Wonder Woman poster

Wonder Woman

Certificate: 12A

Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen

Release date: 2017

4 out of 5

4

After the disappointing Batman V Superman, Man Of Steel and Suicide Squad, it was starting to seem as if DC Comics would never make a decent comic book movie to rival anything in Marvel’s cinematic universe. Wonder Woman,  from director Patty Jenkins, however, smartly reinvents the legend of the shield-bearing, lasso-of-truth-wielding Amazonian and in doing so becomes by far the best DC movie since Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

After a brief prologue in the modern day, we head back to the early 20th century, where young Diana (Gadot) lives on a hidden island populated by the Amazons, powerful warrior women led by her mother Queen Hippolyta (Nielsen) and fighter aunt Antiope (Wright). When a World War I pilot named Steve Trevor (Pine) crashes onto their shores and tells of the war to end all wars in which he is fighting, Diana decides she must leave her sheltered home and stop the threat.

With a plot that encompasses chemical warfare, man’s destruction of man, Greek legends and even a little romance (don’t worry boys, there’s only one brief smooch), Wonder Woman had the potential to be a big mess but instead, thanks to a tight script, taut direction and neat performances from Pine, Wright and a supporting cast that includes David Thewlis and Said Taghmaoui, it comes together really well, only faltering in the final big bang let’s-throw-everything-at-the-screen confrontation that seems to be obligatory in all fantasy adventures.

Of course, no amount of excellent direction or well-chosen words would mean anything if Wonder Woman herself wasn’t that mix of strength, vulnerability, beauty and kick-ass moves that we’ve come to expect from the DC Comics and Lynda Carter’s 70s TV incarnation. Happily, Gal Gadot is everything you would want in a Diana Prince/Amazonian super heroine and more, she’s tough, fun, immensely watchable, and more than a match for love interest Pine and slightly hammy baddie Danny Huston. And thanks to her star-making performance, the upcoming Justice League movies (which team Diana with Batman, Superman and other DC heroes) just got a whole lot more interesting.

Is Wonder Woman suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...

This movie is a 12A certificate in the UK and is aimed at older kids (10+) and adults due to war/battle scenes, fight scenes etc.

Younger children may be upset by the deaths of two supporting characters.

They may also be disturbed by scenes depicting the WWI trenches and German attack on a village.

The movie also features two scenes showing the effects of a poisonous gas on people.

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