Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons and trained warrior. When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, she leaves home to fight a war to end all wars, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

I’ve had much less faith in DC ever since the disappointments of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad were released last year. The plot and development of the universe in both films were rushed and horribly written, yet one thing stood out to me from DC’s films last year – Gal Gadot’s performance as Wonder Woman. She brought lots of heart into the character and didn’t let me down, so DC made a wise choice by making her the lead of their next film. Here, she’s even more impressive as one of the most surprising and entertaining superhero protagonists in a long time. Gadot showed us that she had talent in her minor role in the Fast and Furious films, but she does better when she carries the film in the leading role. Her charm, emotion, charisma, and determination build a fantastic heroine who kicks ass and brings hope to not only the discouraged and devastated soldiers of the war in the film, but to the DCEU franchise and its future. If it weren’t for Gadot’s outstanding performance, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed the movie as much. I hope we see much more of her talent and her character in the future. Chris Pine is more than just the love interest, he’s also an interesting and well-written hero who has great chemistry with Gadot.

Wonder Woman not only has great leading roles but also very good directing and action scenes. If you liked seeing Wonder Woman fight alongside Batman and Superman last year, you’ll definitely enjoy seeing her beat up Germans as she deflects bullets and explosives and smashes through buildings with her shield. The action is very well-realized and although there is too much slow-motion at some points, it’s very exciting to watch how the action plays out in the film. Although the movie’s runtime isn’t too focused on action, plenty of the writing is there to develop the characters and give them interesting moments. The story of a god/goddess searching for their destiny outside of their home reminded me of Thor, and the WWI setting is reminiscent of the WWII set pieces in Captain America: The First Avenger. I loved the scenes in which Wonder Woman explores her motivation to fight, what she believes in, and her view on mankind, yet this time they made me care more about it than in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman because it isn’t delivered through slow montages and boring dialogue. Although it was produced by Zack Snyder, and he’s also credited for the story, which shows through the excessive use of slo-mo and some unbalanced pacing like in the other DC films, I’m sure glad he didn’t direct it, because Patty Jenkins was able to deliver a groundbreaking female superhero story in a much higher league than what Snyder has done. Thankfully this movie also doesn’t try to build on the universe and set up a sequel too much, it just left me wanting more films with Gadot in the main role in the future. There are villainous roles that are horribly written, including a villain reveal in the messy and CGI-heavy climactic battle that I really didn’t care about, and it took a while for me to really get into the story in the beginning, which starts with exposition and dialogue that could have used improvement. I’m glad that what follows is a fun and thrilling origin story for one of the most awesome and interesting female superheroes on the big screen.

Wonder Woman improves on DC’s underwhelming disappointments from last year, with a fantastic leading performance and well-shot action sequences. The writing could have used some improvement, but this film overall raises the bar for female superhero films and the DCEU’s potential. I can tell this won’t be the last of Gadot’s on-screen glory as the titular badass heroine.