Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman is a movie packed with wonderful and powerful moments, but none compare to what is generally referred to as the No Man’s Land sequence. The scene in question finds the titular heroine running across the terrain between allied and German trenches generally regarded as a kill zone, and it serves to demonstrate Diana’s strength of character, bravery, and morals.
It’s an awesome beat that one would think the upcoming sequel would have trouble matching, but the film’s director is confident that the movie will have equivalent emotional moments.
Two years ago this month I joined a group of reporters traveling to London, England to visit the set of Wonder Woman 1984 while the blockbuster was still in production, and it was while interviewing Patty Jenkins that the subject of the No Man’s Land sequence came up. The filmmaker was asked about sequences in the new film operating in a similar emotional capacity, and she confirmed that there are indeed scenes that are of a kind.
First digging into what it was that made the No Man’s Land scene so powerful, Patty Jenkins explained that it is essentially the key moment in the film where Diana figures out who she is going to be while existing in the world outside of Themyscira. As Jenkins put it, everything about her heroism and ethics is theoretical before that point, and the sequence is her transformation into Wonder Woman:
It's at that moment that she understands all of the stakes and makes the choice to be the one to step out onto that field. She has completely different emotional moments in [Wonder Woman 1984], but I focus on them in the same way. Like, forget who she's fighting and forget what the moment is. What is this moment? What is the evolution of her and what does this moment mean for us, the audience experiencing it with her? And so, yeah, there are a couple of moments that I really love for the same reason in this film.
In the sequel, audiences have the opportunity to catch up with Diana Prince nearly seven full decades after her adventure in World War I. She continues to quietly perform acts of heroism, but comes face-to-face with a significant, growing threat in the form of Max Lord – a “King Of Infomercials” whose company promises to turn dreams and ambitions into reality… for a price.
A person can obviously change a whole hell of a lot in the span of 66 years (and most don’t look so amazing doing it as Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince), so we do find ourselves wondering what kind of revelation we can expect from the character that will come packaged with the power of the No Man’s Land sequence. At this point in time we don’t really know enough about the film to fully speculate, but it only enhances our anticipation for the release.
The subject of the No Man’s Land sequence in Wonder Woman was also brought up in an on-set conversation with producer Charles Roven, and while he added that there’s no real way during production to fully know how an audience is going to respond to any particular moment, he feels that the pure potential exists in Wonder Woman 1984 because of what Patty Jenkins brings to the table with her vision and her ability to collaborate with her cast and crew. Said Roven,
If we can execute on [Patty Jenkins’] vision, all of us together, I think you'll have get something that's got a similar reaction [to the No Man’s Land sequence], but different. But still, what was great about that scene was she had support, but it was still about her figuring out how to get across, right, because it was so important. There was no way for her not to. She had to help those people, save those people and do the right thing. She has to do that in this film too. It's incredibly personal, this film.
With a release date set for October 2nd, Wonder Woman 1984 will be here soon, but those hungry for a brand new look at the blockbuster should definitely stay hooked on CinemaBlend this weekend. A brand new trailer for the film will be dropping during the Wonder Woman portion of the DC Fandome event that is unfolding on Saturday starting at 1pm PST. Check out the event for yourself, and know that we’ll be closely following all of the action and reporting on all of the announcements as they are made, so keep checking the site!
