Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins, 2017)

So, we now move on to the first superhero film with a real female lead rather than just having a woman as a supporting character (let's forget Catwoman, shall we?) and Wonder Woman was always going to be the obvious choice for the topic. There's little residue of the campness of the 1970s TV series, which is in keeping with treatments of all other superheroes, including making the costumes dark and moody, although the film isn't without some fair culture-clash humour as the Amazon enters the world of men for the first time. The action is efficient too.
But, but...there's little else to actually distinguish it from its run-of-the-mill male counterparts. The opening scenes, with the origin of the character on the island of the Amazons, smack of nothing so much as a higher-budget Xena: Warrior Princess in terms of their faux mythology, while her quest to stop the Germans/the God of War causing global mass annihilation likewise takes so many liberties with history that it seems almost pointless to list the number of offences. Gal Gadot does do a creditable job with the character, making her both likable and imperious, but it could and should have been braver in going for a more adult market instead.

6/10