"Wonder Woman" Trailer Review

One of the fan favorite characters from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was Wonder Woman. As a result, many are eagerly awaiting the solo film featuring the Amazonian. Aside from the basic information, not much has been made public about this movie. But now we have a full length offical trailer to fill us in.

The first thing we see is Wonder Woman leaning over Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine. He has washed up on the shore of Themyscira. They have a rather comedic exchange before the trailer shows off some of the mystical imagery and WWI settings. The following scene is at some high-end ballroom event, where Diana sneaks in her sword by hiding it in the back of her dress. I say hiding, but it is so obviously not an accessory; I do not know how she was able to bring that into the event. While this is happening, there is a voiceover by Queen Hippolyta, warning Wonder Woman of the human world.

One of the next shots we see is of this woman with some sort of mask on her face. She is either a villain of sorts, or a someone who has sustained serious facial injury. I pray for it to be the latter because this would be a horrible design for a comic-book villain. Who knows; perhaps she is both. There is a great moment where Steve asks Diana about her father, to which she replies "I was brought to life by Zeus." Steve's reaction is perfect, making for a standout moment in this three minute promotion. The trailer then shows us some action with the Amazons taking on human soldiers. This could be a potentially awesome sequence, but I am not confident in how well these two aesthetics will work together. This could be a unique mixture or a horrible clash. It seems odd, these mythical warriors taking on WWI soldiers, but if done correctly, this aspect could make Wonder Woman a very original film.

The following part of the trailer does some parallel editing. The trailer intertwines shots of Wonder Woman's arsenal with those of soldiers getting ready to attack. Her shield, lasso, and armor all look great, with heavy detail on the shield. What comes next is a well-cut-together montage of Wonder Woman kicking ass. She throws a man across the room, which cuts to her making an acrobatic spin. It looks like the man's body becomes hers, which is very clever editing. We also get to see her make use of her lasso and sword. The DCEU is truly selling the warrior aspect of the character.

The music begins to kick up, with heavy emphasis on the drums. The drum beats are mixed with gunfire to wonderful effect. The WWI imagery is really well done with top notch production values. It looks like Diana will be taking on a bunch of soldiers in this film, in which case they do not stand a chance. There is some visionary direction on display, showcasing Wonder Woman's ability to mop the floor with mortals in spectacular fashion. She is sliding on the floor and making excellent use of that sword of hers. The slow motion might be a bit much, but I will have to wait for the film to come out to judge that. The trailer ends with a very well thought-out joke that seems to set the tone for the humor.

I am still not sold on Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Sure, she can physically play the character; but her line delivery still appears to be quite wooden. Hopefully I am wrong about this and she ends up being fantastic. As for the trailer, this is a good promotion for the picture. There is a lot of WWI sprinkled throughout, whereas Themyscira is kept quite secret. This could be so that the creative visuals of the island are more surprising when we first see them on the big screen. Chris Pine looks like he will be giving a great performance, and the action seems thrilling. Though not impatient to see it, I am looking forward to this film's release.