The DCEU Discussion Part VI: Wonder Woman - Episode 1 - The Beginning
- Luke Evans
- Feb 21, 2021
- 28 min read
Updated: Jul 5, 2021
One thing about giving these movies a more critical once over years after their release is that I have been able to appreciate them for what they are this time around. I know what to expect and where I was let down in those early viewings, so I do appreciate bits of them more. Gal Gadot was perfect for the role of Wonder Woman. I just don't think she's had good stories to work with. It's a shame. Anyway, I've had another crack at it, and these are my thoughts as they stand.
- Pic: From Vox.com
If you want to see another related article that I wrote that also discusses Wonder Woman, please see the Bathos in the Marvel Films: A Response to Just Write's "What Writers Should Learn From Wonder Woman" I did try to take the creator - Sage Hyden from the Just Write Youtube Channel - up on his challenge, which went something like this:
To that end, the most important exercise a writer can do is to absorb a story while being emotionally self-aware. By that I mean, don’t just watch a movie or pick apart the plot-holes of the story, but continually ask yourself in every scene, ‘how is this making me feel?’ and ‘why is it making me feel that way?’ When you can do this, your radar for insincerity becomes infallible and you’re able to see through the kinds of manipulations many films attempt to pull. I challenge you to do this while you’re watching Wonder Woman, and I think you’ll find that every scene builds up to a singular emotion that is real, not pantomimed. And that nothing in the scene invalidates anything that comes before. There is real substance beneath the surface level amusements, and that is what makes the movie more than the sum of its jokes.
- From the video: What Writers Should Learn From Wonder Woman
I tried to do this - and yes, some things resonated with me emotionally, I'll grant you. But the stuff Sage encourages you to ignore or downplay - such as picking apart the movie for its plot holes - unfortunately, that's the stuff that matters to me when you're telling a story. There shouldn't be plot holes, it should be tight... or at least tighter than this.
Here we go.
SPOILER HEAVY ARTICLE - It's a breakdown of the whole movie!!
The movie opens with Diana working in the Louvre and receiving a package from Bruce Wayne, with a note saying that he found Diana's original photo from World War I that she had been searching for in Batman v Superman. Diana starts to remember her past, flashing back to her youth on Themyscira - Paradise Island.
First Impressions: While I love some of the sweeping art of Paradise Island, straight off the bat we see the DCEU style CGI which doesn't really hold up for me and is used for unnecessary things, like the background of the field where warriors train, that just looks fake. I never understand this approach. Sure, you have to fake the wilderness of the island, because it's not real. But fields... fields are real... FIND A REAL FIELD!!!! You don't need obviously fake backgrounds in that scene. And if you need CGI, then as the watcher, I need to not know that it's being used. If I can see it, it drives me mad! Now, some movies need it - like Aquaman, because it's impossible to actually film that movie underwater - but a field is a real thing and we don't need to fake it. Like the lighthouse and jetty in Aquaman or the Kent cornfield and sunset in Justice League, CGI that is instantly fake to the eye I can never understand it. This isn't a DCEU thing specifically, but for some reason their CGI often seems less polished than the MCU's. I don't know why that is.
There are definitely examples of this in the MCU and in other Marvel films as well. I hated the CGI in the Andy Garfield Spider-Man movies. Say what you will about Tobey Macquire, but they used real actors and action a lot more in Spider-Man 1 and 2 than they did in the Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2. I also watched a special feature on Iron Man 3 where they talked proudly about the stunt of catching people falling from Air Force One. Now, in the movie, I just thought it was all CGI or done at ground level with wire-work - because there were so many special effects layers to that footage that the real footage of the skydivers stopped looking real. I remember thinking the same with the Bat in Dark Knight Rises (a pre-DCEU DC movie). The Bat was a real prop vehicle, but they flew it on a sort of cherry-picker attached to a car on the ground, and then they used CGI to erase the car and crane - so the whole scene looked fake because of the layers of CGI they had to use under the prop. It makes you wonder if it's worth the effort of the real stunt when it stops looking real in the end anyway and you can achieve the same with 100% CGI...
What's an example of CGI that works well? Well, the airport scene in Captain America: Civil War for one. Now, I knew there was CGI in play here of course, but I thought it was a real airport. But, no... not really. Most of the airport itself was faked too and I never realised it. Some of the characters (those with full face masks) were regularly 100% CGI - so much so that there was not even a stand-in actor in a motion-capture suit on the set. Once upon a time, that would have been impossible. Spider-Man in that scene was mostly inserted later and it looked like he was standing there. For a visual effects breakdown, check out how much they faked by clicking here and for a supporting article, see this one here from Brian Bishop at The Verge. It blows my mind how much they got away with. Why can't these DCEU movies do that? For another behind-the-scenes look at matte painting used for backgrounds in movies, see Dylan Cole Studio's examples of what a good matte painting artist can do with CGI scenes. I will grant you that the scope and scale of some of these shots mean that it is obvious that CGI has been used - but the parts that are real and the parts that are fake might surprise you.
To summarise: I don't like the CGI in this movie. Back to the story though:
Diana wants to be a warrior. We are shown young Diana trying to watch the Amazons and to learn how to fight. We see her running through the ancient city and jumping from tier to tier (more poor CGI). Diana's aunt Antiope is the General of the Amazons, and wants to train her to be a warrior. Diana's mother Hippolyta, who is the Queen of the Amazons, does not want Antiope to. We're not told how old Diana is here (she appears around six, perhaps, but she does not age like us). She's a cute kid and reminded me of my own daughter's relentless questions:
Diana: What if I promise to be careful? Hippolyta: It's time to sleep. Diana: What if I didn't use a sword? Hippolyta: Fighting does not make you a hero. Diana: Just a shield, then. No sharp edges. Hippolyta: Diana, you are the most precious thing in the world to me. I wished for you so much so, I sculpted you from clay myself and begged Zeus to give you life.
So... this moment. I think it's implied later that this is just a story that Hippolyta tells Diana throughout her life so that she never questions who she really is. She is the actual daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta, by my read, the only child born to the Amazons - since there are no men on the island. Old Man Zeus liked to get around a bit in the old stories too. Anyway, it appears Hippolyta is attempting to hide from Diana that she is a demi-god (half-god, half-human). I much prefer this to the whole clay thing. For an article on why the clay thing was originally used and why it was changed in the comics (and subsequently this film), go to: Vox.com. Regardless of the true origin story - they clearly wanted to include both - this is certainly only a bit of what Hippolyta is hiding. There is more.
Hippolyta goes on to tell Diana the story of the Greek Gods and how they fell at the hands of Ares, God of War, who wants to set the whole world to war. All the other gods are dead, killed at the hand of Ares. Zeus had made "mankind" and they were good, but Ares corrupted them and brought war into the world. So the gods made the Amazons to "influence men's hearts with love and restore peace to the Earth", but the peace did not last. The Amazons were enslaved by men, until Hippolyta led a revolt to free them. The other gods attacked Ares and he killed them all. In the battle, Ares was wounded by Zeus, so he retreated. Zeus was wounded himself and did not make it. Hippolyta stated that before he died, Zeus cast a protective shield over Themyscira so that no one from the outside, including Ares, could find it, thus protecting the Amazons. Zeus also created a weapon that could kill a god and he hid this on Themyscira.
Here's a thought: Just how old is Diana? If Zeus was around to give her life, she had to be "born" prior to the War of the Gods when Zeus himself died - so that was clearly a long time ago. The implication then is that she's been alive for a very long time.
Anyway, as I say, it's true to her origins, so moving on...
The next day, Diana asks her mother about "the Godkiller" and whether she can see it, which shocks her mother for some reason. Hippolyta reluctantly agrees to show it to Diana and shows her a sword. Diana calls it the Godkiller and asks who will wield it. The Queen replies that hopefully, no one will ever have to use the weapon that Zeus left there. When you first watch this, I think you are meant to buy that the sword is the Godkiller... I think I may have guessed the truth, but I can't quite remember.
Throughout the scenes on Themyscira, we see that Diana is not being told everything about her true nature - her mother doesn't want her to find out what she really is. Antiope goes against Hippolyta's wishes and secretly trains Diana, but gets caught. Convincing her sister, Antiope finally gets Hippolyta to agree that Antiope can train Diana - but only if she agrees to train her until she is better than any Amazon that has come before her, including the General herself.
We jump to an adult Diana still being trained and becoming stronger than all of the other Amazons, except the General, who can still beat her because Diana lacks focus when training. While fighting Antiope, Diana protects herself by slamming her wrist vambraces (the wrist armour, sometimes mistakenly called gauntlets) together defensively before her. She creates a shockwave of energy from this that throws Antiope backward violently. Everyone is amazed and frightened by this power display, including Diana. Antiope is okay. Diana is embarrassed and ashamed and so she runs off.
While she is brooding and looking out to sea, Diana sees a German light aircraft penetrate the shield around the island and crash into the ocean. It seems the shield is a visual masking and protection only, it does not stop people from getting in. That seems like a lapse in judgment on the part of Zeus, but whatever...
Realising the pilot will be in danger, CGI Diana dives from the cliff and sort of super-speed-swims off to the rescue. He was a long way out to sea, so we can assume it's a power. If it's not, there is no way she could get there! It's unclear which of her powers she knows about at this point.
Diana drags the pilot ashore, only then realising that it is a man. There are no men on the island, nor are they allowed on there. As they make introductions, boatloads of soldiers in pursuit of the American man arrive. He simply tells Diana that he is one of the good guys and they are the bad guys. He identifies them as Germans. Why and how GERMAN SHIPS and LONG BOATS were pursuing a PLANE... I don't know. The Germans get through the shield, but their ship runs aground inside the reef. Their longboats make it to shore (why did they already have men deployed in longboats to catch a plane?)
From the water, the Germans fire their guns at the Amazons. As near as I can tell, they hit no one. BUT the Amazon's fire arrows over the same distance and hit stacks of people! The boats are still way out to sea.
When they land, the Germans start taking out Amazons pretty quickly. Not knowing what a gun or bullet is, Diana watches a bullet go straight past her in slow motion, where it kills one of the Amazons. She could have stopped it but didn't know what it was! As the movie goes on we see she knows heaps of world languages and claims that the Amazons know hundreds... but the things that she doesn't know are astounding. I don't know how you could learn languages without knowing what the things in them are... like marriage... and watches... and bullets... anyway... Is the implication that she doesn't know modern variances to ancient languages? Because she doesn't seem to have a problem speaking modern English....
(That one is comparable to the fact that every alien in the MCU seems to speak English as their first language!!)
Anyway...
The Amazon cavalry closes the gap and starts taking out the Germans. They use some infuriating and sometimes unnecessary CGI to show the Amazons' superhuman skills. Some of this stuff needed CGI... some didn't. And again, the CGI, the slow-mo, the wire work... Meh...
Diana and the American join the fight. Antiope does a little Chekhov's Gun... er... Shield... move where she calls out "Shield!" and another Amazon (I think it's another sister to the queen, Menalippe) puts a shield on her back and propels Antiope into the air to perform a special three-arrow kill. It's a slow-mo cringingly-posed moment, I'm not a fan, but it's supposed to look cool. We'll see that come back later (hence calling it a Chekhov's Shield). Then, in short order, Antiope throws herself in front of a bullet to save Diana... and dies... But before her last breath, she tells Diana it is time. She mentions the word "Godkiller" and then tells Diana to "Go!"
With the Germans all dead, the Amazons turn on the American, but Diana defends him, saying he fought by her side. The Amazons argue about what to do with him, noting he is wearing the same colours as the Germans (he's in one of their pilot's uniforms). He refuses to say why. They decide to take him and use the relic, the Lasso of Hestia, which compels the wearer to tell the truth or experience pain. With the lasso on him, he tries to give just his name (Steve Trevor), rank, unit, and serial number, but the lasso compels him to reveal that he's a spy working with the British.
Under the lasso, he reveals that he was spying on a German general, Ludendorff, who he was following to a secret military installation in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Trevor found out that they had men, money and munitions that the Allies were not aware of stockpiled there. Ludendorff was working with Dr Isabel Maru - Dr. Poison - a scientist who made chemical weapons for the Germans. She was making a new type of hydrogen poison gas that could get through the Allies' soldiers' gasmasks, but it was not complete yet. Trevor stole her journal/notebook with her formulas in it - in a weird scene where it seemed almost certain that the enemy would have noticed him.
Regardless, they work out he has stolen it pretty quick and they chase him. He steals one of the planes and drops some of the grenades in the plane on them, blowing up a portion of the munitions. He does not appear pursued at this point.
Trevor realises that the Amazons do not know about the war in Europe and how bad it is. He says that it is"like the world's gonna end!" Diana is convinced it's the work of Ares, but her mother does not want to involve the Amazon's in "their war". Diana says that it's not their war - it's Ares. Hippolyta replies that this was just a story they told her and that she did not understand. Diana is convinced it is Ares and that it is the Amazons' duty to help. Hippolyta refuses to get involved or to acknowledge that it's Ares' work - knowing full-well that she has lied to Diana about the stories from her youth.
Diana goes to visit a healer to have a wound treated. She had a cut on her arm and we are shown that it has healed quickly, which the medic says is "strange". It appears throughout the Paradise Island scenes that Diana is only coming into her powers now. It wasn't made super clear, although there is some form of reference each time she does a new thing.
There's a funny scene between Diana and Steve while he is getting out of a pool where she looks at him in the nude and asks if he was typical of his sex and he shrugs and says he's "Above average". Diana asks, "What's that?" and Steve thinks she is referring to his... erm... but she's referring to his watch... both of which she has not seen before. He explains that the watch tells time and they use it to know when to do the things they need to do. She replies: "You let this little thing tell you what to do?" I don't know if that was also an intentional joke referring to his... erm... either way, it's a funny scene.
Steve: So... ...you're here to let me go? Diana: I tried, but it's not up to me. I even asked them to send me with you. Or anyone. An Amazon. The Amazons. Steve: The Amazons? Diana: It is our sacred duty to defend the world. And I wish to go.. But my mother will not allow it. Steve: Well... I can't say I blame her. The way this war's going... ...I wouldn't wanna let anyone I care about near it. Diana: Then why do you want to go back? Steve: I don't think "want" is the word, right? I guess I gotta try. My father told me once, he said, "If you see something wrong happening in the world, you can either do nothing... or you can do something." And I already tried nothing.
Diana decides to go with Steve, but only after stealing the Amazon relics - a shield of unknown significance, the Godkiller Sword, the Lasso of Hestia, and the Wonder Woman armour (never explained and we don't actually see it properly for some time). She also seems to discover her super-strength and agility and their limits while trying to get the relics, when she is able to launch herself across a ravine and to claw her way up a very steep wall by punching handholds in it. She didn't know about this before? She does seem surprised. Are these powers new or did she not realise she had them? That seems unlikely.
Before they leave Themyscira, Hippolyta catches her and gives her sort-of blessing - by which I mean that she does not try to stop Diana. Hippolyta gives her Antiope's tiara (a cut-down version of the one Antiope wore). She tells Diana to be careful in man's world and states that, "They do not deserve you."
Amazon Warrior: Should you have told her? Hippolyta: The more she knows, the sooner he will find her.
Whaaaaaaaat??? Sigh... So silly...
Diana and Steve take a small sailboat out to sea, heading for Europe. Diana tells Steve that she believes it's Ares controlling the war. Steve doesn't believe this and tries to convince her that there's not a lot two people can do to stop a war. Diana is steadfast in her belief that the God of War is controlling the war and manipulating the sides. She appears naive but confident in this and it's clear Steve doesn't believe it at all. At one point she refers to him as an "average man" and Steve feels the need to let her know that he's not average - being a spy requires a certain "vigour". Steve is awkward when she offers for him to sleep next to her and he refuses on grounds that, outside of the "confines of marriage it's just... It's not polite to assume, you know?" Steve asks if there really weren't any men on the island and asks about her father. When Diana tells him that she was made from clay by her mother and Zeus breathed life into her, he doesn't seem to believe it (obviously), but says "That's neat". This leads into a discussion about babies in the real world and Diana notes that she knows all about this and is academically educated about "reproductive biology", but that the author Clio (fictional - but named for the Muse?) had determined long ago that while men were essential for procreation, they were unnecessary for pleasure. Steve was a little horrified at this conclusion. It's a funny scene and the awkwardness between them is cute. It's to show us that they come from different worlds, and have very different ways of behaving and understanding.
Diana's naive outlook that she will be able to find Ares in the middle of the war and will be able to kill him, bringing an end to all wars, was... interesting. Steve doesn't know what to make of it, but he finds her innocence endearing. And at this point, I'm buying their emotions. They are discovering each other and are attracted to each other and to each other's world and are both somewhat shocked at the way the other acts and thinks. BUT... as near as I can tell, this whole story takes place over the space of a week and ends with undying (and dying) love... and that's a bit of B.S. to me. Yes, they like each other and want to be closer... but this sort of unearned "true love"... nup.
And speaking of the duration of the movie - how long was Steve flying from the Ottoman Empire before he crashed? Was that trip from there to Themyscira on one tank of fuel? How far can those old planes go on one tank? We are not told how far out to sea Themyscira is BUT they travel in a boat and by the morning, they are in London. And the Germans were in those waters too - had they followed Steve or were they stationed out there? Putting all of these things in a realistic range from each other is unlikely to me. Diana and Steve started out sailing and got a tow in from a steamboat... but still. Where is this island?? How far is Themyscira from England, if a sailboat with no motor can get to the coast of England in a single night? Seems a bit ridiculous to me.
Jumping back a bit, while Diana and Steve are sleeping, we get a scene with Dr. Poison and General Ludendorff, where they discuss the upcoming armistice between Germany and the Allies. Dr. Poison says that they are out of time to finish their weapon, as she believes the Germans will agree to end the war. Ludendorff replies that when the Kaiser sees her new weapon he will not sign the armistice. Dr. Poison then tells him that she has made him a new gas to help "to restore your strength". We are not told why he is weakened and needing his strength restored, but the gas capsules appear to give him superstrength and to turn him a little monster-y... We are naturally supposed to guess that he is Ares, the God of War. As he's hulking out, a piece of paper from her desk blows over to her. She picks it up and reads it and then says: "l've got it. I've got it! And if it's what I think, it's going to be terrible!" That'll come back later... Chekhov's Paper....
- Pic: From CostumeWall.com
Diana wakes up and finds herself on the River Thames - apparently, she slept through Steve meeting up with and arranging a tow from a steamboat and then missed the rest of the trip...
Steve: Morning! We got lucky, we caught a ride. We made some good time. Welcome to Jolly old London! Diana: It's hideous. Steve: Yeah, it's not for everybody.
They walk through London, Diana expecting to be taken to the front and Steve trying to persuade her that he needs to go check in with his superiors first - to give them Dr. Poison's notebook. Diana is drawing a lot of attention to herself and Steve decides that he needs to get her some clothes to fit in, after she tries to shed her coat and reveal her armour. Diana asks questions about what people are doing and why, and Steve tries to get her to conform to the polite 1940's English society that she is now in. A bit more humour in there and, again, sweet scenes.
Diana: Why are they holding hands? Steve: Uh, probably because they're together. Diana reaches for his hand but he shoos her away. Steve: No, no, no. We're not together. I mean, in that way. He indicates that she should follow him. Steve: This way. Diana: To the war! Steve: Well, technically, the war is that way. But we gotta get this way first. Diana: And where are we going? Steve: We gotta get this notebook to my superiors. Diana: Hey, hey, hey! No, no, no. I let you go, you take me to Ares. We made a deal, Steve Trevor. And a deal is a promise. And a promise is unbreakable. Steve: Oh, boy. Damn it. All right. You come with me first to deliver this, and then we'll give you a ticket uh... to the war. Deal? Diana: Let's go. Diana tries to remove her coat, which would reveal her armour. Steve: Diana... Diana: What are you doing? Steve: You can't do that because you're not wearing any clothes. Let's go... Let's go buy some clothes. Diana: What do these women wear into battle? Steve: They don't, uh... Diana: A baby! Steve: No, no, no. No babies. No, please. No babies. That one's not made out of clay. Come on. Diana! Please.
So he takes her to buy some less conspicuous clothes. There's a bit of humour thrown in as Diana, who has only known a society of warriors tries to fit in with the new world she has entered. They're nice scenes and have a lot going for them.
After they get her some new Western clothes, they are finally heading for the British Command Centre when this happens:
So, here's the thing. Steve realises they're being followed and ducks into a lane. The German spies address him by name and they know that he has Dr. Poison's book. How do they know him? How do they know he has the book? And later, when Steve talks to Dr. Poison face-to-face, how come she doesn't know who he is? This does not add up. But again, a cool scene, as Diana takes them all out. However, it is one of several scenes where she is surrounded by people with guns at all angles and she is able to beat them and not get shot. Surely if they all attacked at once, she would not be able to deflect them all - because she is never shown to move that fast in the fights we see. Surely one of them can get a shot off while she is punching another one in the face. It doesn't seem that hard.
Side note: In Justice League, we are shown that she can move at super-speed. I would've liked to see a scene where they all shoot at her at once and she super-speed deflects the bullets.
They get the book to Steve's superiors - a bunch of generals and knighted guys who have a very low opinion of the place of woman, which understandably offends Diana. No one can translate the notebook - except for Diana, who stated earlier that the Amazons know hundreds of languages (but not the basis for them in society... How can you know so many languages without knowing about people and the societies they are in? How could they make sense? She does not know what marriage is or what a watch is or what guns are at the start. Wouldn't this level of ignorance make it hard to learn hundreds of languages? Anyway...). The notebook is written in Ottoman and Sumerian. Diana decyphers the book and notes that it is a book of formulas, including a formula for a new type of hydrogen-based mustard gas that can get through Allied soldiers' gas masks. They know Ludendorff was in Belgium last and so they assume he is making the gas there (and what if he wasn't??). However, with the armistice looming, the generals will not go after him. When they refuse to go to combat Ludendorff, Diana calls them all cowards and says they should be ashamed.
Diana is offended by the Council and angry that Steve just took their orders and did not fight them. He said that he was going to take her to the war anyway. They go to a local pub to assemble this Steve's version of the Howling Commandoes... It gets very Captain America from here on in! On the DC Extended Universe Fandom page they refer to them as the "Wonder Men"... oh no, please tell me they didn't...
One of the men they meet in this series of scenes is Sir Patrick Morgan. He is an older member of the British War Council and is advocating for peace through the armistice. When Diana and Steve decide to ignore the War Council and go to stop Ludendorff anyway, Sir Patrick helps them by funding their trip. He said that if he was younger and in good health, he would probably do the same.
Steve's team consists of Charlie, a Scottish sniper who has lost his courage in battle, Sameer (Sammy) who is another undercover operative (but not that inconspicuous in this part of the world, due to being of Moroccan descent and wearing a red fez) and "Chief" Napi who is a Native American of the Blackfoot tribe, a smuggler and... a demigod??? Whaaaaaat? Yes, Napi is the name of a Blackfoot Trickster demigod. Apparently, it was always in the script that he was THE Napi and... it has no bearing on this story whatsoever... If you haven't read the Chekhov's Gun link... now is the time... there's a rule for what should happen if a story element has no impact on the story...
- Pic: From Slashfilm.com - Starting from the left we have Sameer,
Steve Trevor, Diana Prince, Chief/Napi and Charlie.
Anyway, the Wonder Men all sign on for two days work. Steve's Secretary Etta (Oh... yes, spies evidently had secretaries in World War I... Did you know that? I did not...) and Sir Patrick will run the logistics from their London office. The plan? The team will walk into an active warzone... find the God of War... and stop him... just like that... As near as I can tell, they seem to make all of these preparations in the space of the same day and then they leave for the Belgian Front. Perhaps there were more days of prep that were not seen or mentioned... But - to be clear - it appears on screen that we have had one day in Themyscira and then one day in London, and that's it so far.
They get to the Belgian Front and start their very brief search for the enemy general. How they possibly thought they’d be able to find him, I have no idea. Diana gets to see the horrors of war for the first time while walking through an Allied trench and a displaced woman begs her for help, saying that the villagers are being killed and survivors are being enslaved. Diana wants to help but Steve says that they can’t stop there and there is nothing they can do – that they can’t save everyone in the war. Diana doesn’t accept it. Steve points out of the trench and tells Diana that it’s “No Man’s Land” out there because no man can cross it. German gunners are on the other side waiting to take anyone out who stepped out onto the field.
Now… I think that way of explaining it was just to set up the line that happens next. BUT that’s a bit of a different interpretation of what No Man’s Land was from what I was previously led to believe. No Man’s Land is the unclaimed ground between two armies in trench warfare – it’s unowned land because neither army has been able to take it over. It’s not that no man can cross it as such; it’s that no man has claimed it yet… It's disputed territory. A small quibble, but still. They make it sound like it’s just because of the Germans, but the reality is that if the Germans tried to cross it, they’d face the Allied guns on the other side in just the same fashion.
Anyway, setting it up the way that they did gave the opening for Diana to do the “No Man’s Land? I am not a man!” moment… although thankfully she doesn’t say it like that.
Steve: Diana, we have to go. Diana: We need to help these people. Steve: We have to stay on mission! Chief: Next safe crossing is at least a day away! Charlie: Then what are we waiting for? Diana: We can not leave without helping them. These people are dying. Nothing to eat and in the village, enslaved she said! Steve: I understand that. Diana: Women! Chidren! Steve: We need to make our next position by sundown. Diana: How can you say that? What is the matter with you? Steve: This is No Man's Land, Diana! It means no man can cross it, all right? This battalion has been here for nearly a year and they barely gained an inch. All right? Because on the other side, there are a bunch of Germans pointing machine guns at every square inch of this place. This is not something you can cross. This is not possible. Diana: So what? So we do nothing? Steve: No, we are doing something. We are. We just... Sameer: Steve! Steve: We can't save everyone in this war. Sameer: Steve, Steve! Steve: This is not what we came here to do. With her back to the others, Diana puts her head down, takes out her hair and fidgets with something unseen. When she turns back to the group, she is wearing the tiara. Diana: No... but it's what I'm going to do.
One of the soldiers is unreasonably horrified as Diana sets her tiara. He looks at her in absolute shock, then turns and runs, collapsing against the next closest soldiers... This makes no sense in the context of what she is doing... I assume he's seen a woman before, if not a Wonder Woman... maybe he caught a glimpse of the armour under her coat?
Diana drops the coat and starts to climb the ladder to go over the top. We see snippets of the shield, of the armour, of the lasso, and finally of her face. She emerges onto the battlefield and stands revealed in the armour for the first time. It’s a very cheesy, melodramatic moment. In Sage’s video, referenced at the top, he talks about not picking holes in the story but instead asking “how does this scene make me feel”? Well… I admit, you still get the buzz of the moment, but there is absolutely no denying the cheesiness of the scene. It stirs all of the patriotic feelings of following this symbol into battle. And cinematically, it's a spectacularly filmed scene. It's beautiful and inspiring like it's supposed to be.
- Pic: From CarloCarrasco.com
To a degree...
Now, I can’t speak to how much this means to female viewers. I appreciate that this is the first time a female superhero has had and led her own movie. I appreciate that a lady in the audience might look up and say “I have never seen women represented like this before!” As a white middle-aged male, I can see, of course, that I have always been represented up there, so I can’t begin to understand what this movie and that moment were like from that point of view. I can’t and won’t comment on how powerful that might have been for female viewers, just as Black Panther was important to Africans, African-Americans and to all black people - because they were seeing themselves as represented and seeing a strong African man, a king, a warrior, and a superhero, up on the screen headlining his own film for one of the first times (there were others that don't need mentioning here - some of them quite good). I can appreciate it, and bow to the fact that I can never truly understand how much this might mean or what this might make someone feel, who can relate to it more directly than myself. I am sure it's a special moment, genuinely. I do get that.
Personally, as far as the Wonder Woman film goes, I see the same thing in Captain Marvel and I believe it to be a far superior film. I know that’s a controversial opinion and lots of people have lots of issues with that movie too. Many would disagree with me on that. And it wasn’t the first female lead, Wonder Woman was. Credit where credit is due.
But...
...As a movie fan and comics lover, though, I have to admit that this scene frustrates me a great deal. Diana walks calmly out into No Man’s Land and the bullets come very slowly at her at first – slow-motion slowly. Diana deflects them one at a time. They are all coming very politely – one at a time slowly, all directly at her upper torso so that she doesn’t need to bend or really move to deflect them. No leg shots or stray bullets. Very polite.
The pace of the bullets and Diana’s charge quickens. She puts her shield on her arm to deflect a mortar.
-Pic: From Huffpost.com
Now she has the shield and her greaves (leg armour) to deflect bullets. Her progress grinds to a halt. They shoot at her and her alone right along this section of the front, so the bullets come in from different angles. Not a single bullet hits her body, in the Land that No Man can cross because of all the bullets... All of the squishy unprotected bits are fine. Her head, often shown above the bullet-pummelled shield, never gets hit. While she has somewhat okay-ish coverage due to the shield and greaves, it’s impossible to believe that none of these bullets hit her.
-Pic: From Vox.com... Wow... look at all that... not-armour...
Is she bulletproof? I don’t think so. She always deflects the bullets. She copped an arm wound in the Themyscira beach battle and there was less going on there. IF SHE'S BULLETPROOF, they need to show us that she’s bulletproof. IF SHE'S NOT, then there is no way she walks away from this without injury and they should show us that. They don't, so it means I just can't buy this scene.
I read an online script and, interestingly, reading this scene on the page it doesn't seem absolutely unreasonable. I guess the holes only really become apparent when you put it into live-action.
-Pic: From MLarson.org
Realising Diana has drawn ALL THE FIRE, her Wonder Men launch over the top and join her. They fan out to both sides of her and not a single German gun is turned their way. Not one enemy combatant saw this and went "Hey... we're not hitting her... what about those guys??"
The Wonder Men start taking out the soldiers and now... finally... the Germans see them. Once their attention is divided, Diana launches into the trench and starts taking out their guns. Her Wonder Men join her and attack the soldiers with lethal force - Diana is just stopping them. Seeing the action, the Allied soldiers join in too. They take out the trench troop and move on to the village Diana wants to liberate. Diana leaps from the trench with a super-bound in yet another incredibly bad and unnecessary CGI moment.
A good rule I wished the filmmakers used: If you can't make it look real... or as real as possible... and you don't need it - don't do it... It's such an unnecessary and poor-quality moment.
And here's another thing: Check out the photos and the video from all the No Man's Land shots. The Godkiller Sword is at her left hip in the first photo when she emerges from the first trench. When she's leaving the second trench it's on her back over her right shoulder. In most of the photos it's not there at all. Later in the film she will wear it squarely down her back in a method meant to conceal it (and we will get to that moment too, believe me)... Where is she getting all of these harnesses for different configurations and when is she changing the sword over!?!?
- Pic: From TheGuardian.com
Interestingly, the harness used in the Bruce Wayne photo has a different configuration to the one in these scenes - the straps are reversed in the original photo and the sword would've sat on her right hip instead. The photo was shot earlier than the film, so things changed!
-Pics: Combined from those found at Slashfilm.com - Interesting backstory to the photo, give it a read.
In the above photos, we see that the shoulder strap sits on different sides. At first, I thought the frame might have been reversed/flipped, but the other characters are all in the same positions, left to right. As the article notes, they were shot at different times and some of the details changed in between... including, it would seem, Diana's sword harness. Geek out, over.
Diana and the Wonder Men charge into the village of Veld and the zaniness continues.
And the mysterious migrating sword moves from her hip to her back and then back to her hip.
To find out what happens to this intriguing blade and its superhuman carrier next:
Join me for the continuation of this post:
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Previous posts for this series:
NOTE: The pictures and videos used here have been sourced from different internet sites, always linked to under the picture. In the case of comic panels, the original issue numbers and creators are listed, as well as the company that owns them. All rights remain with the original creators and have been used here for entertainment and educational purposes only.
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