Wonder Woman Review

The past year hasn't seen much luck for the DCEU. That's not to say last year's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad were financial catastrophes, but critical ones they were, with their biggest downfalls being their focus on future movies rather than themselves (in a bid of course to catch up with the superior MCU), and with narratives made painfully-incoherent through some generally bad writing and post-editing. And though we've familiarised ourselves with the Wonder Woman and Justice League trailers over the past six or so months, it seemed that all hope was already lost; that the franchise would never do any better than Man of Steel and was doomsday'd to fail. 

Boy were we wrong.

As something of a Captain America/ Thor-hybrid, both aesthetically and thematically, with its WW2-based narrative as well as its prologue's Asgardian-like setting, Wonder Woman is as worlds apart from its 70's TV counterpart as the modern Batman - whether Bale's, Affleck's or Arkham's - is from the days of the late Adam West. In a secret world-within-ours, of Greek-like landscape and mythology, exceptional young warrior Diana (Wonder Woman-to be) lives with her fellow Amazons; a society of female warriors entirely absent of men who live in paradise and harmony, though weary of a past which they fear may one day come back to haunt them. But when World War II spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) comes crashing into their waters while being pursued by Nazis, the noble and admirable yet naive Diana decides to leave her people behind and help him fight the war beyond the sanctuary of her world. 

As an origin story, Wonder Woman carefully crafts its own history and lays some solid groundwork, focusing on both its past and present rather than wasting precious screen time setting itself up as nothing more than a trailer for future DCEU movies like others before it (the same can be said about plenty of MCU entries). In short, it refreshingly takes its time just being a film without ever feeling like its dragging its heels, and is in no rush to do anything but entertain and to tell its story. 

Meanwhile, Diana's homeworld Themyscira serves both the film's mythology and the aesthetics of the wider franchise well, while the World War II setting adds a certain gravitas that even the most powerful villains capable of global destruction in previous films failed to bring. Add to that the most human superhero in the franchise so far, with an endearing Gal Gadot unleashing charisma by the lightning bolt without being the subject of gratuitous sex appeal like you might expect (there's no flashing of the flesh), and you have a film that finally returns the DCEU to a strength that's not been seen since its first instalment back in 2013.

But what boldly separates Wonder Woman from its three rather bleak and monotone predecessors is genuine humour and heart. The dialogue and chemistry between Gadot and Pine is palpable, and also injects a bolt of humanity into the franchise that, inexplicably, we didn't see from an alien-cum-earthling, an angry, orphaned vigilante and a team of screwed up criminals.

Wonder Woman doesn't just save the franchise from what was recently certain death, while appointing itself as role model to all future films within the franchise, it's a monumental superhero movie in its own right. She might not be the hero the (once-)underwhelming DCEU deserves, or the one you expected, but she's definitely the one it needs. 

So, there's still hope for the franchise yet. And where there's hope, there's wonder. No pressure, Justice League. None whatsoever.