the best entry in the DCEU cinematic universe so far

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2017)

While not a perfect movie, "Wonder Woman" is definitely good and by far the best movie of the DCEU. After the likes of "Batman v Superman" and "Suicide Squad", my bar was set pretty low for this movie, and I'm glad to say that it exceeded my expectations.
The beginning starts off a bit weak and exposition-heavy, which was slightly off-putting but still enjoyable enough. However, the second that Steve (Chris Pine) and Diana leave her island, the movie takes a turn for the better. It was refreshing to see that the two love interests in a superhero movie actually had chemistry for a change, and watching them interacting and learning things from each other was just a delight. Without a doubt, the middle was the strongest part of the movie, and the most enjoyable aspect was Diana and Steve's relationship, partly because of the script, but mostly because of the performances by Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Speaking of Chris Pine, his character actually serves a purpose in the movie and works perfectly next to Diana. Both characters learn from the relationship and grow as people, Diana learning about the realism of the world from Steve, and Steve learning something from Diana's childish optimism, and that there is always something to believe in. Gal Gadot was a delight in the role of Wonder Woman. I was slightly worried while watching "Batman v Superman" because I thought she would play a bland and boring version of the character, but this movie just shoved that fear aside. Her line delivery at times could have been better, but it was the emotional lines that counted, and boy, does she know how to deliver a blow. Aside from that, the movie also raises a few interesting points about war and the goodness of men. It forces you to see war from the perspective of someone who never witnessed anything like that before, and who is genuinely baffled by this war and why anybody would choose to start something like it. All of this is brought up in some very powerful scenes, and the goodness of Diana can actually move you, separating her from some other "purely good" characters we've seen before, such as Superman and Captain America.
Now on to the negatives. Most of the problems with this movie come with the villains and the obvious meddling of the studio. Let's talk about the villains first. There's two major villains in the real world - Dr Poison and a German general (I believe), but there's also obviously Ares, whom Diana is set on finding because she believes it will end the war if she kills him. The two "real world" villains were pretty generic and over the top, with unclear motivations and just completely forgettable. Without spoiling anything, "Ares" is not much better. There was a clear point in the movie where I thought "Okay, this is beautiful, I hope they stop right here and end on a quiet, but enlightening note", but they just HAD to shove in a major, over-blown CGI battle at the end, which I thought was completely unnecessary. It completely ruined the point that the movie was trying to raise, and if the ending was different, I would have given this movie a higher rating. Also, a minor thing that sort of bugged me (I know it bothered some people more, it was just a minor thing for me, though), is the excessive use of slow motion. I'm not really a fan of Zack Snyder, and as we all know, he really does go overboard with the slow motion. And yes, I know that the movie was directed by Patty Jenkins, and not Zack Snyder, but he was involved with the film and clearly had a role in it.
All in all, this movie was definitely better than what I had expected, I'm just slightly disappointed that it went the traditional superhero route by the end when it could have been so much more, but otherwise, I think it's a great, fun movie that DC fans are going to love.