WONDER WOMAN

"It is our sacred duty to defend the World. And it is what I'm going to do."

Over the past nine years, Marvel has slowly, carefully and brilliantly been building up a shared movie universe. A few years back, DC began building their own, and to be perfectly honest, it's been struggling ever since. I liked Man of Steel, I truly did. But not everyone does. I can understand why, but I still like it. Then came the hugely divisive Batman V Superman and the almost irredeemable Suicide Squad. To sum up, hope that DC would pull through on this venture was, for me, quickly dwindling. Now though, the fourth installment of DC's Cinematic Universe is here: Wonder Woman. And bloody hell is it good.

Taking place during the first World War, Wonder Woman sees Diana, Princess of the Amazons leave her utopian island home after an american soldier washes up on it's shores. Travelling for the first time into the world of Man, Diana becomes Wonder Woman, fighting for Justice in a world at war and doomed to destroy itself, in pursuit of the villainous Ares, the God of War.

Well then...Where to start?

To be honest, the thing I liked most about the plot of the movie was kind of strange. On the surface, it has a fairly simple structure for an origin movie. But at the same time, it's a character that most people know by name, but not a huge much more than that these days. But seeing this character's world on the big screen worked marvellously. The first act of the film, which focuses primarily on Diana growing up on the island was possibly my favourite segment of the entire film. Much like Man of Steel did with Krypton back in 2013, Wonder Woman's story starts off in her home, and that allows for some truly brilliant scenes, and some spectacular cinematography to play out.

As the film moved on, yes there were some slow scenes, but I dare you to name a decent film that doesn't take some time to build it's story. It is some time after the fight between the Amazons and the German army at the start of the film until another battle sequence takes centre stage, but when it does, it'll give you chills.

In a fight between the Amazons and the German Army, the audience were the real winners as some of the movie's best cinematography took centre stage. Meanwhile, The scene which sees Wonder Woman take on the German Army in No Man's Land was a perfect reveal for the hero that Diana becomes...

One of the stand out best parts of the film for me was the soundtrack. Last year, Hans Zimmer laid the groundwork for this movie with the track 'Is She With You?' in Batman v Superman. I suggest you go have a quick listen, it's great. While the legendary Zimmer doesn't return for this film, Rupert Gregson-Williams, who also did the pretty impressive soundtrack for Hacksaw Ridge, provides a soundtrack that's nothing short of incredible. Whatever the scene calls for, Gregson-Williams' music accompanies it to no fault throughout the movie, and he uses Zimmer's track to perfection in the final act.

Now we come to the star of the show, Gal Gadot. AKA: Wonder Woman.

Back when she was cast in the role for Batman V Superman, a lot of people got upset for a lot of stupid reasons. I was admittedly not hugely concerned because I was still coming to terms with the fact that Ben Affleck would be the next Batman. And I'll be the first to admit I was gravely wrong in my belief that he would be awful. Then when the time came, Gadot shone in BVS, and shines again in her own movie.

Gadot's performance is nothing short of brilliant throughout the film, and what surprised me the most is just how different her character is between the events of Wonder Woman and BVS. Gadot tackles both big heroic scenes and smaller, more emotional moments, of which she is given many, with ease, as DC's track record of great castings for their characters continues.

The film's leading man comes in the form of Chris Pine's Steve Trevor, the American Solider who crashes on the Amazon's island.

While I will admit it was strange for a while not seeing Pine at the helm of the Enterprise, much like Gadot he shines in this film. His interactions with Diana bring some of the film's funniest one liners, and his purpose in the story on the whole fits Pine's talents almost perfectly. He brings both humour and action to his role, although part of me does still wish he'd gotten cast as the new Green Lantern instead.

It's at this point that I'd usually talk about the villain of the film, but I'm going to have to do so carefully, so stay with me. Yes, the villain of the movie is Ares. Yes, that does mean the final battle of the film is mostly CGI. And yes, it's also a lot of fun to watch and a pretty good cinematic moment too. But Ares' 'reveal' if you will is some fairly big spoilers, so that's about as much as I can say at the moment. That being said, actually having a story behind the big bad was a nice change of pace, and not nearly enough super-hero films over the past few years have done it. Plus, Ares looks awesome in the film.

On the whole, Wonder Woman is pretty much exactly want I wanted it to be, and what most super-hero franchises, especially DC, should be more like. It's blend of an overall darker story with some light-hearted moments and some stunning visuals made for a hugely enjoyable watch. The soundtrack fit both the story and the hero perfectly, and I desperately hope the upcoming Justice League film makes use of it. The film's strongest parts were definitely it's fight scenes and the evolution of the protagonist, throughout the course of this story and where she goes beyond it's end. This was probably helped quite a lot by the fact that, for the majority of the run time, Wonder Woman feels like a standalone film. It doesn't spend the entire first act intricately connecting itself to every tiny detail of the other films in the Universe. It does it's own thing, and because of that, it succeeds where others have failed, and allows Diana's journey from an innocent child of the world, who hasn't experienced the bitter world of man, to a battle-hardened warrior to be given exactly what it deserves: The spotlight.

Will you like Wonder Woman? Chances are, if you like movies, yeah, you will. It's a lot of fun, and beyond that, it's something that superhero films should be but, especially recently, haven't been: Inspiring.