Gal Gadot breathes life into the character of Diana, exalting her emotion and perseverance

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2017)

In the fourth entry into the DC Extended Universe, Gal Gadot lights up the screen as the pure and brave Diana. The film begins with rather clunky exposition to establish who Diana is, where and what she represents, etc. Although essential to her character development, the first 20 minutes or so are rather painful to sit through, as there is nothing kinetic or noteworthy about the first few scenes on the Amazons' island. However, once the plot is jump-started to life by the arrival of Chris Pine's character, an American acting as a spy within the German ranks, this movie finally begins to bloom.
Gadot and Pine's chemistry is immediately recognizable, and a funny and thought-provoking scene on the sailboat is one of the highlights of the film. The rest of the acting is perfectly decent, but the two leads are downright extraordinary that it almost detracts from the supporting cast. Gadot in particular is perfect for the part: she was born to be Wonder Woman. She flows seamlessly from being the fish out of water to the fearless war hero; her consistent interpretation of the role was crucial to the success of the narrative especially considering most comic book origin stories have the hero evolve too quickly and/or drastically.
The action scenes are often plagued by cheesy slow-motion cuts, which would have worked much better in a lighter movie. Unfortunately, the confusing contrast between Diana's fervent battle prowess and her soft spot for preserving humanity was not readily apparent, and the way the action was shot further shed light on this flaw. On the bright side, however, I was pleasantly surprised by how refreshing most of the action set pieces were. A lesser filmmaker would have opted for larger, less intimate scenes, but director Patti Jenkins made the right call by focusing on tight, mostly self-contained battles where Diana's fighting carried more emotional weight.
The key success of the movie, besides Gadot's performance, is definitely what it has to say about humanity through its depiction of the final months of World War One. Even though many creative liberties were taken in regards to the actual historical events, "Wonder Woman" is the first DCEU film to succeed in matching its dark tone to a quality, easily-digested message. The revelations about the villain Ares, although predictable and not all that groundbreaking, rang true because of how well the film allows the viewer to see the conflict as Diana does.
"Wonder Woman" does have a few flaws, but thankfully it doesn't inherit too many from the three previous DCEU films. Nonetheless, the villain Ares suffers the same fate as nearly every comic book villain: pure evil and chaos with no nuance. The final battle between Diana and Ares, while visually passable, is too long, too flashy, and honestly boring. After watching Diana nimbly weave her way through German soldiers for the entire movie, being subjected to watch her awkwardly throw herself at Ares is really unsatisfying.
All things considered, "Wonder Woman" succeeds because it channels more emotion and less eye candy than its peers. It devotes itself wholeheartedly to trying to be different on a narrative level, to meld the otherworldly power of the superhero with the conscience and soul that all people naturally have. Diana just so happens to be the perfect superhero to perform this with, due to how well she can oscillate between compassion and courage; between empathy and valor.