Wonder Woman

“Wonder Woman” review. This is essentially an origin story centering on Diana Prince, (Gail Gadot) a god who was mad from clay by the almighty Zeus.

Although her character made a small yet memorable turn in 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” in “Wonder Woman” Gadot gets to fly solo in director Patty Jenkins well-told tale.

The opening portion of “Wonder Woman” occurs on Themyscira, a fictional island where the Amazon woman train night and day.

What was really cool in this movie are the chords that strike whenever she is on screen, highlighting her theme song. Rupert Gregson-Williams handled the scoring duties here bringing forth an amazing and enthralling composition.

This one also has touches of the past, referencing the photo she appeared in during World War I.

Supporter Chris Pine is solid as American spy Steve Trevor, a soldier who finds out that his appearance is the first time she's ever interacted with a man, since her upbringing found her interacting purely with women, since no members of the opposite sex were present.

His character also comments on a disfigured woman known as Dr. Poison, (Elena Anaya), who aids the Germans in bringing down the good guys.

Integral to the story are Danny Huston ("30 Days of Night," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"), Ewen Bremmer ("Trainspotting, "The Rundown"), Saïd Taghmaoui (“American Hustle,” “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”), David Thewlis (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “The Theory of Everything,” 1993’s “naked”), Robin Wright (“The Princess Bride,” “Forrest Gump”) and Connie Nelsen (“Gladiator,” “Rushmore”).

The latter two are important because Penn plays the matriarchal figure, Antiope and Nielsen’s Hippolyta is essentially the aunt.

Huston plays one of the antagonists of the story, a German SS officer known as Ludendorff. He is one of the higher ups in Germany’s plan for the final solution.

The plot twists are in abundance in this well told tale that delivers in almost every single department. Just when you think you have figured out the straightforward story, Jenkins and screenwriter Allan Heinberg throw in a couple of surprising plot twists and story turns.

“Wonder Woman” does what it’s supposed to do and just provide nothing more than a couple of hours of fun sheer entertainment value. Even though the movie runs longer than two hours (2 hours 11 minutes to be exact), there are never really any dry spells or lags in the process.

Grade: B+
(Review by Ricky Miller)