Bet you’re wondering how you’ll get this image out of your head….

They finally did it!

You magnificent bastards!

You finally made a DC universe film which wasn’t complete and utter rubbish! Start the parades, kiss your loved ones and celebrate! In 2017, where reality no longer makes any sense whatsoever (See recent news) this is nothing short of amazing.

The worst part is, this is how the DC universe could have actually started. I’m serious, with some actual backstory, some character development, some humour and some excellent action, the scene would be really set for an amazing set of follow-on films. Now granted that sounds an awful lot like what the mega money making machine known as Disney / Marvel Studios has been doing and you would be right. They already have hit on something no-one thought would ever really take off as it has done.

But to be honest, there’s worse ways of going about introducing comic book characters to the big screen, and at the moment, DC and Warner Bros are the ones who have done that already. In fact, truth be told that if this was just another waste of time and money, then well, I was not going to bother again with watching any more of the DC films. That was it, done, no more.

But then they brought this onto the screens and it’s about damned time!

So what’s this all about then? Gal Gadot plays the titular Wonder Woman aka Diana, who grows up on the island of Amazon women. I want to go to there just writing that sentence. They have no men around, probably because they’re p*ssed off at not getting an equal wage or men just looking at their arses.

But it’s not long before the peace is disturbed by World War 1. Chris Pine, aka Captain Kirk in a WW1 uniform is fleeing from the naughty Germans when he finds the island of the Amazons and inflict meh upon the place. After a lovely scene where Gal Gadot gets to perve at Chris Pine’s penis, they go back to the world of Man to try and destroy the God of War, Hades. Hades basically was responsible for all the meh before the women were hidden on he island away from everything.

What follows is a number of things which introduce and confuse Diana greatly, where she has to get dressed up properly in London, gets annoyed when men tell her she can’t do things and then shows everyone up by being able to read ancient languages. These scenes do drag on a bit and perhaps slows things down more than they should but honestly, in this case, I actually welcome the time spent showing us the characters and getting to like them.

They do happen to rip off Captain America a bit in the next third of the film though, as they recruit a band of merry men to go to the front and fight alongside soldiers etc. But when Wonder Woman basically has enough and starts kicking ass, it’s actually pretty damn good. They even take the time to catch your breath after the attack in a village to show life and that some things are actually good in the world of Man.

There’s even a few surprises which come out of nowhere particularly when it comes to the bad guys of the piece. Of course we have the Germans being naughty front and center where two renegades, Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya) and General Lundendorff (Danny Houston or the bloke is always an evil guy in films it seems) work together to create gas which kills everyone even if they wear gas masks.

I’m using my lasso to find me a real man! (You may now start emailing your complaints in about that joke now…)

Now I will admit, the pacing in the film was a bit off at times. The end action scene with Wonder Woman was overblown like in previous DC films. Though at least they didn’t keep on saying at least there were no people in the area like in Batman Vs Superman. But honestly, this was good. It was a good standalone DC Universe film which had some good performances, a couple of decent surprises, thankfully some humour and time was taken to show backstory with context which helped no end.

However as this has a woman as the main hero, and I am a guy, it is required that I must go all manly and sexist and any other ists as well; Gal Gadot is too gorgeous, because damn, even when she tried to blend in with others in London, she was just standout jaw dropping….. I may need to do naughty now…. (several minutes later….)

But seriously, she was very credible as Wonder Woman, the accent wasn’t too much, the emotional range was good and the innocence too, just refreshing. Chris Pine too was very good as the soldier / spy / love interest / guide to the world and remarkably, with what happens to him, you only feel for Wonder Woman more as time goes on.

There was also the theme of exploring what would it take to push people to do bad things, where just a nudge here and there in the right way can set off a bad chain of events. Unexpected and again, welcome.

So I have no issue recommending this to watch on the big screen. Wonder Woman has indeed done wonders in reviving interests in the DC universe, and the cast and crew should actually be commended for that. Of course, There is the Justice League film due where everyone is back in it again, and so expectations again, should be more than tempered. Take Wonder Woman by itself and you will be happy.