The DCEU Discussion Part VI: Wonder Woman - Episode 2 - The End
- Luke Evans
- Feb 21, 2021
- 27 min read
Carrying on... Keep reading if you dare...
Major Spoilers again - this is a whole film breakdown...
Okay... the same crimes committed as before... Diana runs into the town, deflecting bullets with her shield as she moves. We see very clearly how little of her body is actually protected by armour - but, never fear, she does not get hit. Being in a different place to oncoming bullets appears to be an unknown superpower... In another questionable CGI moment, she leaps up a building and through a window for a slow-mo superhero landing, only to find herself in a room full of armed soldiers. As everyone reacts, the awesome theme music for her that we first heard in Batman v Superman plays.
- Pic: From NewYorker.com
Despite having men with rifles at every concievable angle to her AND the fact that she is moving at a fast, athletic, but not super-speed pace... again, no one manages to shoot her. Despite this HUGE issue that I have, this is a very tightly choreographed and filmed fight sequence and I love it. It's probably the only scene in both Wonder Woman movies where we see her fight like what I think an Amazon warrior should. This is easy for her and she decimates her enemies quickly. I love this fight. More of that throughout the whole film would've been appreciated!!
But it's short-lived and CGI-Diana crashes out of a window and runs along a rooftop, while the Wonder Men move through the streets below her taking out enemies. It's back to CGI Diana leaping about. Now she uses super speed and super strength - but, seriously, I could've watched her taking out people in normal speed all day long. The poor CGI effects here wreck it for me. Low-tech combat, like the scene in the guard room would've worked heaps better!
A quick diversion - I really have tried to do what Sage suggested in that challenge at the top and to ask how each scene made me feel - but the overwhelming emotion is frustration at the film-making decisions that were made and poorly executed. While Sage appears to "feel" a movie, I like to "think" it. As a superhero fan, I have a high threshold for what I will allow and what "superhero physics exemptions" I'll allow before it's too much for me. But simple things like bullets not hitting her... nope... Poor and unnecessary CGI... nope...
Anyway... back into it... again, she is surrounded on the streets and the enemy soldiers fire so slowly that she easily deflects the bullets and she does not have to do anything "super" to keep up with them. One at a time in convenient angles for vambrace (wrist armour) deflection... Shits me to tears.
Now the lasso comes out and Diana super-speed whips them all up... I guess fans would've wanted to see this. What I wanted was more of the perfect warrior fighting then the superhero silliness (Yes... I said that). I would've went Dark Knight Trilogy with her powers rather than BvS with them, if you know what I mean... If not = gritty and real-world rather than poorly finished unnecessary CGI stunts. Regardless, I was not the director or producer of this movie (clearly) and Diana does what she does instead. She superspeeds them all up, with Steve at her back and a dramatic lover's look as he "saves her life" when the first shot is fired. I think it's CGI Diana here, but maybe it's just sped-up real Diana. Coupled with the lasso stuff, it's pretty fake regardless.
They discover that there is a sniper up in the Church clocktower picking off civilians. The team calls on Charlie, who reveals for the first time that his nerves have the better of him and he is unable to kill. Instead, Steve puts into play a tactic he saw on Themyscira. Steve tells the Wonder Men to cover him, but then expects them to all follow him out into the street...weird... Charlie stays behind and Sammy and Napi follow Steve, barely covering him at all. Again, the obliging sniper does not shoot them, while Steve explains the "shield" maneuver to them. They use a conveniently shed tank door that we saw cast aside earlier (Chekhov's Tank Panel?) when Diana was throwing the tank around (this time she is not surprised by the extent of her super-strength, as she was on Themyscira). Steve tells the two Wonder Men with him to put the shield on their back and to push up when he tells them.
He calls out "Diana! Shield!" and Diana performs the Amazon maneuver perfectly. She leaps onto the shield, they push and she super-springs up to the clock tower with full force, utterly destroying it. It collapses in on her and the sniper, and obviously, she comes out of that better than him.
Now... It's a super-leap. What impact could those three men have on it? How much power could they add to it? And when she springs off the shield, why don't they get crushed into the ground??
To be fair, this is a common suspension of physics that we see in the genre all the time. It would be unfair of me to single it out here as if it was unique. It happens in sci-fi all the time. Cyclops from the X-men, for example, should similarly blow his own head off every time he shoots concussive beams from his eyes... He's not super strong, and just like this shield maneuver, what we should be seeing is Newton's Third Law of Motion in action here:
-Pics" From the top left, found on ByJus.com, Pinterest.com, Khanacademy.org, and Wired.com
As I say, this sort of stuff is ignored all the time in sci-fi and even more in comics-related stuff. What we should see here is three very dead Wonder Men and a Wonder Woman who would've been better off jumping off the ground under her own considerable power.
And Cyclops should be dead too...
Regardless, both are fine. Diana emerges from the ruins of the destroyed clocktower, with no injuries, scuffing, or even dirt on her perfect skin... seriously... It would've killed them to smudge some dirt on her cheek? Sigh...
They stay in the village overnight and celebrate with the locals. They pose for the infamous photo from BvS. We've covered that above. Steve uses a phone in the village to call back to London and Etta tells him that she found out where Ludendorff is - at the German High Command AND it's only a few miles away from them! What were the chances?!?! They are holding a gala, which would be a perfect opportunity for them to sneak in. Ludendorff and Dr. Maru will be there, as will all of the high-ranking German officers and the Kaiser himself. Wow... so convenient! That was lucky! In all of Belgium, they went to the right spot!
Was that... I hope the... did the sarcasm come across there? Oh good! Just checking...
Sir Patrick gets on the line and tells them that under no circumstances is Steve allowed to go anywhere near the gala, as he might jeopardize the armistice. Steve points out that there'll be no armistice if Ludendorff bombs the front lines. Diana is listening in and starts saying that Ares would never let the armistice go ahead. She determines that Ludendorff is Ares, because he is working to keep the war going and developing a weapon to decimate the Allies. Steve fakes a bad phone connection to hang up on Sir Patrick, when the older man continues to tell him he is not allowed to go near the gala or to attack Ludendorff. Steve plans to get a German officer's uniform from the village so that they can infiltrate the gala. He does not plan on killing Ludendorff there, just to get close to them and to see what he can find out about where the weapons are housed.
Anyway, they stay in the village for the night. Sameer passes out drinks, Charlie sings and plays piano, the villagers celebrate. Diana and Steve continue to fall for each other and share a dance in the snow (which she has not seen before) and a kiss... and who knows what else, because the scene is cut, leaving them alone in a room at night. But it's all romantic. I'll buy it. Still, it's a new love, a warriors' love... I don't buy the pining for him forever bit (ha... pining... because it's Chris Pi... oh, you get it...) since they just met like... four days ago, right?
Then, comes the morning. Steve informs the Wonder Men that their agreed-upon two days have passed. And... gasp... they agree to stay on! Charlie tries to bow out, saying he was no use to them, but Diana said, "No, Charlie, who will sing for us?" to encourage him to stay... Charlie is happy to hear this and starts to sing for Diana... Aww, it's a cute moment and I do like it... shut up...
-Pic: From Medium.com - A nice article about the singing moment... and more. Have a read.
Next, we have a scene where Diana on horseback is leading the similarly mounted men through light woodland. The men are chatting and Steve is telling them how he met Diana and why she can do what she can do. They discuss Diana's belief that Ludendorff is Aries, the Greek God of War. Charlie is the most skeptical about the whole story, followed by Steve himself (who still doesn't believe the Ares connections, but obviously knows the Amazons themselves are real) and then Sameer who says that perhaps it's true. Chief says that he thinks it is true. We see that Steve is not convinced.
They reach the chateau where the German High Command is meeting to discuss Ludendorff's weapon and the armistice. Steve refuses to let Diana come in with him, because she's not exactly inconspicuous in her armour:
Steve: Well, how the hell do we get into that? Charlie: I see only a couple of guards on the door to distract. Steve: Yeah, it won't look suspicious at all when I wanna come sauntering out of the woods on foot. Diana: I could get in. Steve: You are not going in there, it's too dangerous. Diana: Too dangerous? Steve: Yes, too dangerous. And you are too distracting. Look, I'll go in there, follow them to whereever they are working on the gas or better yet, where it is. Diana: Well, I'm coming with you. Steve: No, you are not coming with... What you're wearing isn't exactly, er... undercover. Sameer: I don't know. I would say she was pretty under covered on that battlefield. Steve: We can't get you in, so I'll scout it out, report back... Diana: But as long as he's still alive, it doesn't... Steve: You cannot go into German High Command and kill anyone. You just can't. You have to trust me.
Under covered... great joke. I have missed it every other time I watched it.
They are trying to work out how to get in, when Chief arrives with a car he pinched from a field nearby - all of the enemy officers and guests are parking there. They make a quick plan for Sameer to drive Steve in. Steve is in the guise of a German Officer and Sameer pretends he forgot the Officer's invite to get them through the door. The guard on the gate let's them in when the delay causes a line-up and other guests get mad...
And if that didn't work... What would've happened? It's a flimsy premise. I would've preferred them to find the invite with the uniform in the village. Anyhoo...
The guard lets them in.
Meanwhile, one of the delayed guests is a woman in a blue dress, approximately Diana's height and size... well... not really, but enough. Diana is watching the road from trees right next to it. We see patrols of soldiers and heaps of other cars with people in them. The woman in blue steps out of her car and starts to walk to the castle. Diana steps out of the woods and nobody - not even the woman in the blue dress - really takes much notice of it or thinks it's weird. Certainly, no one raises the alarm. Diana somehow - off-screen - get's that dress off the woman and puts it on herself - evidently over her armour. Are we supposed to think that this pure-hearted version of Diana actually knocked this woman out and stole her clothes? Or somehow convinced her to hand over her dress? What happens to her??? Stuff like all of this annoys me. It's writing that needs a bit of work and when things happen off-screen that affect the film, it's not really good enough for me.
Steve gets in and enacts his plan - to find out where the gas is and to follow someone to it. Seeing Dr. Maru, he sees his shot. He tries to chat her up and offers her a glass of wine which she declines.
Now - earlier in the film, he stole her notebook and she did not see him closely. But when he got back to London, German spies knew who he was and what he had done. They knew his name and that he had the book. So - how did they know all of that and she doesn't know who he is??
Regardless, Steve charms her pretty well and seems to be making some headway with his flattery of her work. He asks to see her work, but as this happens, Diana enters in the blue dress. It distracts him and Dr. Maru comments that she can see his attention is elsewhere. She laughs at him derisively and leaves.
This blue dress of Diana's has a plunging neck-line. It's clear that she's not wearing her armour or tack under it. Diana moves through this extremely crowded room full of German military personnel. She is turning heads. We can see in the photo below, they are looking at her. Are we supposed to believe that no-one looked at her as she passed? No-one saw that sword? When Ludendorff grabs her to dance, he doesn't feel it against her back and his hand? AND what the hell is holding that thing in place?
When we look at the dancing picture below, it is clear there is no blade to the sword either! He grabs her where the blade should be. We can see her back, the hilt of the sword, and below his hand... is just the shape of her. There is no sword there... Of course, in the movie, you don't see that shot - instead you see a closer shot, where it appears that the hilt would be pretty visible to the General (see the clip below the photo).
- Pic: From RedShoesRedWine.com
This was one of the unforgivable scenes for me, from the woods outside right through to here. I can't get past how many plotholes there are here.
Anyway... Diana talks to the General as they dance:
Ludendorff: Enjoying the party? Diana: I confess I'm not sure what it is we're celebrating. Ludendorff: A German victory, of course. Diana: Victory? When I hear peace could be so close? Ludendorff: Peace? "It's only an armistice in an endless war." Diana: Thucydides. Ludendorff: Ah, you know your ancient Greeks? They understood that war is a god. A god that requires human sacrifice. And in exchange war gives man purpose, meaning, a chance to rise above his petty, mortal little self and be courageous! Noble! Better! Diana: Only one of the many gods believed in that. Ludendorff: Hmm. Diana: And he was wrong. Ludendorff: You know nothing of the gods.
All of this is to make us suspect once again that Ludendorff is Ares. It's sounding pretty much like he is now. Steve doesn't think so. When the General breaks away and tells Diana to "Enjoy the fireworks", she goes for the sword. Steve stops her by grabbing her wrist. There are people everywhere, on all sides of them moving out to the display area for the "fireworks". Someone had to see her reach for the sword!!
Nope...
Steve tries to convince her:
Steve: If you kill Ludendorff before we find the gas, we won't be able to stop anything. Diana: I will stop Ares! Steve: What if you're wrong? What if there is no Ares? Diana: You don't believe me. Steve: I can't let you do this. Diana: What I do is not up to you!
Diana shoves Steve back and runs from the room.
Jumping back to Sage's challenge at the top - yes. This scene builds emotion quite well and the slow-mo moment where she reaches for the sword and Steve catches her hand is very well done. It builds the tension nicely - IF I could move past the stupidity of that sword attached to her back being unseen in a crowded ballroom... And I can't...
They get outside to find that the "fireworks" demonstration is actually the gas being shot - and it's aimed at the village they saved the night before. Diana hikes up her dress and we see that she is still wearing her boots and greaves (shin armour). She runs back to the horses and takes off on one. Steve tries to follow, telling the Wonder Men to follow Ludendorff. As she rides, Diana throws off the blue dress and it floats away. Presumably, we are now meant to believe that she has had the armour under it the whole time... which is simply not possible. The last time I recall seeing the "costume under my clothes" trope done this badly in a film was in The Phantom... and, friends, THAT is saying something.
Diana gets back to the village and wanders through the scene of destruction. Everyone there is dead. She is unaffected by the hydrogen gas, though it stops Steve from following her in. If you are keeping track, the sword is no longer on her back in either position or at either hip. It's now in a scabbard on the horse's saddle, but we only see that later. Diana blames Steve for the deaths in Veld Village, pushing him away when he tries to comfort her:
Steve: Diana! Diana: They're dead. They're all dead. I could have saved them. I could have saved them if it weren't for you. You stopped me from killing Ares! Steve: No! Diana: Get away from me! I understand everything now. It isn't just the Germans that Ares has corrupted. It's you too. All of you. I'll find Ares... ...and I'll kill him!
Steve sees a smoke signal in the distance and tells Diana to follow it, because it's Chief telling them where Ludendorff is. None of the enemies see the smoke and come to investigate. It's a very clear, intentional smoke signal, with clearly separated pillows of smoke... but it only seems to draw the notice of the people it was intended for.
Interestingly, Diana draws her sword and slashes at a soldier as she passes. This is probably only the second person she has killed in the war - not counting the Battle on Themyscira. She took out the sniper in Veld, but a lot of the other people she stopped there and in the trenches would probably have survived. It was all punching and tossing... Does this mark a change in her, where now she is attacking out of anger? Was it intentional? Does it show, in a way, that Ares is corrupting her too - because now she is like a soldier, killing in the war? I'm not sure if they meant that, exactly, as she has been fighting the whole time.
Night-time quickly descends on the land - yet another trope for when the "final battle" arrives, reminiscent of the incredibly quick onset of night in X-Men: The Last Stand. Diana rides her horse quickly past the camp where Chief made his smoke signal, getting quick directions on the way without stopping. Steve is following her on a pilfered motorbike, and rides through the camp to gather the men. They run forward on foot.
Diana reaches the military base - once again a very easily identified CGI base. Maybe they built some of it, but it's heavy with CGI. I get that it's cheaper this way, but I'm never a fan when they take this route - unless they can do it seamlessly. Otherwise, build a real base!!
There's a cool moment where she launches from the horse, with sword drawn, and lands on her feet in a run. I do like that moment... BUT she identified Ludendorff from horseback while she was still outside of the camp. She clearly saw him enter a watchtower. Again... really? He's just there for her to see? As Deadpool would say, "That's just lazy writing!"
Diana slashes through a fence, takes out one soldier, and then instantly her sword is back in the sheath and she pushes two soldiers aside. It's an incredibly quick moment in one shot. Is it believable that she gets the sword back into the scabbard in that moment? Thank God for her underused superspeed, because I can still buy into this, despite thinking it's more likely it's a rushed moment of filming than a superpower. They need the sword gone, because in the next moment she is lassoing a watchtower guard and pulling him to the ground, using his momentum to pull her up to the watchtower balcony. No alarm has been raised yet somehow, despite a radio controller hearing a disruption out the window. Ludendorff himself doesn't seem to hear anything. As Diana throws the controller aside, Ludendorff quickly turns to her.
Ludendorff is shocked by her armour, but clearly recognises her from the chateau. He tries to shoot her, but she deflects the bullet, this time right back into the barrel of his gun.
Ludendorff: What a surprise. Strange. Unfortunately, I have another matter to attend to! Ludendorff shoots a bullet at Diana, which she deflects straight back into his pistol, destroying it. Ludendorff: What are you? Diana draws her sword and advances. Diana: You will soon find out.
That's a cool line.
Ludendorff pops one of his little super-gas canisters and breaths it in, turning monstrous again. They fight and with his super-boost, they are fairly evenly matched. The Wonder Woman theme music plays as they fight. At one stage, Ludendorff gets the Godkiller sword and nearly stabs Diana with it, but of course, he does not.
Ludendorff: As magnificent as you are, you are still no match for me. Ludendorff tries to stab Diana with the Godkiller but she grabs the sides of the blade so it can't hurt her. Diana: We'll see about that. Diana get's the upper hand and kicks Ludendorff through a wall. He climbs to the roof of the watchtower as she speaks to him from inside. Diana: I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. And your wrath upon this world is over! Diana bursts through the roof and lassos him, throwing him to the ground. Diana: In the name of all that it is good in this world, I hereby complete the mission of the Amazons, by ridding this world of you forever!
Diana kills him in cold blood. She stands up and looks at the camp, but everything is still going on as normal. Killing him made no immediate impact on the war. Steve finally arrives, despite being right behind her on the bike.
Now - talking about emotional scenes, this next one does get me. I like the dynamic here and how Steve tries to break through what he sees as Diana's naivete about the real world and he tries to show her that they are still helping and that no one person is responsible for, or can stop, a war all by themselves:
Diana: I killed him. I killed him, but nothing stops. You kill the god of war, you stop the war. Steve: Exactly what we have to do now. We need to stop the gas. Come on. Diana: No. All of this should have stopped. Steve: Diana... Diana: The fighting should have stopped. Steve: We don't have time to talk about this... Diana: Why are they doing this? Steve: I don't know! I don't know. I...I... I know that you... Diana: Ares is dead. They can now stop fighting now. Why are they still fighting? Steve: Because... that's because... maybe it's them! Maybe... Maybe people aren't always good. Ares or no Ares... Maybe it's just, it's who they are. Diana... Diana: No. Steve: Diana, we can talk about this later. I need you to come with me. Diana: No, no! After everything I saw, it can't be! Can not be! They were killing each other. Killing people they cannot see. Children... Children! No, it had to be him. It can not be them! Steve: Diana, people... that's... I-I... Diana: She was right. My mother was right. She said the world of men do not deserve you. They don't deserve our help, Steve. Steve: It's... It's... It's not about "deserve"! Diana: They don't deserve our help! Steve: It's not... Maybe... maybe we don't! But... But it's not about that. It's about what you believe. You don't think I get it, after what I've seen out there? You don't think I wish I could tell you that it was one bad guy to blame? It's not! Ah...We're all to blame. Diana: I am not. Steve: But maybe I am! Please. If you believe that this war should stop, if you wanted to stop it, help me stop it right now, because if... If you don't, they will kill thousands more. Please, please come with me. I have to go. Diana does not move to come with him. Steve reluctantly leaves her. Steve: I have to go.
This scene is the highlight of the film for me. It is so well-acted and their two worlds finally collide. Now, that one is emotional. I've tried to capture the quotes above, but they talk so quickly over each other that it wasn't think easy to separate them. Watch it instead!
I also like that, at the end of the day, they are both right and wrong - because there is an Ares and while he is not responsible for the war alone, he is manipulating people to keep it going.
Steve and the Wonder Men go to make sure that they stop the gas - the soldiers are loading it on a huge plane... oops... another Captain America moment...
Diana, for her part, turns and sees a figure in the watchtower room. It's Sir Patrick - the older English gentleman who helped get them all to the front. And he turns out to be Ares! Aww, twist! Or... was it? Was it obvious? I think I saw this coming...
Ares said that mankind's capacity for evil was what he was trying to get the other gods to see - that they were always "weak, cruel, selfish and capable of the greatest horrors". Diana starts to say that she is there to fulfill the mission of the Amazons, when Ares appears behind her. Diana stabs the Godkiller out at him. Ares holds up his hand and the sword disintegrates against his palm.
Ares tells Diana that SHE is the Godkiller and not the sword - in another predictable twist. He says that only a god can kill another god. Ares tells her that she is the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta and that she was left with the Amazons as a weapon to be used against him. So, in a way, her childhood stories were based on some elements of truth, but always twisted a little so that Hippolyta never revealed that she was the actual daughter of Zeus and a demi-god.
Ares shows Diana a vision of what his plan has been. In it he confesses to prompting people like Ludendorff and Maru to create their horrible weapons, by putting the ideas in front of them, but states that he doesn't make them do it - their actions are their own. The vision shows Ares walking unseen behind Maru as she works, showing that he inspired her formulas - I thought this moment was a reference back to another moment when the formula paper blew into Maru's hands and she had the revelation about how the gas would work. I still think it is, but that's not the moment shown in the vision. The vision shows a paper blow, but she doesn't grab it and open it as she did in the earlier scene. Still - the implication is that this was Ares who put the idea in front of her.
Ares: They start these wars on their own. All I do is orchestrate an armistice I know they cannot keep in the hope they will destroy themselves. But it has never been enough. Until you. When you first arrived I was going to crush you. But I knew that if only you could see what the other gods could not then you would join me, and with our powers combined we could finally end all the pain, all the suffering, the destruction that they bring. And we could return this world to the paradise it was before them. Forever.
There's more talking, but when Diana refused to join him, it turns into a fight. Ares does a lot of damage to the army base during the fight. He eventually adopts his God of War persona, which is basically a muscly CGI body with David Thewlis’ face put over it. David does appear to be significantly artificially aged during this movie, being only 57 at the time of this writing, but when they used his face on the Ares CGI, it looked wrong – like having an older man’s face on a fake body, frankly.
Diana and Ares go through the motions of the fight and I have to say I was disappointed with this. The fighting the big CGI monster/man at the end of the DCEU films pretty tired. Now – you’d be well within your rights to say to me, “But hey, don’t you love the Marvel films and don’t they end with a CGI monster fight too?”
Yes, sometimes they do. I think most of those situations are different, though, for a number of reasons:
1) They almost universally use better CGI,
2) They engage me more completely in their (better) story,
3) I simply find them more entertaining overall and last but certainly not least is:
4) That most of their main villains aren’t CGI monsters. Thanos is. Abomination is. But Ultron and the Iron Man villains aren’t just monstrous giant men. There’s more to them. Ultron is a robot with a ton of personality, War Monger and Whiplash are people in high tech suits that hold up pretty well for CGI – and there’s a man inside. Ant Man has Yellowjacket and Ghost (basically human-sized normally), Captain America’s enemies are men, Thor’s are men-shaped gods and creatures, Black Panther’s is a man. Spider-Man’s are more or less just men too, at the end of the day.
My points mainly are that the DCEU CGI is not convincing enough and at least three of the villains are pretty much cut from the same mold: Ares, Steppenwolf from BvS and Justice League and The Incubus from Suicide Squad... you may not agree, that’s okay.
Zod is different and so are the villains in Aquaman. BvS' Doomsday is different, but he's another giant monster shaped more-or-less like a man. So, in a row, we have Doomsday and Steppenwolf, The Incubus, Ares and then Steppenwolf again for his main villain role (he's only in the Ultimate Edition of BvS). That's four CGI man-monsters in four straight movies without a break. Ares even has a Steppenwolf kind of look about his armour. I am not a fan. It lacks depth and shows little effort to be original in each film.
In the Marvel comics, Thanos and Ultron are both pretty two-dimensional villains as well. In the movies, they gave them personality and in the words of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction "Personality goes a long way". The creators worked hard to give these characters more depth and to make it so that we could at least understand them, if not exactly "sympathise" with them. They were distinct and well-thought-out and executed villains. It makes a huge difference, at least for me.
Anyway, I found the Ares fight pretty unrewarding. I'm not a fan of the way the DCEU creators use the lasso in the fights and other non-truth-telling scenes - and that's definitely in both BvS and in Wonder Woman. There are far worse uses in the next Wonder Woman - WW'84!! (Leapfrogging lightning bolts... really????). It just looks silly.
Cut in amongst all of this stuff that I have been covering, Steve and the Howling Commandos...er... Wonder Men... have a plan to take out the plane with the gas on it. Noting that it would kill everyone on the ground if they take it out there, they decide that it has to be destroyed after take-off, Captain America style. In a twist from the Cap story though, if they blow it up on the ground, it'll kill everyone in 50 square miles, apparently, and they say it will be the same if they make it crash. Steve decides he has to detonate it in the air. He makes a plan to sacrifice himself.
BUT surely in this woman-power film and given Diana's powerset, she could've done this herself, without needing the male protagonist to sacrifice himself to save the day. She could've done that herself - AND survived... AND stopped Ares. AND therefore saved Steve's life.
They make another confusing decision here. Diana throws a crate at Ares, only to find him break it apart and reveal bombs inside. He sends them back to her and in an... interesting decision... she throws a BIGGER bomb at the littler ones to blow them up. The resulting explosion knocks everyone back and Diana is left temporarily deaf. Steve comes to her to deliver a farewell that she cannot hear. He gives her his father's pocket watch, from the start of the film and then runs off to save the day. Steve takes charge of the plane.
Things are turning worse on the ground. Ares does a Magneto and constructs his armour from the metal lying around in the trashed military base. The Wonder Men are out of bullets and are cornered, after they blew up Maru's lab - while she was also torching her work inside. They all got out, but they're out of ammo and stuck outside. Diana is pinned down by Ares under some tank treads he is using to constrict her. She watches the plane fly off. Steve steels himself inside the plane and shoots the gas bombs.
The plane explodes.
Diana screams out to him.
It is an emotional moment, I'll grant you, but I couldn't get behind it, because there was no reason for it. Diana could have done it herself!
Anyway, the scream ends with her bursting out from the confines of the tank track in a flash of golden light.
German soldiers close in and Diana unleashes her anger, slamming through them. Ares is pleased with this rage. It's another weird CGI moment where she runs through them at superspeed, but her legs aren't moving much, so she's kind of sliding forward super fast... it looks a little strange, a little cool. I do like it, despite myself. She takes the platoon out, but Ares overplays his hand when he says:
Ares: Finally you see. Look at this world, Diana. Mankind did this, not me. They are ugly, filled with hatred, weak... Just like your Captain Trevor. Gone, and left you nothing. And for what? Pathetic! He deserved to burn!
Look... I think we can all agree... things were said... someone took it too far... and it was way too soon to make comments like that about her brand new true-love-for-life boyfriend's death...
Understandably, his comments enrage Diana and she attacks him. In a lull in the fight, Ares grabs Maru out of her car and tries to prompt Diana to kill her, as she is an ugly example of how evil people can be. Diana is thinking about... squashing Dr. Poison with a tank... yeah... when she hears Steve's voice and she works out - somehow - all of the things that he said when she was temporarily deaf.
There's stuff in there that we didn't see when the scene first played (opening up the possibility that Steve never said any of this and Diana's grief-stricken mind has made this new reality/memory... but I don't think they meant that). She tells him:
Diana: Steve. Whatever it is - I can do it. Steve: No. No. Diana: Let me do it. Steve: No. It has to be me. It has to be me. I can save today. You could save the world... I wish we had more time. Diana: What? What are you saying? Steve: I love you!
So in the spirit of Romeo and Juliet and - yes - Steve and Peggy, this Steve runs off and sacrifices himself needlessly.
I love that they addressed my issue... and just dismissed it - Yes, Diana, you're damn right you could've done it yourself AND survived. AND saved your brand new boyfriend's life, giving you fifty years to get to know him and fall in real love, not just crush on the first man you ever met, and in a warzone no less...
In the spirit of Pa Kent, Steve gives up his life for absolutely no reason, except for the drama of the moment. (And my old mate Sage wants to talk to me about genuine emotional resonance! Well... I got emotional all right... and that emotion is rage...)
Sigh...
Sorry... I'll stop...
Diana takes Steve's words to heart and spares Maru's life, saying:
Diana: You're wrong about them. They're everything you say, but so much more!
Diana starts walking towards Ares - and this part's pretty cool - and she starts tapping into her god-powers. Every projectile he throws at her disintegrates before it reaches her. She's completely Neo-ing out. Ares throws himself at her and she does the mother-of-all crossed-vambraces-power-surges, throwing him back. Ares' helmet falls off revealing a very Sir Patrick-looking face, complete with a mustache I wish they CGI'd off (we'll get to that in the next post about Justice League). I just can't get behind that look being menacing or in any way "Ares-ish"!
Ares says:
Ares: They do not deserve your protection! Diana: It's not about "deserve". It's about what you believe. And I believe in love. Ares: Then I will destroy you!
Aww, Steve's awesome words from earlier. As they shout at each other, Ares is throwing lightning at her. She absorbs and deflects it with the vambraces. That's very cool. I do like this part of the scene, corniness and poor CGI aside. He throws the largest bolt of electricity at her. She crosses her vambraces and absorbs the charge. Diana says "Goodbye, brother", superspeed charges forward, jumps up into the air and hangs there like she's flying, crosses the vambraces and unleashes the lightning, blowing a hole straight through him and eventually making him explode.
It's cool, it's corny... I do sort of enjoy the moment.
So, what do I not like about it?
I simply don't know.
I don't like the green screen-iness of it all.
I don't like the cheesiness... but I'm a comic book fan and... hey... it's all cheesy.
I don't buy David Thewlis as Ares. I buy him as the sweet older gentleman... and even as the Ares-in-Sir-Patrick's-skin... but not as the outright, super-strong, armoured God of War. That is hard to get past for me.
Originally, I thought his fight was too simple, but breaking it down, it is long and has a lot of elements. It's interspersed with the Steve-love story, and that I was never really on board with. The silly premise for self-sacrifice ruined it for me. I think all these niggles added up to a general dissatisfaction, despite, some really cool moments in the fight.
So, they wrap up the battle. Chief, in particular, is seen to be comforting German soldiers caught in the fight. He was neutral in the war, as a rule, and helped both sides as needed. It's kind of a sweet moment...
We see a scene where Diana and her remaining Wonder Men go back to England. The armistice is a success and the soldiers are returning home. Diana and her team happen to be close to a very small tribute board for soldiers fallen in battle and Steve's photo is featured prominently on there... phew, that was lucky.
Diana walks away from the board and we cut away to her in her office in the Lourve in the present day, where she is still examining the photo Bruce Wayne got her from the war. She looks at Steve's watch for a bit, sends Bruce a thank you email... Something get's her super-attention. As all of that happens, there's a final speech:
Diana: I used to want to save the world. To end war and bring peace to mankind. But then I glimpsed the darkness that lives within their light...and learned that inside every one of them there will always be both. A choice each must make for themselves. Something no hero will ever defeat.. And now I know that only love can truly save the world. So I stay, I fight and I give for the world I know can be. This is my mission now. Forever.
We cut to the roof as the speech ends. Diana is wearing the Wonder Woman suit from the movie (interestingly it's not the brighter one from the 1984 movie that happens in between these two scenes). She looks out over the city and leaps off the roof, jumping melodramatically over the city and out towards the camera.
The credits and the awesome Wonder Woman theme music roll.
A very, very corny way to end.
-Pic: From Pinterest.com
Join me as I wrap up this behemoth in the next 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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