Wonder Woman makes a wondrous debut on the big screen

Rating: 9/10 (28 June 2017)

Wonder Woman is probably the best known female superhero, Marvel or DC. They made a television show featuring her back in the 70's starring Lynda Carter and was probably the first introductions of her to me as a child as well as the old Justice League cartoons they used to air all the time. A bit surprising that it took so long for her to be featured in a film, but not surprised by the success this movie is having as it was good. It also features a new character and I do believe that is another reason it has been successful. DC seems to be only good at getting Batman and Superman up onto the big screen. Granted, they did Green Lantern too, but I may have enjoyed that one a bit, most however turned their backs on it. I do not think though, that this is the best comic book film ever as some reviewers claim as I can think of many that I thought were better; however, this was a good one. Like a lot of films these days though, it did run a little long, but so many go over two hours. At least this one showcased the hero a lot more than other films. Watch a Transformers film and you get so much padding that is unnecessary while they shy away from showing any action, while this one has Diane battling rather early.
The story has a race of women known as Amazons living on an island that is hidden from the rest of the world. On it a young child resides whose mother is queen. Diane wants to learn how to fight, but her mother is a bit hesitant. The mother's sister convinces the mother that Diane needs to know how to fight and thus her training begins. When sparring she displays a power that seems more unnatural and powerful than even her fellow Amazons posses. A plane flies through the dome that hides the island and soon Diane learns of a war that is killing millions. She wishes to stop this war and goes with the pilot, Steve, to London where he assembles a rag tag group to try and find a chemicals weapon plant where a chemist known as Dr. Poison works to make a chemical weapon that will render gas masks useless. However, Diane's main goal is to find the god of war, Ares whom she believes responsible for the deadly war plaguing the world.
I enjoyed this film as Gal Gadot does a good job as Wonder Woman/Diane. When she first arrives in London it is humorous watching her try and fit in and get clothes. Chris Pine does a nice job too playing essentially her love interest. The film also kept me guessing as to who the bad guy was going to be. I knew the one guy was too obvious, but in the end I did not figure out who it was until they revealed themselves.
So the film was good and it had more action than I was expecting as a couple of people I know almost made it sound like a chick flick or something. No, it is most certainly a comic book film, in fact I would compare it to another war time comic book film, Captain America. Only in this one you do have Diane's naivety of the world outside her island differentiating it from that film as well that this one was set during World War I rather than the second World War. I have enjoyed all the DC films thus far, unlike a lot of people. I thought Man of Steel, Suicide Squad were both really good and rank this one with those and all three are better than Batman versus Superman. I am only counting the ones in this new shared universe and not going back any further than Man of Steel. So good film, nice action and a wonderful start for the most well known female superhero.