Review Roundup: Wonder Woman is a breath of fresh air for the DCEU and superhero genre

The majority of critics (and even fans) believe that the DC movies have been disastrous. If you like them, more power to you, but the general consensus has been that these movies are very flawed which is disappointing for many. They're ambitious and want to deconstruct these heroes while also still competing with Marvel by setting up ensemble films like the upcoming Justice League.

Many feared Wonder Woman may suffer the same fate but luckily, it's really damn good. This movie has a lot riding on it because it could either make or break the fan's trust in DC, it could potentially taint any future for more female lead superhero movies. If it ended up being bad, fewer people would be likely to see it and studios would look at the fact that the movie centers around a woman and see that as the reason for why it failed.

Wonder Woman is being praised for being an excellent movie that doesn't shove any sort of heavy-handed feminist propaganda down your throat (which it could've totally done). It is filled with heart and joy, great characters portrayed by fantastic actors, and it has exhilarating, fun action. Some reviews note that the film's story becomes a bit muddled in the third act and there are some other issues but overall, it's a fantastic film. Wonder Woman currently sits at a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with a total of 44 reviews. You can read a handful of excerpts from reviews below.

Comic Book Resources

Wonder Woman is monumental, and far and away the best DCEU (the shorthand for DC Expanded Universe, the continuity of films that started with 2013’s Man of Steel) movie yet. (Which I realize isn’t saying much, coming from me.) Rather than stories of reluctant or brooding good guys, this film relishes in the wonder and excitement of being a superhero. Gadot’s face lights up as Diana tests her limits, leaps into action and saves the day. And we get to experience these intoxicating thrills with her. Tasked with the harrowing challenge of helming the first female-fronted superhero film of the genre’s latest boom, Jenkins delivers the full package, an enthralling journey with exhilarating and inventive action, a charismatic cast, moments of heartwarming levity and heart-wrenching drama, and — best of all — a protagonist we can clutch to, and want to follow on more and more adventures.

No Score

IGN

Wonder Woman is leaps and bounds above the other three entries in the DCEU. With a dramatic setting, a few entertaining action scenes, and a strong supporting cast all working together to tell an inspirational Hero’s Journey, it more than offsets some occasionally uneven acting on Gadot’s part and some shaky technical aspects. The messy third act fight, however, is something that has plagued other superhero movies and is something even Wonder Woman cannot overcome. Overall, Wonder Woman is a win because it successfully tells the story of a woman taking on a war-torn world with the power of love. What’s more heroic than that?

7.9/10

The Hollywood Reporter

… this origin story, with its direct and relatively uncluttered trajectory, offers a welcome change of pace from a superhero realm that’s often overloaded with interconnections and cross-references. (A nod to Wayne Enterprises in the story’s framing device serves as a fuss-free tie-in to the upcoming Justice League.)

Had it really broken the mold and come in below the two-hour mark, Wonder Woman could have been a thoroughly transporting film. As it stands, it’s intermittently spot-on, particularly in the pops of humor and romance between the exotically kick-ass yet approachable Gadot and the supremely charismatic Chris Pine as an American working for British intelligence, the first man the Amazon princess has ever met. With eager fans unlikely to bemoan the film’s length or its lapses in narrative energy, Wonder Woman will conquer their hearts as it makes its way around the globe.

No Score

Variety

It may have taken four films to get there, but the DC Extended Universe has finally produced a good old-fashioned superhero. Sure, previous entries in the Warner Bros. assembly line have given us sporadically successful, demythified takes on Batman and Superman, but they’ve all seemed skeptical, if not downright hostile, toward the sort of unabashed do-gooderism that DC Comics’ golden-age heroes exemplified. Never prone to stewing in solitude, and taking more notes from Richard Donner than from Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” provides a welcome respite from DC’s house style of grim darkness — boisterous, earnest, sometimes sloppy, yet consistently entertaining — with star Gal Gadot proving an inspired choice for this avatar of truth, justice and the Amazonian way.

No Score

ComicBook.com

… Wonder Woman is the turning point the DCEU needed, offering fans the first DC Comics movie where the superhero actually feels inspiring and heoric. It's been a long seventy-five year wait, but thanks to Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot and the rest of the cast and crew, Wonder Woman's time has now truly come.

4/5 Stars

Entertainment Weekly

"Wonder Woman is smart, slick, and satisfying in all of the ways superhero films ought to be. 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."

"The wait is over, folks. The DC movie you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived."

A-

Wonder Woman opens in theaters on June 2nd, 2017.