An excerpt from Reals’ script review for Wonder Woman (2004) – Unproduced – Laeta Kalogridis which will be available 05/04/18:
Initial Thoughts
I personally thought Wonder Woman (2017) was an important, but flawed, film. That is not to say that I disliked it, I thoroughly enjoyed lots of it, but felt the third act was a mess, plotlines were dropped and it includes one of the worst lines ever uttered in a superhero film:
(SPOILERS)
The scene at the end where Ares tells Diana “My dear child, that (the sword) is not the Godkiller. You are!” made me want to leave the theater for three main reasons:
#1 – This completely ruins Diana’s character arc of discovering who is she and her true power alone.
#2 – From a gender-politics standpoint, this is a negative male figure telling our female hero “Hey, you were too dumb to figure things out, so here is the answer that I am going to give you because I pity you.”
#3 – The villain literally telling the hero how to defeat him/her is amateur storytelling and it was a huge misstep. I mean, Ares is a god and he literally says to Diana – you are the God – killer. Guess what she does next? You got it, she kills him.
That said, I am excited to see what this writer did with Diana’s story and see a new take on the character and her introduction.
What Worked
Pg. 1 – It is pretty cool that we start with an assault on Themyscira.
Pg. 3 – And the cut to present day is a change which may or may not work. I liked the WWI setting of the first film.
Pg. 5 – Also cool that Doc is female and not just the group of guys Trevor had as his companions in the 2017 film.
Pg. 18 – Hippolyta’s voice interrupts Diana like a SLICING BLADE.
This is a nice line of description.
Pg. 20 – Diana looks more annoyed than afraid.
This is a good character moment – she knows she can take him and his escape attempt is just a minor inconvenience to her. It also sets up in the reader’s mind that she is comfortable and confident in her abilities and tells an actor how to approach the scene.
I also like in this version that there aren’t any penis jokes when Diana and Steve speak for the first time. It came off as forced in the film.
Pg. 32 – The battle for Steve’s life is pretty cool – and a nice twist on the damsel in distress trope.
I also, personally, see this as Diana fighting for what is right – an innocent person’s life – rather than fighting and sacrificing for a man.
Pg. 36 –
MAGDALA
You must chart your own course, make your mistakes and learn from them. Face who — and what — you are.
This is a nice Theme Stated and a good message about making your own way in the world.
Pg. 52 – The addition of Vanessa adds more conflict to the story which is always good.
Pg. 56 – This is a cool action scene with Trevor – I know we saw that he was a good pilot earlier, but it is also nice to see he is a good fighter.
Pg. 59 – I also like that Diana isn’t fly/jumping like she did in the film. It was a bit strange looking and never really explained, but here she is just adept with the lasso and uses it to swing and climb.
Pg. 113 – Diana is flying. – Whelp. So much for that note.
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