Wonderful Woman

Rating: 8/10 (1 June 2017)

This review of Wonder Woman is spoiler free
**** (4/5)
THERE'S A SAYING, a metaphor perhaps that states if a series or a distributor starts with a few false starts in previous instalments then the hype for the next instalment will dwindle, this, of course is true for other series' of films but for the DCEU it clearly isn't. There have been a few false starts for the series, Man of Steel didn't live to expectation nor Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice wasn't as good as was previously thought then Suicide Squad fell into the world of shame rather than live up to what it said on the tin. It seem the DCEU was in need of a saviour, at first this saviour came from a meme â€“ this had a bruised Batman and tired Superman fighting in an endless war, then beyond that shadow stands Gal Gadot's Diana â€“ perhaps the saviour of BvS.
After Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman the metaphor loses its sight, and goes into turmoil, in the opening few minutes there's colour, a narration that explains the comings of war between gods and humans and a young Diana Prince (exceptional work from youngster Lilly Aspell) willing to train for a coming war. Her mother (Robin Wright) explains that there is no need to do this â€“ after this the origin of the princess progresses to when she is all grown up and has become a trained warrior. The opening origin story is exceptional there's a lot colour which we haven't seen in previous instalments, there's stunning story narration and a wonderful shot of Gadot's Diana training with her auntie (Connie Nielsen) the best fighter on the island. An island inhabited by women until a manly presence invades their homeland enter American spy Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), he speaks of an ongoing war in the outer world. When he's teamed with Gadot their chemistry is magnificent these two work well together and prove to be the dynamic that we need.
Pine is exceptional as Steve, he's funny, he's handsome, and he's a charmer who does anything to please our heroine. Diana who's never seen a man before is wonderful to behold especially when she tells Steve about where she comes from. She wants to go with him to go fight the ongoing war â€“ meanwhile villainous doctor, Dr. Poison (Elana Anaya) and her warmongering companion Ludendorff (Danny Huston) design dangerous weapons to outfit their soldiers. It's a wonderful story of war and super heroism a mach that never made a keen pairing before but now-a-days it works. It's dark but constantly dark and brooding as the previous films, something that the earlier DCEU intended to rely on Wonder Woman proves that you don't need to be dark to be good.
And she does her job well, as Diana Gadot is fantastic she's a beautiful princess who loves the world of men and believes that life has a meaning, as her stronger alter ego she's exceptional, she's strong but on the inside she's vulnerable, unlike the caped crusaders or the men of steel she's not afraid to show emotion and the other wonder woman helming her director Jenkins shows this with exquisite style. Diana was the saviour in BvS, here she proves to be the saviour again who takes no BS. And Jenkins proves that a DC movie can have style too â€“ she adds a lot of elements here that makes this super-human feel more human as said she adds emotion there are other elements too the vulnerability makes her a more connectable superhero it proves strength in the female superhero line.
Sadly it's not wonderful, in the last 20 minutes it hits a clichÃ© cg barrier that other superhero movies seem to rely on now-a-days, there are some moments that look they're made from green screen and sadly doesn't make it as good as it could've been. Other than that everything here delivers exceptionally well Jenkins proves that could teach the caped crusaders or men of steel a thing or two with this instalment, it's she's brought new light to the DCEU and it's about damn time.
VERDICT: After a few false starts to the DCEU it finally has a success in fantastic style that hits punches with brilliant execution and fabulous performances this is perhaps the best instalment to the DCEU ever, now we can breathe again.