With “Wonder Woman 1984” around the corner and reviews popping up endorsing (or, uh, not endorsing) director Patty Jenkins’ superhero sequel, this is the time for us to relitigate the original “Wonder Woman.” Or, more specifically, openly discuss what was great and not so great about the smash-hit superhero film from 2017. And judging by comments made by Jenkins about the original film, she totally understands the main issue with “Wonder Woman” and explains why it doesn’t necessarily fit with the rest of the feature.
The common refrain about “Wonder Woman” is that the first two-thirds is awesome, but the film sorta stumbles across the finish line thanks to a lackluster, CGI-heavy mess of a final act where Diana Prince fights the God of War, Ares, in a battle that feels so over-the-top and ridiculous when you compare it to the first two acts. And according to an IGN interview with Jenkins, the reason for the tonal dissonance between the final act and what preceded it is due to some last-minute changes to the ending.
“The original end of the first movie was also smaller, but the studio made me change it at the last minute,” said Jenkins. “So that’s always been a little bit of a bummer that that’s the one thing people talk about because I agreed. And I told the studio we didn’t have time to do it, but it was what it was. I ended up loving it, but that was not the original ending of the movie.”
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Obviously, Jenkins said she “loved” the ending, as it stands, but that’s probably nothing more than her making sure there’s no one thinking that she hated the choices made by Warner Bros. to change the ending. What the original finale would have looked like is not known, but we have to assume that, considering the masterful first two-thirds, it would have been better than the video game-esque battle at the end.
Also, when you take into consideration that “Wonder Woman” arrived at a time when Warner Bros. was far from afraid to change up the DC films, with “Justice League” being an absolute mess thanks to last-minute, very expensive reshoots by director Joss Whedon and “Suicide Squad” getting completely overhauled in the editing room by a trailer company at the request of WB, it’s clear that the studio had a penchant for interfering with directors’ original visions. That said, that is in the past and WB has owned up to those mistakes and definitely is more apt to let filmmakers do their thing.
“Wonder Woman 1984” is expected in theaters and on HBO Max on December 25.
