‘Wonder Man’ was my favorite stream of the week
‘Wonder Man’ was my favorite stream of the week
I find myself caring less and less about what’s going on in the Marvel universe, but “Wonder Man” pulled me back in with relationships.
The weight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become insupportable to me, and I’m a huge fan of franchises with lengthy backstories. It’s just become too much to keep up with the new hero teams that Disney has assembled to keep audiences interested, and while the new performers in the MCU are plenty magnetic, the endless connections, storylines that have led nowhere, and characters that stack on top of each other endlessly are, frankly, exhausting.
That’s why I was so intrigued by the concept of “Wonder Man,” which all the reviews I read promised to be much more like the Apple TV comedy series “The Studio” than “Moon Knight.” While the show never reaches the comedic heights of “The Studio,” I found myself enjoying it immensely as I bounced from episode to episode.
“Wonder Man” follows Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), an actor who can’t seem to get out of his own way, despite his talent. When he gets the chance to audition for the role of his life in a new superhero movie, Simon thinks his life has turned around — especially when he meets Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), the washed-up actor who briefly portrayed a terrorist to try to jumpstart his career.
The heart of the show is undoubtedly the relationship between Williams and Slaterry. The latter’s ulterior motives for pursuing a friendship with Simon become apparent early on in the series, but Trevor genuinely sees something in Simon as well. He doesn’t just want to help Simon for selfish reasons; he’s an actor who wants to help a fellow performer perfect his craft.
Abdul-Mateen’s portrayal of Simon is absolutely heartbreaking, in all the best ways. He’s incredible at portraying the suffering an actor has to go through just to get in the door, and his ability to cause himself problems that have nothing to do with the superpowers he’s trying so desperately to hide comes effortlessly thanks to Abdul-Mateen’s talent.
“Wonder Man” isn’t quite at the level of “The Studio” when it comes to portraying the behind-the-scenes processes of Hollywood, but it packs plenty of humor into those moments — a visit by Joe Pantoliano playing a fictional version of himself trying to dispense sage Hollywood wisdom is hilarious.
Yes, there’s a little Marvel mumbo-jumbo to wade through about the Department of Damage Control and their concerns about Simon’s powers. But “Wonder Man” keeps the focus on its characters, not the Marvel universe, and that was more than enough to make it my favorite stream of the week.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”