'Wonder Woman' Review: Better late than never!

8.5/10

Directed by Patty Jenkins, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg, from a story by Heinberg, Zack Snyder, and Jason Fuchs.

Starring: Gal Gadot,Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, and Elena Anaya.

Looking through all my reviews (to date) and realised I missed out one of my favourite films thus far this year. So without further adue here is my review for Wonder Woman:

Born to play the role of Wonder Woman, Gadot proves that women can be fierce and loyal, as well as empathetic, in director Patty Jenkins' epic, satisfying origin story. Some might be tempted to dismiss Gadot as just another pretty face or should I say Legs, but -- as hinted at her scenes in Batman v Superman -- she rises to the challenge of playing Diana as both ridiculously strong and sweetly naive. She's ready to fight, but she's even more focused on vanquishing evil for the sake of peace. Unlike Superman, Batman, or any of her male DC fellows, Wonder Woman isn't broodingly conflicted about her responsibility in the universe; she's super-focused on helping humanity and also defeating the warmongering Ares. Whether it's Gadot herself or talented stunt actors, she constantly shines in battle -- as do her Amazon relatives, particularly Wright as Antiope, the leader of the Amazonian army (I would not mess with them).

There's more romance in Wonder Woman than in many superhero movies (which means Pine has a bigger role than superhero love interests often do), but it's understandable given that it's Diana's origin story. It's especially funny that her first sight of a man would be the blue-eyed Steve, who acknowledges that he's an "above average" male. Their bantery chemistry is predictable but cute; who could fault either of them for falling fast and hard for each other? (Match made in Amazon). Steve's secretary, Etta Candy (Lucy Davis), is the funniest person in the film, with her sarcastic one-liners, but it's a bit of a shame that there's not more back story to help viewers connect with Steve's three companions: Chief (Eugene Brave Rock), a Native American smuggler; Charlie (Ewen Bremner), a Scottish sniper; and Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui), a polyglot spy. At least the baddies are unambiguously evil. And despite the requisite special effects-heavy fight scenes, everything is so personal for Diana that the battles are surprisingly emotional -- in a good way. With Wonder Woman on board, in what is definetly the best DC movie to date (excluding The Dark Knight, the rest are shocking) it gives me hope for the Justice League, so bring it on.