Summary - Perfect 5.0

Miss Israel kicks ass as Wonder Woman. But that’s not all, not by a long shot. Wonder Woman is a perfect superhero movie, deeply of the genre, yet soaring above it. That puts it in the small pantheon of DC movies, deadly earnest in the DC tradition, a la The Dark Knight, yet shot through with profoundly charming LOLs. Wow, Wonder Woman saves the summer! That’s a superhero accomplishment if ever there was one.

Gal Gadot and Chris Pine make an exceptionally attractive pair of leads, physically and charismatically. The onetime Miss Israel plays earnest and deeply intelligent, while the onetime Cinderella’s Prince is charming, yet truly funny. We knew he was a major star, though his expanding range continues to dazzle. She, OTOH, is a bolt from the blue, the Wonder Woman for a new generation and a newly minted icon.

This tremendously well-crafted and inspired reboot imagines Wonder Woman as Princess of the Amazons, a race of super-attractive female warriors who apparently are totally asexual. Pity. Damn, but then it is a PG-13 blockbuster. There’s nothing even Sapphic, nor are men missed. As a guy, I was a happy voyeur.

As to villains, WWI Germans are equally outstanding movie creeps as their WWII Nazi successors. Plus, poison gas as a superweapon is both true to WWI history and even more potent a symbol when a Jewess plays the superhero who stops the Germans from gassing innocents. Deeply moving stuff, this.

Wonder Woman is a deserved global phenomenon, causing commotion from Amman to America, Israel to India. It didn’t bring me to tears, but did make me feel very good, often grinning ear to ear. It is wonder full.

Acting - Perfect 5.0

Stars

• Gal Gadot has the perfect name to play Wonder Woman, Gal being the word I prefer to refer to a woman. Her Diana Prince is an immortal Amazon princess and demigoddess, the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, and half-sister of Ares. That side of her is like Kal-El, while Wonder Woman is the Superman side. Lilly Aspel plays Diana at 8. Emily Carey plays her at 12.
• Chris Pine lightens the movie as an American pilot who is Diana’s love interest and martial partner. Pine turns in a comically charming charade of Cary Grant proportions.

Amazons (All speak with Israeli accents, not just Gal Gadot’s Diana)

• Connie Nielsen as Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta, the Amazon queen of Themyscira
• Robin Wright as her sister, Diana’s aunt and mentor. She’s also the top general of the Amazons.
• Lisa Loven Kongsli as her lieutenant

Civilians

• Lucy Davis charms in small doses as Pine’s loyal and comical secretary, and then Diana’s ally.

Villains

• Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff is a first class villain
• David Thewlis as a wolf in sheep’s clothing
• Elena Anaya as “Doctor Poison”: This terrific Spanish actress is always worth watching, first catching my notice in Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In.

Trevor’s Soldiers

• Eugene Brave Rock as a Native American smuggler who gets people across the front lines.
• Ewen Bremner as a heavy-drinking Scotsman and onetime sharpshooter
• Saïd Taghmaoui as a French Moroccan con-artist and secret agent

Film - Perfect 5.0

Patty Jenkins’ lauded film never falters, pleasingly packed with action, drama and wit in equal measure. That last sets it apart from most DC fare, placing it in Marvel territory, where most of the best superhero films originate. “Average?” Wonder Woman asks. Wonder Woman is above average, well above.

Edge - Risqué 2.2

Reality - Fantasy 4.4

Superhero movies are quintessential fantasies.

Fantastic filmic trickery aside, Wonder Woman is a cultural phenomenon because of its cultural resonance: to women most of all, but also to Jews, and especially to Israelis.

More reviews on Wonder Woman More reviews by Wick

• Feed
• Movies
• ViewLists
• NewOnDemand