Wondrous

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2017)

When Steve Trevor(Pine, charming, wry) lands on Themyscira, it is the first contact between it and the world of man(the species) in a long time, and the first experienced at all by Diana(Gadot, bringing to life the idealistic titular character. Her smile, her grace and her world are all stunning. Their chemistry is strong). He tells the ethnically diverse group about World War I. Might Ares have returned, creating the conflict he lives for?
There are chunks of this that pass without action. Especially in the middle section. The climax is less chaotic, loud and, well, blinding, than Batman V Superman's, albeit not entirely dodging those problems. And the first few aren't as consequential. The initial one is essentially combat training. However, when it's there, it is always good, and frequently amazing. It's not there purely because that's part of why we came to watch. Never does it just make people look cool, and let the heroine stack up a body-count. Heck, she barely kills anyone, and she clearly isn't interested in it. In one of the (too) many similarities to Captain America: The First Avenger(a movie it does largely match in overall quality. Nevertheless, it feels derivative), she "doesn't like bullies". No, first and foremost, she's doing it to save people.
This as the leaders of the countries involved are shrugging off massive casualties. As No Man's Land is treated as an unfortunate reality, not one that is likely to be brought to an end. While the two villains, who could easily have been combined into one, spend their compelling screen-time either using horrible poison gas on the defenseless, or studying hard to make it even worse. She's there to rescue those she's never met. From a race she hadn't even encountered days earlier, in her whole life. We're in the middle of a comic book movie boom. And yet this seemingly obvious value and goal so often goes forgotten these days.
Other than the leads, a lot of the performers, talented as most of them are, get lost in the shuffle, with only a couple of moments to really shine. The Amazons are almost all bad actors – I figure they went for physical types, instead. I would say it could have been handled by hiring talents specifically for when they have dialog, and then those would be ones we didn't see in other scenes. Mostly, they are there to convince you of Paradise Island as somewhere people live, work, not only fence. And they succeed. There are pacing issues. The ending is bad, and borrows from great, but mismatched, sources. Occasionally, the message and themes get cheesy, and the final resolution is one example. Although the humor is rapid-fire, using the fish-out-of-water element well, it frequently feels forced, and I don't blame those who find it obnoxious and, indeed, at no point actually funny. The DCEU(no, saying that this is the best of the four isn't saying much) has yet to balance jokes with seriousness. It's not a perfect film. What it is, is genuinely engaging and moving. Warner Brothers? Keep Patty Jenkins around. She'll help you properly compete with the MCU.
There is a lot of disturbing content in this. I recommend it to everyone. 7/10