In the hope of getting fans and thusfar unimpressed critics finally onboard with their new cinematic universe, DC delivered this very first Wonder Woman movie in 2017 which, incidentally, received far more praise than the likes of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice or Suicide Squad right away, thereby breathing some life into an increasingly shaky project.

Gal Gadot returns as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, the super-powerful, golden lasso-swinging Amazon, in this action-packed origin story which sees the iconic comic-book character leave her Paradise Island with American WWI spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) in order to defeat a growing threat. The film initially spends some time establishing its mythology and showing us Diana's youth as she trains to become a warrior despite her mother's reservations, before the Amazons' world is invaded by German soldiers who have somehow stumbled upon the hidden island.

It's clear from the start that Wonder Woman works much better as a character in this movie than she did in Batman V Superman where she was shoehorned in with little rhyme or reason. We get to see different sides to her personality as well as the full extent of her powers. She is heroic, tough, smart yet naive and the scenes depicting Wonder Woman fighting enemy soldiers on the Front stand out as easily the best parts of this movie.

Like in Captain America: The First Avenger, the World War setting makes for an intense and memorable backdrop for a superhero to show off their skills and defeat a whole bunch of bad guys. Gal Gadot does a great job with the action scenes and visibly has a good amount of fun with the more comedic moments making Wonder Woman arguably the most approachable DC hero in this new super-franchise. Diana Prince's relationship with Steve Trevor is also one of the film's highlights as Gadot and Pine play off each other really well.

It's a shame, then, that the script goes completely off-track in the film's mostly corny last act as the main villain, David Thewlis' Ares, finally faces Wonder Woman in a sea of smoky CG and bad one-liners. There's far too much slow-motion throughout all the otherwise cool-looking action sequences constantly reminding us that we are still very much in the "Snyderverse" that once gave us the dire Man Of Steel. It doesn't help that Thewlis feels a tad miscast and the actually interesting German army baddies are criminally underused. Luckily, this is still a much better effort and the DCEU's most accomplished movie yet.

It's easy to see why this movie has been showered with praise since its release: it's fun, the action scenes are fab, it doesn't bother trying to be edgy and, as the first ever Wonder Woman movie, it doesn't fail to give the character the respect she deserves. Granted, the film itself is underwritten: its villains are frankly not very good and the ending could have been considerably better but it's still a slick and entertaining popcorn superhero flick.
 

A good time.