Wonder Woman

Year: 2017
Genre: Drama
Directed: Patty Jenkins
Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya, David Thewlis, Lucy Davis, Ewen Bremner, Danny Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Eugene Brave Rock, Doutzen Kroes
Production: Warner Bros.

Part of the problem with the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is it often feels like it's beholden to a lot of different masters. From the get go, it needed to be immediately palpable to mainstream audiences while throwing in enough fan-service for those who knew every esoteric piece of increasingly convoluted mythology. It then needed to balance that same mythology on the backs of a multitude of reoccurring characters, a plethora of converging themes, a gauntlet of story dynamics and, because the whole circus had the unmistakable tinge of a franchise geared towards Monster swilling, Call of Duty playing, insecure 13-year-olds, it also throws in pretentious amounts of Philosophy 101 under the auspice of being "mind-blowing". Add to all that Warner Bros.'s desire to copy Marvel while emphatically denying they're copying Marvel, and their pesky need to, you know, keep the lights on, it's become pretty clear they've bitten off a lot more than they can chew.

Thankfully Wonder Woman douses the still raging dumpster fire that is the DCEU with a tall glass of soothing bio-luminescent water. It takes out half the algebra, concentrates on the basics and leaves you with a singularly excellent movie. It's not perfect, and it may not give DC the course correction it truly needs but it still conjures memories of Christopher Reeves's Superman (1978) in the best possible sense. So for now I say, stand aside superherodom, Wonder Woman has finally arrived and boy is it about d**n time.

The DCEU: now in color!

Nearly the entirety of Wonder Woman takes place before the events of BvS: Electric Boogaloo (2016); which places our titular character on the island of Themyscira somewhere between Ancient Antiquity and the early twentieth century. It's established early on that Diana (Gadot) is a near-immortal, living in relative peace with her mother Queen Hippolyta (Nielsen), her aunt General Antiope (Wright) and the rest of her Amazonian peers.

That is until the day Steve Trevor (Pine), a roguish American pilot and British Intelligence spy, crash lands on the shores of the island and fills everyone in on The Great War (WWI). Hearing that millions of innocents have already been slaughtered, Diana concludes that Ares, the mythical God of War, must be behind all the carnage and vows to stop him. It's a simplistic and naive worldview that Steve doesn't truly buy, but she saved his life and can kill him in nearly a hundred ways..so off they go to stop the war.

Now there are many reasons to celebrate the arrival of Wonder Woman. It's a controlled and structured narrative (emphasis on the word: structured) that sustains itself with interesting, believable characters, organic fish-out-of-water humor and a clear black hat, white hat binary. It introduces Diana as a source of both physical and inner strength and never thinks to undermine that strength in the service of cultural appeasement. It includes both the best and most farfetched aspects of Wonder Woman's mythos, while grounding everything in reality and, and here's the greatest part, the movie makes it all look easy. This thing isn't molded with the jagged edges of plot contrivances and misplaced bluster but rather meets its overall serious tone with a simple story that's ironically about the complexities of human nature.

If we're being honest though, the whole enterprise would arguably be for not, if it wasn't in the capable hands Gal Gadot. She takes what could have been a female Superman clone and turns Diana into a fun, engaging character who's energy is bolstered by her determinism and purity of heart. She not only brings a level of command and natural chemistry to the party, she also brings a physicality to the role which was only hinted at in BvS: The Silent Killer, because it's hard to pit your Kung Fu kickboxing, capoeira, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and swordsmanship skills against a CGI ug-monster.

Which brings me to the movies third act which, by in-large sticks the landing but fits a little too comfortably in the "hero v large, fake-looking monster" box. Worse still, because the film cashes in on the audience's goodwill to relay what might come across as a sappy mission statement, many may feel Wonder Woman's character change is loose and unearned. I'd argue that by simply stressing an economy of thought (there's also a love story at play, let's not forget) in what is essentially a summer popcorn flick, the overall product should be met with appreciation if not applause.

Okay DC bro's you can stop complaining no one likes your movies

Maybe I'm just so used to the DCEU s**tting the bed on a regular basis, that finding halfway decent sheets with hospital corners feels like a godsend. In the months to come, the faults may loom larger and the positives may dissipate in a cloud of noxious bat gas. For now though, I'm going to safely announce that Wonder Woman is unarguably the best in the franchise and I'll also put a little skin in the game by saying this movie will stand the test of time.

Final Grade: B+