Diana (Gal Godot), princess of the Amazons, is just discovering that she is different from her sisters when pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) pierces the bubble that hides the island and crashes. Heās followed by ships full of Germans, thus bringing WWI to paradise. Steve has vital information on evil āDr. Poisonāsā newest lethal gas. Diana assumes that the god of war must be behind the bloodshed, so they set off together, with slightly different plans on how to end the war.
Thereās been a lot of talk about this film in the days before its release, so let me get the big questions out of the way.
- Is Wonder Woman good? Yes.
- Is this the best superhero movie ever? No. Not by a mile.
- Is this the best DC-Snyder-verse movie? Yes, by ten miles and a walk around the park.
- Was Gal Godot the right pick for Wonder Woman? Oh yes.
So, if it isnāt the best superhero movie everāas some reviews have claimed, and as its early Rotten Tomato score indicatedāwhere does it fall down? In the expected places. At times it tries far too hard to be epic. As Mal would put it, thereās a lot of speechifying. We also get the āeveryone is stupidā problem so common in films. If people would take just a few minutes to explain things to Diana, a lot of things would go better and easier. But apparently everyone thinks that ignorance is just fun. Plus if you canāt figure out the big reveal an hour before it happens, you donāt deserve to see movies. Thereās also a hold-overs from the Snyder films (Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman): the excessive use of slow motion/stop motion in fights. And the third act drags. Plus thereās no attempt to make any sense out of Greek gods in the universe (the comics fall down on that one too). And I should mention the special effects. Generally, they are good, but a couple times Diana suddenly becomes a cartoon. I havenāt seen anything that bad in a big budget superhero movie since Spider-Man, and that was fifteen years ago.
To counter those numerous problems, weāve got a nice trade off between serious and light moments. We have a theme with some weight to it on the nature of man, war, love, and peace. Weāve got an above average plot for an action filmānot brilliant, but grading on a curve, it is on the positive side of the hill. The acting from everyone (when they arenāt speechifying) is solid, with a few extra points going to David Thewlis. And while Chris Pine is doing the same thing he does in every film, it fits nicely in this case.
But hereās the thing: None of that matters. You see, Wonder Woman, the film, isāat bestāa good movie. Not great. But pretty good. I didnāt love the movie.
But I loved Wonder Woman.
And thatās what matters. I donāt know if Gal Gadot is a good actress, but she is a charismatic one, and she was born for this part. DC Comics-based films havenāt had her like since Christopher Reeve in Superman. She is perfect, and the role is written exactly right. When was the last time you liked a DC film character? Not liked watching them in a film, but liked them? Sure you liked The Dark Knight, but it wasnāt because you really cared about Bruce Wayne. I enjoyed watching Keaton in the Tim Burton films, but I didnāt love the character. I was interested in himāintrigued even. But I held little affection for him. It has been thirty years since DC managed this. This is the superhero thatās been missing.
Gadot and director Jenkins combine all the elements in a way thatās been lacking. Diana is friendly and good in the purest sense of the word. But sheās also coolāweāre talking Tony Stark level of cool. Sheās innocent, but smart. Sheās strong while also being very feminine. Sheās sensitive but knows when a smirk is the proper response. She isnāt broken. She doesnāt have weird issues. She is a hero and one youād want to meet.
With a franchise film, what matters most is character, and they nailed it. If I ran Warner Bros, Iād be junking other Snyder films to get everyone working on Wonder Woman 2 and Wonder Woman 3. Maybe those films will have weak plots and be filled with problems, but they will be about Wonder Woman, and thatās the important thing. People will go to see her. Iāll go to see her. DC finally has the character they need, the character Superman should have been in the last two films. She might just save the DC Snyder-verse.
Yes, the lone female superhero is here and she rules.