Wonder Woman is the 4th theatrical installment into the DC cinematic universe. Directed by Patty Jenkins, known for her work on lifetime feature films such as Monster, the film contains many themes of feminism. It stars the Israeli born actress Gal Gadot as Princess Diana of Themyscira, who notably is also known as Wonder Woman, and Chris Pine, famous for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek franchise, as Steve Trevor, an allied spy.

The film is set in 1918, right as the Great War is on the brink of an armistice. Steve Trevor accidently runs into Themyscira, the land of the Amazons, who are a tribe of women warriors who were created by Zeus, solely to defend the human race and to defeat the god of war, Ares. As German troops pursue him, Trevor crashes into nearby waters and out of curiousity, Diana rescues him, who by the way has never seen a man before. When brought up before the queen of themyscira, Hippolyta, Trevor explains that there is a war going on, a war greater any other human conflict in human history and that in order to end it and to prevent the death of millions more, the Amazons must let him go. Diana interprets this information as Ares’ evil doings and believes that if she finds Ares and kills him, she can end the war. Therefore the two then journey into the world and begin their quest to end the war to end all wars.

The first thing that can be said about Wonder Woman is that it is an astounding blockbuster, in the sense that it captures all the qualities that make a film of this sort successful and more importantly, entertaining.

The main issue with all past DCU films is that they all seem to stick with a dark tone throughout the entire film. There was no variety and it made the films seem dull. Wonder Woman finally smashes that trend.

Shockingly, the film had color, both literally and aesthetically. It also handled it’s pacing very well. It was heartwarming, fast paced, and disturbing when it needed to be. It doesn’t feel cluttered with awkward and redundant scenes. Every scene feels important to the main plot of the film.

It also handles comedy very well. It isn’t over saturated with attempts at humor and is only used to poke fun at very ridiculous points in the film, such as Diana’s origin story or as a reaction to her naive perspective of the world during the 1900s.

Gal Gadot by my surprise, actually takes the role of wonder woman extremely well and you can tell. Unexpectedly, Gadot, who is a model, is successfully able to emit strong emotions at tense scenes, while being able to switch it all up by the next.

Chris Pine should be applauded as well for his performance, for his highly charismatic personality helped to make the character of Steve Trevor very likable and the perfect companion to Diana.

That is another very successful aspect of the film- the relationship between our two leads. Considering the first act is mostly Diana directly facing the world with her ignorance with Steve Trevor behind her, it was vital that these two were fluid when they exchanged dialogue in the big screen… and they nailed it. Gadot and Pine manage to work off each other so well, that they are create a very strong sense of chemistry.

Every Time the two were interacting with each other, it was magic. If the film had just been Diana and Steve just chatting the entire time, I would not mind watching it through. They were just that great.

Wonder Woman, of course, isn’t a perfect movie. It suffers from many problems common within most superhero films of today. The most notable being the fact there is no strong villain within the film, which is a continuing trend with almost all Marvel and DC films. However, Wonder Woman takes it further by having not only one weak villain, but three even weaker villains. There is no central evil within the film. There are also many logical inconsistencies and a plot hole that leaves the viewer pondering the reality of what’s at stake within the film. But other than that the film is just pure, dumb, summer fun.

The action scenes are nicely coordinated and when things go down, it really is something special. However, the use of slow motion effects is a little bit too prominent and loses it’s effect after each use.

All in all, the film is a spectacle. It isn’t anything groundbreaking in the realm of hollywood, but it is quite unique. This movie will surely satisfy the common movie goer. It’s also great to see a female lead handling herself in what was a world dominated by men.

So with all that being said, Wonder Woman is a must see. 4/5