8_Days__June_1_2017
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
32<br />
8<br />
DAYS<br />
here’s a general<br />
consensus that<br />
the best scene<br />
in Batman v<br />
Superman:<br />
Dawn of Justice<br />
happens around<br />
the 150th<br />
minute-mark (on the longer and<br />
much better director’s cut on Blu-ray)<br />
when Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight is<br />
just about to have his arse handed<br />
to him by Kryptonian DNA-carrying<br />
ogre Doomsday.<br />
Enter Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot)<br />
— accompanied by Hans Zimmer<br />
and Junkie XL’s tribal and ferocious,<br />
cello-driven theme music — in her<br />
iconic armour regalia, saving Bats<br />
from being pulverised by Doomsday’s<br />
death-ray in the nick of time with her<br />
shield.<br />
It was one helluva entrance.<br />
If the lasso-throwing superhero<br />
(and frequent Turkish Airlines-flyer)<br />
can make an impact in seven<br />
minutes of screen-time with just 20<br />
lines of dialogue, imagine what she<br />
can do in an entire feature. Well,<br />
we’re going to find out this week with<br />
her highly-anticipated stand-alone<br />
adventure.<br />
Around since 1941, Wonder<br />
Woman’s first movie, directed by<br />
Patty Jenkins (Monster) is an origin<br />
story. It explores the pre-Wonder<br />
Woman days of Amazon princess<br />
Diana on the mystical island of<br />
Themyscira — training to be a<br />
warrior under her mother, Queen<br />
Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) — before<br />
she heads off to the real world<br />
where she learns about the brutality<br />
humanity is capable of doing to one<br />
another during World War I.<br />
“She’s more naïve and pure<br />
[then],” says Gadot, 31, who was<br />
once crowned Miss Israel 2004 and<br />
served in the Israel Defence Forces.<br />
“She’s this young idealist who does<br />
not understand the complexities of<br />
men and life.” Yes, we’ll find out why<br />
she turned her back on humankind<br />
for 100 years before making her<br />
dramatic comeback in Dawn of<br />
Justice.<br />
Wonder Woman has another<br />
mission: to restore order in the<br />
DC Cinematic Universe, which got<br />
off to a bumpy start when Dawn<br />
of Justice underperformed at the<br />
box-office (only in Hollywood is a<br />
movie that earns US$873 million<br />
worldwide still considered a letdown)<br />
and disappointed critics who<br />
complained that the Zack Synderhelmed<br />
mash-up was too dark, too<br />
serious.<br />
Worried bigwigs at Warner<br />
Brothers then tried to course-correct<br />
by reportedly reshooting parts of<br />
Suicide Squad, David Ayer’s thriller<br />
about a group of DC’s most vile<br />
miscreants and misfits — led by<br />
Will Smith’s hitman extraordinaire<br />
Deadshot — recruited by the<br />
government to save the world. The<br />
pariahs saved the world alright, but<br />
missed the mark too.<br />
But something else bigger is at<br />
stake: If Wonder Woman works (and<br />
early buzz indicates it has), it could<br />
be the beacon of hope that ends<br />
the misconception that female-led<br />
comic book action movies never<br />
work at the box-office (remember<br />
Catwoman and Elektra?).<br />
“Diana is set apart from most<br />
comic book superheroes by her<br />
gender, but it’s her approach to<br />
justice that I believe really makes<br />
her unique,” says Gadot, who’ll<br />
be back as Wonder Woman in<br />
November’s Justice League. “She<br />
not only wants to rid the world of<br />
evil by taking out the bad guys,<br />
she also wants to encourage men<br />
and women to be the best human<br />
beings they can be, and she does<br />
this through love, hope and grace.”<br />
Love, hope and grace — things<br />
we all could use more of these<br />
days.<br />
So what say you, Miss Gadot?<br />
Ready to change the world?