![]() ![]() Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor is back too, despite his fate at the end of the first film his comeback plunges the movie into a romantic reunion, unrequited love territory. ![]() The movie, the second in DC’s latest franchise, is both a return of Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince and a wistful look at how lonely her life is. Given her track record, I think she’s earned the right to cast whoever she damn well pleases.Wonder Woman 1984 swings for the fences in its 150 minutes of runtime. Hell, she even managed to make Charlize Theron seem scary, by casting her as a serial killer in Monster. It’s difficult to tell a story where the protagonist is both an eternal optimist and a badass, and Jenkins nailed it. Jenkins, in a stroke of genius, placed Diana in the trenches of WWI, the grimmest environment imaginable, and depicted her as a shining light in the darkness. Marvel managed to make Captain America cool by poking fun at him, and challenging his simplistic belief system, while DC tried to make Superman deadly serious by making heavy-handed Messiah metaphors.īut Jenkins kept Wonder Woman hopelessly naive, as enthusiastic as a starry-eyed child, and somehow, it wasn’t nauseating. That kind of superhero hasn’t aged particularly well adapting them for a modern-day blockbuster is a real challenge. Wonder Woman, Superman, and Captain America are all sweet, sunny, and American as apple pie - they’re like characters plucked from a propaganda poster. And she accomplished something that I find quite extraordinary - she managed to bring back the “hopeful” superhero. Memories of the invisible plane and the Lasso of Truth invite ridicule, but Jenkins managed to turn that ridiculous rope into a formidable weapon. Like Aquaman, the character seemed hopelessly outdated, the product of a more innocent age. Seeing as Stone’s talents are inherently different from Wiig’s, it looks as though Jenkins and the studio had clashing visions of the character.Īnd after succeeding where both Batman and Superman failed, we should really place our faith in Jenkins before she successfully rebooted the character, Wonder Woman was practically a joke. ![]() The studio’s first pick to play Cheetah was Emma Stone, but she reportedly turned the role down, leaving Patty Jenkins free to pursue her first choice, Kristen Wiig. That was my big problem with Wonder Woman, and I’d hate to see it repeated. Hopefully, she can imbue Cheetah with a solid personality, because the last thing we need is another bland villain in a superhero story. Andy Serkis, for example, is ideal for these kinds of roles because he’s a genuinely talented actor, who isn’t afraid to get a bit weird.Īnd Wiig is a lovable oddball. But it helps if you have a gifted performer with a strong personality. ![]() That’s a shame, because CGI villains tend to be a bit bland and inhuman Justice League’s antagonist was an unfortunate example of that. I doubt the film is going to depict the old-school Cheetah (a grown woman wearing a cat onesie), so we’re likely to see the modern-day “were-cheetah” version, which, presumably, will require a fair bit of CGI. But unlike the Joker, the Cheetah isn’t fully human. And we’ve already seen a brief flicker of threat from the actress, as Wiig was eerily good at playing a gun-toting sociopath in Mother!Ĭheetah is considered to be Diana’s primary antagonist, the Joker to her Batman. I’m not trying to psychoanalyze Kristen Wiig, but seeing as she’s a rather talented comedian, I’m pretty sure she has some skeletons in the closet ready to be utilized for a villainous role. And the amicable Michael Keaton managed to be deeply threatening as the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and still come across as oddly likable. The last time I rewatched The Dark Knight, I was struck by how funny Heath Ledger’s performance actually is. Of course, the sequel to Wonder Woman isn’t going to get that dark, but a good comic book villain should be as threatening as they are funny. Watch Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, Sergi López in Pan’s Labyrinth, and Tim Curry in It they’re all funny, charismatic actors who play monsters with alarming ease. And when comedians manage to tap into the dark side of their personality, they quickly stop being funny, and become downright terrifying. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |