What the first Wonder Woman reviews are saying

MICHAEL CAVNA

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins says that within the multiplex of high-octane,
sensory-assaulting action films, she believes there is still an audience that appreciates
subtle touches, too - even if "not everybody cares about those nuances."

Judging by the first wave of reviews for her new film, her attention to detail is being
highly appreciated by critics.

Wonder Woman is being called the best DC film in a nearly a decade, since 2008's The
Dark Knight, inspiring such headline hosannas as "Finally, a DC Comics movie that
works" (Chicago Tribune) and the "Smart, satisfying DC movie you've been waiting for"
(Entertainment Weekly).
Gal Gadot wins high praise as the ideal avatar for an overdue return of Wonder Woman.

Gal Gadot wins high praise as the ideal avatar for an overdue return of Wonder Woman.

On Metacritic.com, Wonder Woman (opening Thursday June 1) has literally the best
score for a DC superhero film since The Dark Knight, with an average of "79" (Dark
Knight sits at 82). Jenkins's first feature film since 2003's Monster also scores a 96 per
cent "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.com.

Last year, DC's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (44 on Metacritic) and Suicide
Squad (40) both received a critical drubbing. (The only DC superhero film to score highly
since Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy ended in 2012 wasn't even live-action, in
fact, but rather this year's Lego Batman Movie.)

If the reviews for Wonder Woman stay true to form, the path toward November's
superhero team-up Justice League looks much brighter.

"Until now only the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman pictures (and, really, only The
Dark Knight back in 2008) have felt like real movies, worth debating or exploring or
more than a shrug," the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips writes. " Wonder Woman is
less distinctive visually, and the performances are more solid than remarkable ... but
Jenkins' picture is serious fun guided by a sincere belief in the superheroine created in
1941 by William Moulton Marston."

"How deliciously ironic that in a genre where the boys seem to have all the fun, a female
hero and a female director are the ones to show the fellas how it's done," writes
Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty, adding that the film "never bludgeons you with
its gender politics. It's far too assured and sly for that."
Calling the film a "profound experience" in these divisive times, USA Today's Kelly
Lawler embraces the shift in tone: "Unlike the recent parade of bleak superhero tales
from both studios, it makes you feel good while you watch it."

Variety's Andrew Barker strikes a similar chord, writing that the movie "provides a
welcome respite from DC's house style of grim darkness" because it's "boisterous,
earnest, sometimes sloppy, yet consistently entertaining."

The film's stars, Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, come in for praise as Wonder Woman/Diana
Prince and pilot/love interest Steve Trevor.

The Tribune's Phillips writes that Gadot "can hold a goddess-like warrior gaze like
nobody's business." Variety's Barker calls Gadot "an inspired choice for this avatar of
truth, justice and the Amazonian way." And ScreenCrush's Matt Singer says that the two
well-cast stars are "oozing charisma."

One of the few critics so far to see serious flaws in the film is the Guardian's Steve Rose,
who likens the sanitised co-opting of trench warfare to a Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad. He
writes archly: "What promised to be a glass-ceiling-smashing blockbuster actually looks
more like a future camp classic. ... By the time this ragtag league of nations reaches the
trenches, poor Diana has been reduced to a weaponised Smurfette."

And multiple critics noted that the film "falters" a bit in the third act.

Wonder Woman opens here on Thursday June 1.