Film Review: ‘Wonder Woman’

(Rated PG-13; DC Films & Atlas Entertainment) 

“Be careful in the world of men Diana. They do not deserve you.”
-Amazon Queen Hippolyta to her only daughter.

C’mon. Do we really even need to discuss this?

Gal Gadot is spectacular and flat-out radiant in DC Comic’s best superhero outing yet in one of the most faithful comic-to-film adaptations ever, “Wonder Woman.” Mad props to long-time champion and director of the project Patty Jenkins, who clearly not only understands Diana of Themyscira, but also the desires of her woefully under-served core fans and a rabid, awaiting worldwide audience.

Jenkins and Gadot genuinely portray Diana as believable, genuinely fearless, at times, strangely naïve, relatable and even slightly vulnerable. Also, the script successfully mines and fuses aspects of decades-old lore of her most plausible origin, while retaining a perfect mix of action, drama, humor, mythology, nascent feminism and even an undercurrent of refreshing idealism.

Robin Wright is equally physically and visually arresting as General Antiope, while Gadot, too, commands the screen as a vibrant, adroit, fully-realized warrior. Pay special attention to the exquisite, fluid, freeze-framed unmatchable choreographed fight sequences of her fellow Amazons, which are breathtaking! The beach scenes alone contain more bad-assery than mere words can describe.

There are portions of the film that are literally making audiences burst out in well-deserved applause and hell, even Steve Trevor is more than just the perfunctory (and sometimes, annoying) male than his usual comic counterpart.

Most telling, though set in World War I, “Wonder Woman” is keenly topical for our times and future generations of women and their societal challenges to come. After almost 80 years and countless less-worthy franchises prematurely cutting in line and taking the spotlight, both Gal Gadot and Wonder Woman not only live up to our highest expectations, they exceed them.

“Wonder Woman” is playing nationwide.