8_Days__June_1_2017

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8
DAYS
here’s a general
consensus that
the best scene
in Batman v
Superman:
Dawn of Justice
happens around
the 150th
minute-mark (on the longer and
much better director’s cut on Blu-ray)
when Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight is
just about to have his arse handed
to him by Kryptonian DNA-carrying
ogre Doomsday.
Enter Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot)
— accompanied by Hans Zimmer
and Junkie XL’s tribal and ferocious,
cello-driven theme music — in her
iconic armour regalia, saving Bats
from being pulverised by Doomsday’s
death-ray in the nick of time with her
shield.
It was one helluva entrance.
If the lasso-throwing superhero
(and frequent Turkish Airlines-flyer)
can make an impact in seven
minutes of screen-time with just 20
lines of dialogue, imagine what she
can do in an entire feature. Well,
we’re going to find out this week with
her highly-anticipated stand-alone
adventure.
Around since 1941, Wonder
Woman’s first movie, directed by
Patty Jenkins (Monster) is an origin
story. It explores the pre-Wonder
Woman days of Amazon princess
Diana on the mystical island of
Themyscira — training to be a
warrior under her mother, Queen
Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) — before
she heads off to the real world
where she learns about the brutality
humanity is capable of doing to one
another during World War I.
“She’s more naïve and pure
[then],” says Gadot, 31, who was
once crowned Miss Israel 2004 and
served in the Israel Defence Forces.
“She’s this young idealist who does
not understand the complexities of
men and life.” Yes, we’ll find out why
she turned her back on humankind
for 100 years before making her
dramatic comeback in Dawn of
Justice.
Wonder Woman has another
mission: to restore order in the
DC Cinematic Universe, which got
off to a bumpy start when Dawn
of Justice underperformed at the
box-office (only in Hollywood is a
movie that earns US$873 million
worldwide still considered a letdown)
and disappointed critics who
complained that the Zack Synderhelmed
mash-up was too dark, too
serious.
Worried bigwigs at Warner
Brothers then tried to course-correct
by reportedly reshooting parts of
Suicide Squad, David Ayer’s thriller
about a group of DC’s most vile
miscreants and misfits — led by
Will Smith’s hitman extraordinaire
Deadshot — recruited by the
government to save the world. The
pariahs saved the world alright, but
missed the mark too.
But something else bigger is at
stake: If Wonder Woman works (and
early buzz indicates it has), it could
be the beacon of hope that ends
the misconception that female-led
comic book action movies never
work at the box-office (remember
Catwoman and Elektra?).
“Diana is set apart from most
comic book superheroes by her
gender, but it’s her approach to
justice that I believe really makes
her unique,” says Gadot, who’ll
be back as Wonder Woman in
November’s Justice League. “She
not only wants to rid the world of
evil by taking out the bad guys,
she also wants to encourage men
and women to be the best human
beings they can be, and she does
this through love, hope and grace.”
Love, hope and grace — things
we all could use more of these
days.
So what say you, Miss Gadot?
Ready to change the world?