"Wonder Woman" Movie Review

by Sheryl Wall

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot and directed by Patty Jenkins has finally graced the big screen aiming to tell the origin story of one of DC’s most beloved heroes. In this movie, we follow Diana of Themiscyra, an Amazonian princess, who leaves her secluded home to travel to the world of man on a mission to save it by killing the God of War Ares during one of the most brutal wars to ever happen, World War I.

This film had a lot of pressure to succeed both critically and commercially. Some of that pressure being fair, it’s part of the so far lackluster DCEU film universe, and unfair that it was somehow a litmus test for a female-led female-directed superhero action adventure movie. Well, not only did the movie deliver financially, it is actually a great film, leagues better than anything DC has put out since “The Dark Knight.” In fact, I would go on to say that this is the best superhero movie made. Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot knocked it out of the park because they understood the fundamental core of the Wonder Woman character and gave us a coherent inspirational hero’s journey.

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From the writing to the action to the acting and directing this movie delivers, primarily because it always stays true to the story it’s trying to tell. There are many things I love about this movie, but I will only highlight a few for the sake of brevity. First, there is finally a DC movie with some humor. Even against the backdrop of World War 1, the movie understands that even during the worst of times levity is needed, and it’s mostly provided by any scene with Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, who plays Steve Trevor, Diana’s connection to the human world. Also, the action scenes are just amazing. The way the Amazons and Diana herself fight is something new and old, and it gives the scenes this extra cool quality because you really haven’t seen this before. Possibly my favorite thing about this movie is that it tells a superhero story where the hero actually gets to be a hero by choice because they feel in this case it is the right thing to do. By that, I mean, most if not all superheroes in recent films are pushed by a villain to either save their own lives or the lives of loved ones. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it gets repetitive. So to see what most and myself included are calling the standout sequence in the film Diana crosses No Man’s Land to save a village was not only inspirational but breathtaking.

Image source: DC

If I had to critique this film at all, and I’m being nit picky, some of the CGI could have been better. But if I’m honest, I don’t actually care because we finally have a good DC movie, and we finally have a Wonder Woman. Ultimately, this movie succeeds because its creators understood the central character and gave her a fantastic narrative to showcase it.

Wonder Woman is currently playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website. Platinum Theaters Dinuba 6 now proudly presents digital quality films in 2-D and 3-D with 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound to maximize your movie experience.

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Jesus Ibarra is 24 years old; with a love of all media, he's always on the lookout for the best finds.