 4.  As many other critics have said -and, again, I’m going with the flow here- the film has a few problems but overall its positives far outweigh its negatives.

Gal Gadot is simply the absolutely right actress at the very right moment for the role, an important thing given the fact that the film follows Diana/Wonder Woman throughout maybe 90% of the its run time.  Even more intriguing -and shows the care Director Patty Jenkins had in the making of this film- is the fact that two other actresses also played Diana/Wonder Woman and, incredibly, both were also very good in the role: Lilly Aspell played the 8 year old Diana and Emily Carey played her at 12 years of age.

Further kudos have to be given to Chris Pine’s acting as Steve Trevor.  He is at Diana’s side for much of the film and provides a welcome counterpoint/guide to her character while she navigates a world ravaged by the horrors of World War I.  He’s never patronizing and more often than not takes her side while showing his growing affection and thrill at her displays of power.

But before we get to their adventure together, we spend time on Paradise Island, the home of the Amazons and of Diana and there we are presented its culture and characters.  Standouts during these sequences are Robin Wright as the warrior Antiope (Ms. Wright’s come a long way since Princess Bride!) and Connie Nielson as Hippolyta, Diana’s mother (I just checked IMDB and it looks like she’ll be back in the role for the upcoming Justice League movie.  Hurrah!).

Later in the film we’re also introduced to Wonder Woman’s quirky companion, Etta Candy, played delightfully by Lucy Davis.  I swear this film is filled with so many interesting characters that I wish there was even more screen time afforded to them than ultimately was!

The villains, alas, are a little less interesting though I did enjoy the enigmatic turn of Elena Anaya as Dr. Maru, aka Dr. Poison.

As for the film itself, its story goes like this: Diana is a restless soul within Paradise Island even as a young child.  After a fashion, she trains to be a warrior.  One day, when she’s grown, the outside world intrudes upon Paradise Island in the form of Steve Trevor, a spy for the allies whose airplane crash lands just off the island’s coast.

Diana saves Trevor but a German warship which has been hunting him also makes their way into Paradise Island.  A battle ensues and, afterwards, the Island folks are, via Steve Trevor, given an update on the world outside and the war being waged.

Diana decides she must venture forth and stop the fighting.  She believes Ares, the Greek God of War, is behind all this and it is her duty to stop him.

She leaves Paradise Island with Trevor, and the rest of the film follows her as she encounters the “real” world of 1917 and its many perils.

Again, I give this film a very solid “B”.  While it may not reach the heights of the original 1978 Superman, a film the makers of Wonder Woman clearly used as their guiding star, it does enough things very right to make us not only care for the characters, but to look forward to their further adventures.

One last note: The soundtrack to the film is awesome.  Gonna buy it real soon.

Recommended.

Movie thoughts…The Mummy

It’s my understanding there is a review embargo for the Tom Cruise starring The Mummy, which I suppose is the first of the “Universal Monsters” movie series (there was a Dracula movie before this which was originally supposed to be the first one but it did so poorly both critically and at the box office that it has been essentially forgotten, or am I hallucinating this fact?).

The embargo is, according to some pieces I’ve read here and there, until Thursday, the day before the film is officially released this week.

Doesn’t sound all that encouraging, though I’m intrigued enough with the film’s trailers that I’ll likely give it a shot at some point.  By the way, the opposite happened with Wonder Woman.  There was a review embargo that was pushed back to an earlier date as early word was very positive and the folks at Warner Brothers wisely realized it would be to their benefit to allow the good word to get out as early as possible.

Looks like that may not be the case with The Mummy.

Wonder Woman box office power…

What with all the gnashing of teeth regarding DC superhero movies and, to many, these same movies’ perceived failures, there was a lot riding on the release of Wonder Woman.  The trailers looked terrific, but then again so too did the trailers for Suicide Squad, a film that even this defender of Batman v Superman couldn’t defend too hard (the plot of that movie was a complete mess, though I had to admit that if you were able to ignore this admittedly significant detail there was some entertainment to be had in the performances of the various actors).

When the Memorial Day Weekend box office turned out to be a bust, matching an 18 year low in terms of box office take, I felt it wasn’t too terribly surprising.

Audiences, I theorized, were perhaps burned by Prometheus and therefore not all that willing -without some damn good reviews/word of mouth- to give Alien: Covenant a try.  This was most certainly my situation.  Had I read good things about AC, I would have gone out to see it.  But Prometheus, despite the beautiful look and some great acting by Noomi Rapace, left me cold.  And when I found out what director Ridley Scott did with her character, the only character I liked in the previous film, I had no more interest in seeing it.

In the case of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, I suspect that’s a franchise that’s gone on two or three films too many.  It didn’t help that Johnny Depp’s bizarre behavior of late didn’t help the situation.

And though I love me some raunchy, “R” rated comedies, any interest I might have for the Baywatch movie was dashed when I saw the very lame NSFW red-band trailer of the movie.  The trailer, to put it nicely, wasn’t funny at all.  Indeed, it seemed to focus on the fact that the Rock gets to say the word “fuck” in several different permutations and audiences were expected to laugh.  Again, I like raunchy comedies, but having a person swear an awful lot does not equal comedy gold.

As for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, that film was released a while back and, while it did very well at the box office, those who wanted to see it seemed to have done so and, therefore, the film was on its way out.

So, in my opinion, people were itching for something new and the three new films, plus this hold-over, just weren’t cutting it, which seems clear based on the weak box-office take.  And that’s why I suspected the release of Wonder Woman the week after Memorial Day would provide plenty of reasons to smile for DC and Warner Brothers.

Now, understand, I’m far from a psychic and I can no better guess what’s going to happen in the next hour much less the next day or week.

Yet I nonetheless had a feeling Wonder Woman would do exceedingly well.  In part this was due to the early reactions, before the review embargo was lifted, which were generally very positive.  Once the actual reviews were released, they confirmed those early tweets.  Like Suicide Squad, the movie’s trailers looked fantastic.

And add one more element: The current times and the fact that this was the first superhero film for this modern era  (defined as roughly from when the first Iron Man was released) which features a woman as its main character.

So with audiences dissatisfied with the current slate of movies it seemed obvious there was a void.  And given Wonder Woman was next in line and looked so intriguing and was getting such great reviews, it felt like a no-brainer to guess it would do exceedingly well.

And, it would appear, so it did.

According to estimates (here’s one from The Huffington Post) the movie broke records in its release.  It most certainly is the biggest release directed by a woman and the $100.5 to $100.6 million it took in I’m sure did bring smiles to those folks at DC and Warners.  There’s already word that director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Godot will return, quickly I imagine, for Wonder Woman 2.

I remain curious to see the film and hope to do so within the next day or two.  I further hope it tracks as high with me as it does with so many others.

After all, that’s all you want in a film, right?

To be entertained.

On Writing…Alien

One of my favorite horror films is the original 1979 film Alien.  I suspect most people out there know of this film, if only because this summer we’ve had the release of Alien: Covenant, the third sequel original director Ridley Scott made of his first film (the second being Prometheus).

I love, love, love Alien.  There is almost nothing about it that was wrong, including the excellent -and super-creepy- theatrical trailer…

As much as I loved Alien, and also loved the first sequel to the film, James Cameron’s Aliens, unfortunately the films that have followed, including Prometheus, have left me wanting.  In fact, so bummed out was I by Prometheus that I was hesitant to see Mr. Scott’s Alien: Covenant.  After reading what he does to the character of Elizabeth Shaw, the protagonist of Prometheus, I have very little desire to see the film indeed.

However, this post is about writing and rather than dwell on the negatives of the more recent Alien films, I wanted to focus on the first and what a clever bit of writing the movie presented.

I’ll be getting into SPOILERS here, but I suspect most people by now have seen the film or know what its about.

Still, SPOILERS FOLLOW…

So in Alien, a group of “space truckers” carry their latest load to its destination.  The ship they’re in is massive but the crew of the ship consists of only seven, plus one cat.

The crew are asleep for the long trip, in hyperbolic chambers, but are awoken well before their destination when the ship’s computer receives a strange signal coming from a planet they are flying by.

The crew is awoken and a decision is made to investigate the strange signal.  When the landing party arrives planet side, they discover an eerie, massive spacecraft and a large, mummified occupant.  They also, tragically, discover that within the ship’s cargo bay are hundreds of eggs.

One of the crew is attacked by the thing inside one of the eggs.  It melts through his space suit’s face mask and entwines itself around the crew-member’s face.  However, he’s still alive and the others bring him back to the shuttle.

It is at this point that I think the most brilliant bit of writing within the film occurs.  What makes it so brilliant is that its a wonderful bit of misdirection, making us feel one way when we should have felt another.  It lays out so much and we realize this only in retrospect, when the film is done.

Basically, the ship’s Captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt) tries to bring the stricken officer, Kane (John Hurt), along with the rest of the exploration crew, back into the shuttle.  Kane is still alive and he needs immediate medical help and orders those within the shuttle to let them in.

However, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), noting that Kane has been infected by an alien presence and therefore may well be a danger to the entire crew, refuses to allow the landing party back in.  She notes that protocol dictates that Kane cannot be allowed back into the ship until he is deemed “safe” from any alien infection.  To allow him in at this point, she states, could endanger everyone.

Meanwhile, science officer/medic Ash (Ian Holm), who is within the shuttle, can barely contain himself.  He is anxious to see/deal with Kane and, realizing the stand-off between Ripley and Dallas will remain, breaks protocol and allows the crew, including the infected Kane, back into the shuttle.

The scene, as played out, makes audiences root for both Dallas and Ash and boo Ripley.  While she is following protocol, it seems incredibly cold and inhuman for her to have the crew out there in the cold.  Especially when it seems at least possible that Kane can be treated and saved rather than being left outside to die.

Yet that scene is beautifully realized because it is only in retrospect that we realize there’s far more going on than it appears.

First off, Dallas, we find, is a very weak leader.  He’s one of those “good guy” bosses who wants everyone to like him and is too lax in following protocol.  Ripley, it turns out, is the no-nonsense firm one.  She knows protocol and, though her actions may be outwardly cold, she’s right while those who are following their emotions are wrong.  Finally Ash, who appeared in that sequence to be following his emotions and choosing to “save” Kane, is revealed to be not interested in him at all.  His actions carry their own dark motivations.

I point this sequence out because it is so (pardon my french) fucking brilliant.

We’re given three characters and their three reactions to this highly stressful situation.  We’re presented with the very human emotion of trying to save a fellow from a fate that seems worse than death.  We’re presented with a cold, too-regulated person who doesn’t seem to understand we’re dealing with human lives here.  Then we have the third person, the one on the fence -we think- who decides for being “human” and saving the stricken officer.

And it turns out all our assumptions of that scene are wrong.

Dallas, while certainly wanting to save Kane, may also be wanting to save his own skin.  He purposely ignores protocol and orders Ripley to let everyone into the shuttle even though this may well endanger everyone else.

Ripley, seemingly an automaton beholden to protocol and therefore a cold-hearted person audiences root against, turns out to be completely correct in her assessment of the situation.  Yes, she may not approach this situation emotionally, but if Kane had been kept from returning to the shuttle as she wanted, none of what followed would have happened.

And Ash, who we thought was anxiously weighing both sides before ultimately siding with Dallas and hoping to save Kane, was doing anything but that.  When it is later revealed who/what Ash is and how he already knew of the alien creature, audiences can’t help but think back to that earlier scene and realize whatever anxiety Ash showed was not because he wanted to save Kane.  Kane, and the rest of the crew of the ship, were eminently expendable to Ash.  What he wanted was the alien creature, to bring it back to his masters so they may use it for their own dark goals.

As I said before, this is a post regarding writing and in that sequence within the film, the writing is terrific, all the more so when the rest of the film plays out.

Too bad the same couldn’t be said of the writing of Prometheus.

Oh, Tiger…

Those who even casually follow sports must know of golfer Tiger Woods.

He seemed to come out of nowhere, a golf protege -or savant- who even in his last rookie tournament (playing against a fellow named Steve Scott) looked absolutely electric.

He would turn pro and prove a formidable golfer, winning tournaments at a pace that suggested he might, when all was said and done, break the records held by golf great Jack Nicklaus.

But a decade ago all that fell by the wayside.

In an era where baseball players were scrutinized for their use of “banned” substances such as steroids, a little seen -much less remembered- article noted that one of the main Doctors known to prescribe steroids to baseball athletes also had Mr. Woods among his clients.

Not much was made of the report -and I would quickly note there is no evidence that I know of pointing to Mr. Woods’ performance on the links being enhanced- because not too long afterwards Tiger Woods had his infamous car accident and, subsequently, his personal dirty laundry was revealed to the entire world.

The married Tiger Woods, it turned out, was far from a faithful husband and the car accident, whose details to this day remain murky, had a blow-up with his then wife and then drove off only to have his car crash.

With the marriage in trouble, stories of his many, many affairs came to light.  Mr. Woods would publicly apologize for his actions and subsequently divorce.  His ex-wife, its been reported, made some $700 million off the divorce.   The golden golfer was suddenly in a very dark place and his game, to add insult to injury, was suddenly gone.

Since that time, Mr. Woods hasn’t won a single tournament and the thought that he might come (ahem) roaring back seems more fantasy than reality nowadays.

Especially after what happened this week.

Mr. Woods was found out cold in his Mercedes in his secluded neighborhood.  Two of the car’s tires were flat and he had crashed the vehicle.  When police arrived, he was awoken and, it was thought, he was drunk.  He wasn’t, as it would turn out, but he claimed his actions were the result of a bad reaction to prescription drugs he’s taking to deal with the latest operation he had on his back.

Today, police released footage of the actual event, and if you want to see it, it’s here.  It’s not pretty and I have no great desire to show it here.

I point all this out because, other than perhaps O. J. Simpson, I don’t believe the public has witnessed a star athlete fall so far and so hard.

Though I’m hardly the world’s biggest golf fan, I did enjoy watching Mr. Woods play in his prime.  He was a fierce competitor and clearly focused like a laser on his play.  There were tournaments I remember where he was down by several shots on the last few holes yet it was clear he still had a shot to win the tournament.

I don’t relish seeing what’s become of him.

While he may indeed have suffered a bad reaction to a prescription medication, its very alarming he seems to have no one around him to stop him from driving when he’s so very clearly impaired.

I suspect the Tiger Woods of old, the world-class golfer all the other golfers feared, will likely never return.

I know I’m just a blogger out in the weeds whose opinion is only his own, but I do hope that Tiger Woods, the man, can get those demons out of his head.  At 41 years of age, he’s still a very young man and he’s got plenty of life to lead.