A WONDERful Story - and a powerful soundtrack to back it!

Rating: 9/10 (7 June 2017)

I've seen this film twice now, and I've really enjoyed it both times! While I'm going to exclusively focus on Rupert Gregson-Williams' soundtrack as I always do, I will say I did really enjoy the story â€“ the setting of World War I (London - and apparently Diana's in Paris now!) was a great one, with the old-timey photographer, and I thought the dynamic between Gal Gadot's Diana and Chris Pine's Steve was really well done. I liked Diana's costumes and throwbacks to both the comics and the 1970s TV show, but gone are the days of old - this Diana fit well with Batman and Superman last year, and holds her own on the big screen now.
Modern superhero scores aren't always my cup of tea. I definitely appreciate this music, and the way the orchestra is transformed into a cinematic sound. There were plenty of powerful moments in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), with Hans Zimmer's decidedly more "gritty" style â€“ something that worked for that film as it did for the Dark Knight trilogy back in 2005. Diana's film is different â€“ it's more personal to her, it's back before the 1920's, there's more emotion and heart in it as she's the heroine of the film. Rupert Gregson-Williams nailed this dynamic, keeping the score fresh and epic as a superhero film but also adding so many beautiful moments that sent chills through me both times I saw the film in the theatre. I think the brother of the composer of the Narnia films offered a wonderful score for Diana's personal adventure â€“ not very Romantic, but powerful in its own right. It was cool knowing they were brothers, because I can see influences from Narnia in this score as well at times.
Hans Zimmer's main theme for Diana, though, is particularly awesome, and Gregson-Williams uses to great effect in this film. From a recent interview, the composer discussed his use of writing a naÃ¯ve theme for the young Diana. In Batman v. Superman, she is already a strong warrior, and when she appears at that climactic final battle the electric guitar starts, and we immediately associate her with Zimmer's track. Throughout Wonder Woman, besides still using the heavy metal theme (in the same vein as Murray Gold uses "I am the Doctor") at the moments where Diana is at her finest and strongest. It's a great tune that definitely got stuck in my head at lunch after seeing the film. I'm definitely glad this was brought back, but what's really cool is how Gregson-Williams hints at this theme in his score. For example, the very first few notes of the film, E-G-B, and then the glissando down to the B-flat â€“ those are the exact notes for the guitar riff of Diana's epic theme we will hear much later on. This is done subtly at various times throughout the film like that, and it's really clever stuff. (The rest of that first track "Amazons of Themsycira" builds on that triad as a motif.)
The track "Hell Hath No Fury" has my favorite moment in the entire score, and perhaps the most powerful, and really helps solidify Diana as a new favorite for me. It begins with Diana getting struck down by Ares, and Steve comes up to her and begins speaking to her. At this point, we don't hear any of the dialogue, but then, as we see Steve taking the plane off, the combination of the wonderful emotion Pine pulled off with his face and the beautiful crescendo in the music builds his sacrifice. The crescendo has been in a steady b minor, and right when we see Diana watching the explosion high in the sky, the orchestra shifts to a beautiful and jaw- dropping g# minor, the strings playing higher and higher, and the music that follows is pure emotion as Diana runs in anger to get at Ares. I absolutely love musical shifts like that, and this music captured a perfect moment for me â€“ Diana fighting for justice based on love and compassion, and the shift in tonality represents Diana's shifting beliefs and thoughts about mankind â€“ she's now completely stepped into man's world to wait 100 years before she tells all this to Bruce in last year's filmÂ…
There was one interesting underscoring moment when Captain Kirk â€“ erm, I mean, Captain Steve was infiltrating the gala and speaking with Dr. Poison, and at the moment he saw Diana had came in, the music turned from light and cheery to dark. It's probably more indicating Steve's anger that his plan was messed up a bit, but it was an interesting moment I thought I'd share. Charlie's singing with him playing piano that accompanies Diana and Steve's dancing was a nice touch to the time period of the film. Lots of long, lush (those British composers!) strings chords to either intensify or add emotion to a scene - almost too much, and all with the same basic harmonic progressions, if I'm honest.
So those were some of my main thoughts on the film. I thought this was a really wonderful film, one I would be happy to watch again in the future. It also gets me very excited for the return of Wonder Woman in the Justice League. The film was an absolute joy to watch from beginning to end, and I can't wait to see where DC Comics takes this character and their others on the big screen (and their respective scores) next.