Entertaining, but too safe.

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2017)

Princess Diana of Themyscira is DC Comics' most recognizable female superhero – and actually one of the most famous and most popular overall. It's a wonder that this woman had to wait so long to have a movie of her own, especially considering how long Hollywood has been giving us superhero movies and how many of them have been made. Wonder Woman first appeared in DC Comics in 1941 and has had her own comic book series ever since. In 1975, the character finally made her flesh-and-blood debut with her eponymous TV series starring Lynda Carter as the Amazon princess who, under the name of Diana Prince, used her superpowers, her Lasso of Truth and her invisible airplane to help the U.S. Army fight the Nazis in World War II. But that series only lasted until 1979. In the years since, DC superheroes like Superman and Batman have each appeared on the big screen in multiple incarnations, with different actors playing the roles. When those two made a movie together in 2016, Wonder Woman (played by Israeli actress Gal Gadot) joined them and the following year finally gets a movie all her own. And "Wonder Woman" (PG-13, 2:21) is only the beginning.
Diana (Gadot) grows up on the isolated, uncharted island of Themyscira, the only child on the island and last child of the Greek god Zeus. Diana is fascinated by the constant close combat training of the adult Amazon women around her and wants to learn to fight too. Diana's mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), doesn't want that for her daughter, but Hippolyta's sister, General Antiope (Robin Wright, from Netflix's "House of Cards"), secretly indulges the young girl's desire. Diana grows up hearing tales of how Ares, the God of War, killed all of the other gods and, jealous of Zeus' affection for mankind, wants to use his powers to end their existence on earth. Ares' rivalry with Zeus culminates in Ares mortally wounding Zeus, who created and placed on Themyscira a weapon capable of killing Ares. As Diana matures, she becomes well-educated and, eventually with her mother's grudging approval, also becomes a skilled fighter. She instructs Antiope to train Diana harder than any Amazon has ever been trained, alluding to a secret from Diana's past, and a destiny she doesn't want to reveal to her daughter.
Diana's idyllic world is shattered one day when an American fighter pilot named Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands in the waters surrounding Themyscira. Diana saves his life and protects him as the Germans pursuing him come ashore and get into a fierce battle with the Amazons. Afterwards, Diana, struggling to get over the novelty of seeing her first man, uses her Lasso of Truth to learn who Steve is and what he's doing there. She hears of the horrors of the ongoing War to End All Wars (which no one yet realizes is only the First World War) and becomes convinced that Ares must be responsible. Steve has stolen the notes of a German chemical warfare mastermind known as Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya) and is determined to deliver it to his superiors in London. Diana convinces Steve that she can help him do that if he will then take her to the front where she is convinced that she can stop the war. These goals run the pair afoul of sadistic German General Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and Sir Patrick Morgan (David Thewlis), a government official who doesn't want his armistice negotiations derailed.
"Wonder Woman" serves the time-honored character, her followers and your average #MovieFan fairly well. The script comes from Allan Heinberg (a long-time television writer crossing over into film for the first time), based on a story by himself, Jason Fuchs (writer of "Pan" & "Ice Age: Continental Drift") and Zach Snyder (who is one of the producers of this film and is known for writing and/or directing the "300" films, "Sucker Punch", the 2013 and 2016 Superman movies and November 2017's "Justice League"). The plot serves as a good origin story for the title character, even enhancing her mythology and placing her in World War I (rather than WWII, like the 1970s TV series), allowing for subtext which includes women's rights (the suffrage movement) and the development of modern mechanized warfare (large-scale killing of people at a distance). The culture shock she experiences meeting men and encountering western society for the first time allows for amusing and humorous moments which feel organic. The action is intense, but the violence relatively bloodless. And the heroine's appearance is terrifically styled.
Topping the list of the movie's significant strengths (and hiding its weaknesses) is the great acting, especially Godot's. The beautiful, agile and talented actress is the perfect choice to bring this character into the 21st century, giving her a complex and pleasing mix of strength, vulnerability, determination, compassion, intelligence and sex appeal. She's a warrior, a woman and, most of all, a human being. On closer inspection, however, the film's flaws emerge. The character of General Ludendorff behaves and transforms in ways that aren't only far removed from the historical record, but which don't even make sense in the context of the plot. The same holds true for some of the other characters, but the film's larger problem is in its overall plotting. The rote interpretation of superhero genre conventions keeps the movie from being as creative and exciting as it could have and should have been. Still, "Wonder Woman" is the best DC film since the 2005-2012 Christopher Nolan / Christian Bale "Batman" series and it's refreshingly lighter in tone than that trilogy and other cinematic incarnations of the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This movie, in spite of its imperfections, is strong and entertaining enough to warrant a recommendation – and give Movie Fans hope for the cinematic future of the Amazon princess and her DC partners in fighting for justice. "B+"