At 5am this morning UK time the review embargo for Wonder Woman finally lifted. For many fans the nervous wait to see how the critics would is finally over. The verdict? Critics and fans alike are hailing Wonder Woman a tremendous success for the DCEU. As of 8am this morning UK time the film holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96% fresh.
Here’s a few choice comments:
Yet as with all comics-based extravaganzas, brevity is anathema to the Patty Jenkins-directed Wonder Woman, and it doesn’t quite transcend the traits of franchise product as it checks off the list of action-fantasy requisites. But this origin story, with its direct and relatively uncluttered trajectory, offers a welcome change of pace from a superhero realm that’s often overloaded with interconnections and cross-references.
It may have taken four films to get there, but the DC Extended Universe has finally produced a good old-fashioned superhero. Sure, previous entries in the Warner Bros. assembly line have given us sporadically successful, demythified takes on Batman and Superman, but they’ve all seemed skeptical, if not downright hostile, toward the sort of unabashed do-gooderism that DC Comics’ golden-age heroes exemplified. Never prone to stewing in solitude, and taking more notes from Richard Donner than from Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” provides a welcome respite from DC’s house style of grim darkness — boisterous, earnest, sometimes sloppy, yet consistently entertaining — with star Gal Gadot proving an inspired choice for this avatar of truth, justice and the Amazonian way.
Wonder Woman is leaps and bounds above the other three entries in the DCEU. With a dramatic setting, a few entertaining action scenes, and a strong supporting cast all working together to tell an inspirational Hero’s Journey, it more than offsets some occasionally uneven acting on Gadot’s part and some shaky technical aspects. The messy third act fight, however, is something that has plagued other superhero movies and is something even Wonder Woman cannot overcome. Overall, Wonder Woman is a win because it successfully tells the story of a woman taking on a war-torn world with the power of love. What’s more heroic than that?
But it’s hard to quibble about what’s wrong with a movie that gets so much right, especially when it comes to Gadot’s revelatory portrayal of Wonder Woman. The wait is over, folks. The DC movie you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.
Head over to the films Rotten Tomatoes page for a full roundup of reviews.
Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers and her true destiny.
Wonder Woman hits movie theaters around the world in June when Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action adventure from director Patty Jenkins (MONSTER, AMC’S THE KILLING). Joining Gadot in the international cast are Chris Pine (the STAR TREK films), Robin Wright (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, HOUSE OF CARDS), Danny Huston (CLASH OF THE TITANS, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE), David Thewlis (the HARRY POTTER films, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING), Connie Nielsen (THE FOLLOWING, GLADIATOR), Elena Anaya (THE SKIN I LIVE IN), Ewen Bremner (EXODUS: GODS & KINGS, SNOWPIERCER), Lucy Davis (SHAUN OF THE DEAD), Lisa Loven Kongsli (upcoming ASHES IN THE SNOW), Eugene Brave Rock (AMC’S HELL ON WHEELS) and Said Taghmaoui (AMERICAN HUSTLE).
Patty Jenkins directs the film from a screenplay by Allan Heinberg, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, based on characters from DC. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston. The film is produced by Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder and Richard Suckle, with Stephen Jones, Geoff Johns, Wesley Coller, Jon Berg and Rebecca Steel Roven serving as executive producers. Joining Jenkins behind the camera are director of photography Matthew Jensen (CHRONICLE, FANTASTIC FOUR, HBO’S GAME OF THRONES), Oscar-nominated production designer Aline Bonetto (AMELIE, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, PAN), Oscar-winning editor Martin Walsh (CHICAGO, JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT, V FOR VENDETTA), and Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY, TOPSY-TURVY). The music is by composer Rupert Gregson-Williams (HACKSAW RIDGE, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN). Warner Bros. Pictures presents, an Atlas Entertainment/Cruel and Unusual production, Wonder Woman. The film is scheduled for release beginning June 2, 2017, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
