Close to a masterpiece but not quite

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2019)

Wonder Woman is a gritty war film with a central conflict not between the hero and a villain, but between the hero and an idea, and the movie is so much better for it. For the majority of the run time, Diana must try to discover whether Arese or man's nature is behind the war of the world. This conflict forces Diana to go through a full character arc while facing many physical threats as well. Chris Pine is also a welcome addition as his character has some of the best moments in the movie. Unfortunately, the movie does not know how quite to end. Due to the lack of a dominant physical threat, the movie has to force one in at the end making for a sloppy third act, but the first two are done so well it easily makes up for it, and a few emotional beats salvage the end so that the audience is still left with a positive response to the film.