Wonderful

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2017)

While I am a big advocate for Man of Steel and how misunderstood I found that movie to be by many I cannot deny that since then the DCEU has had many issues with Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad being deeply flawed movies. While this did dent my confidence in Wonder Woman a but I was still convinced it would be a big improvement and hopefully set this universe back on the right track and thankfully my faith was very well placed.
Wonder Woman is without a doubt one of my favourite movies of this year so far and a lot of that has to do with the titular character herself. Gal Gadot is brilliant as her, she brings just the right amount of naivety yet sheer will to this character, she's brilliant in the action sequences and like Ben Affleck before her has proved plenty of her doubters wrong. All the performances in this movie we're solid Chris Pine was great, even though I was a bit disappointed that he didn't enter this universe as Green Lantern he made this character his own and really stood out. David Thewlis brought quite a lot to his character and I liked the good nature of his character.
Wonder Woman had a nice heart to it which I really appreciated. The tone was just right, it was good for this film to go down a more light-hearted direction, I didn't mind the dark tones of MOS and BVS but I don't want non stop darkness, there is room for some lightheartedness that this film had just the right amount of. It did have its more serious and darker moments it felt like there was a good balance between the light and dark that Suicide Squad couldn't quite find.
I've always liked that the DCEU has put there characters first, even if they don't always succeed and this film was no acceptation. Diana and her arc in this film was just right, I liked her primary mission but also a lot of the obstacles she experiences along the way that show her humanity is not a perfect as she would like it to be. I loved Chris Pine's character in this movie, not only was he really funny as well as very entertaining, he had great chemistry with Gal Gadot that made you care even more about his character even if they did take him in some predictable routes. I also really enjoyed the team of men who accompany them, they weren't in the film much but shined when they were and added some much needed levity.
I loved the World War One setting of this movie, it let this movie stand on its own truly apart for the rest of the universe. They didn't really shy away from some of the horrors of this war and tied it in nicely with its main plot. It also gave director Patty Jenkins a chance to really shine, she directed this film fantastically, she took to the action sequences very well making them seem somewhat real as well as gritty.
My biggest issue with this movie was it's villainous characters, I liked there designs and were good in the action set pieces but they felt quite conventional and under-utilised. Often there'd just be scenes cutting back to them talking ominously about there lack of time or there evil plans, it felt a bit jarring compared to the rest of the film and most of there plot line doesn't truly come to ahead until the final act.
Wonder Woman is a step back in the right direction for the DCEU, it had terrific action sequences with solid characters played very by the actors and actresses portraying them, it had a good heart to it that benefited the lighter tone while not being without its darker moments. It did have issues with its villains but that's a small price to pay for a truly fantastic experience that feels like a good half way between the DCEU's haters and its supporters.
9.1/10-A (Phenomenal)