Wonder Woman (2017)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by: Patty Jenkins
Written by: Allan Heinberg
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Lucy Davis, Elena Anaya
Wonder Woman is a film about Diana (Prince), Princess of Themyscira, an island of Amazons. If you’re not familiar with the comics and didn’t watch it despite it looking awesome or your friends were telling you to GO SEE IT IMMEDIATELY (which they were 100% correct about), Wonder Woman tells about the life and origins of Diana. Who later becomes the heroic and iconic Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman is one of my favorite DC Characters, and to finally see her in her own feature film was like a dream come true.
The movie starts out with little Diana who is about 8 years old, and she’s watching all the other Amazons training. Of course, she wants to become a warrior like them, like her mother and aunt, and I don’t blame her one bit! There is an awesome sequence where she is training as a child and with the help of a fast time loop, she turns and then she’s the Diana we see for the rest of the movie played by Gal Gadot.
Soon enough, Steve Trevor, who is fighting in World War I flies into their island as he tries to escape the German. He crashes and Diana is the one to rescue him. It’s pretty funny because she’s never actually seen a man before. She lives on an island of women, after all. They form an instant attachment, and eventually, Steve’s war comes to Themesycra and motivates Diana to take up arms, leave her home and help humanity. Her main goal is to defeat Ares, The God of War, whom she thinks is the cause for this horrible war going on.
During the rest of the movie, we meet a handful of characters, all very important to the story and to Diana’s development. With the help of Steve’s friends, and the quips of his secretary, Etta, they all work together to try and stop Dr. Maru and her plans. Wonder Woman is full of color villains and heroic allies but also offers the viewer a surprise or two. Until the very end of the movie, I was on the edge of my seat and when the credits finally rolled I was practically in tears.
The Wonder Woman Blu-ray with over two hours of special features is a wonderful treat. The movie itself was an amazing film to see in theaters and watching it again was like experiencing the journey all over again. Gal Gadot is the embodiment of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman down that I believe I am watching this hero on screen and not an actress.
But what makes the Blu-ray and special features so amazing is the obvious work they put into them as well, which is a common thing with this whole franchise.
Etta’s Epilogue
The first extra was ‘Etta’s Epilogue’ and it is a perfect set-up for Justice Leauge. We have Etta, and Steve Trevor’s team of World War I misfits in the bar we all met them in during Wonder Woman. She asks them for a mission to find an artifact, and after being convinced, she shows them some papers. One of them is a ‘mysterious box’ which is very much likely one of the Mother Boxes that we will see in the upcoming Justice League.
This was a very funny scene, where we also learned a lot. Not just about Justice League, but about each of these characters too. It was so awesome to see Etta kicking butt even though she’s ‘short’, and having the guys being not only impressed but trusting her and instantly signing onto the mission she wants them to do after she beat up a random bar patron. I love all these characters! This was one of my favorite extras, hand down.
Crafting Wonder Woman
The next featurette goes behind the scenes of the movie. How they made everything happen. The places it was filmed. The choreography. And how all the ‘Amazons’ trained for the scenes. It’s an exciting feature to learn about how everything came together, and I always love a behind the scenes look at things. How the magic comes to life.
I absolutely LOVE behind the scenes special features, and I wish it was something every DVD came with. It is so incredibly fascinating to me to see how everything comes together in the end. Things you thought were real turn out to be green screens. All the stunts and fighting, and making everything come together. I particularly loved how the beach fighting scene was done.
The Wonder Behind The Camera
Everyone worked so hard on this film! Not just the cast and main crew. But the behind the scenes crew too. It takes so many people to make a beautiful film like this come to life, and I appreciate every single one of those people. Hearing peoples different stories and cuts and edits actually brought goosebumps to my arms.
A Director’s Vision
Okay so I’m just going to start off by saying, can Patty Jenkins please direct every female superhero movie from now on?! The fact that a woman director created such a phenomenon with her visions and eye for creativity is so refreshing!
There were a few of these featurettes where Patty talked about certain scenes and the direction she took, and I kid you not, my eyes were practically glued to my screen listening to her talk. To me, these features alone are worth this Blu-ray. She is a GENIUS. And it made me so happy that she worked with Zack Snyder on the historic photo part. Two DCEU genius directors working together and offering advice? Sign me up, please.
Warriors of Wonder Woman
The featurette after these is talking about how important it is that Wonder Woman is female driven. Not only a female director but a female-led cast. All the extra Amazon warriors played a crucial part in telling the story of Themyscira. I loved all the choreography and training. This was also one of my favorite features.
Finding Wonder Woman Within
Finding The Wonder Woman Within was a unique feature. It talks about the film’s theme: Courage, Wisdom, and Wonder. It almost brought tears to my eyes listening to many different women’s stories. The message of this entire movie and the sequence is something that is very personal and important to me. So many women have incredible stories to tell, and I wish more people would listen.
I know I keep saying all of these features are my favorite, but this one was different. It wasn’t so much about the actual movie, but more about the theme of the movie. Please watch this part with tissues handy!
The Trinity
The Trinity. Do I even need to say more?
Okay, I will, but you get the point. Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. I like that they added the animated series in here too. Who else’s favorite trio is these three? That’s why I love this DCEU franchise SO much.
Extended Scenes
The deleted scenes are extra dialogue on the boat scene, in the parliament, on land in the train station, and when they are sleeping by the fire.
Deleted scenes and extra scenes are always so fun! I love seeing edits, and cuts and then going back and watching the actual scenes and seeing how they fit.
My favorite deleted scene was the train station because we saw an alternate take; instead of Diana seeing the baby, she saw children watching a puppet show. Which I thought complemented the extra dialogue on the deleted boat scene.
Speaking of the boat scene, let’s just say that I am glad they put this extended version in the special features and not in the actual movie. I actually didn’t like it as much as the film version. But it still made me laugh, none the less.
Blooper Reel
And finally, we have the blooper reel. Which is always a favorite. Five minutes of mix-ups and forgetting lines, and I couldn’t stop laughing. The cast seems like they had such a fun time filming this movie. I have to say, no matter what film or TV show it is, the blooper reel is probably always one of my favorite extra features. I honestly wish there were 30 minutes of bloopers!
Conclusion
If you loved the film, the extra two-hour features are worth purchasing the Blu-ray. There are so many extras and every single one of them was incredible to watch. The Wonder Woman Blu-ray has some of the most in-depth, unique, and exciting extras I’ve seen in recent films, as well as television. The extras on this Blu-ray, without a doubt, is probably my favorite in the last handful of Blu-rays I’ve bought. They went above and beyond and I seriously cannot stress enough to buy a copy of your own so you can see all of them!
Purchase Wonder Woman on Blu-ray and streaming today! And let me know what you think about the special features!