Wonder Woman (2017)

WONDER WOMAN  (2017)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Patty Jenkins
    Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright,
    Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Said Taghmaoui,
    Ewen Bremner, Eugene Brave Rock, Elena Anaya
The origin story of Wonder Woman is a revisionist fantasy in which the Amazon Princess Diana sails away from Paradise Island with an American aviator named Steve Trevor, who takes her to London and introduces her to life in the early 20th century. (Keeping her Amazon body more or less covered up is one of the things she has to get used to.) Then she's off to the front, to kill a lot of Germans, battle the god Ares, and save the world by winning World War One. What sets this apart from most other superhero movies isn't just that its ass-kicking lead character is female, but that it plays out in such a specific historical context. The action scenes are decently executed, and Gal Gadot flying through the air in slow motion with her sword and shield looks authentically heroic. Chris Pine plays Steve Trevor with the same cocky self-assurance he brought to Captain Kirk, and even gets to zoom around on a motorcycle, just like he did in "Star Trek Beyond". Robin Wright, looking lean and tough, plays Antiope, Wonder Woman's Amazon aunt, who teaches her how to be a warrior back on the island. Too bad we can't come up with a superhero like this every time there's a horrible war to be fought. It'd make things so much easier.