Film

Wonder Woman

Name: Wonder Woman
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Released: 2017
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston

Other titles called Wonder Woman: the 1975 series (CBS), the 2009 film.

A superhero origin story that actually believes in something: Diana Prince leaves her hidden island paradise for the trenches of the First World War, convinced she can end mankind's addiction to violence. It's sincere, colourful, and unfashionably hopeful, anchored by Gal Gadot's total lack of irony and a No Man's Land charge that still gives people chills. Good for anyone who wants spectacle with a spine.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a superhero story played with real earnestness, where a fish-out-of-water heroine's sincerity carries the big set pieces and the wartime backdrop is treated seriously.

Skip it if the familiar origin-story rhythm and a climax built on heavy digital spectacle may wear thin, and its earnest tone sometimes tips into solemnity.

What it asks of you: It runs over two hours at a steady, unhurried pace, settling into its wartime trenches and romance before the spectacle arrives, so give it an evening rather than half-attention background viewing.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Captain America: The First Avenger2011

The closest sibling in tone: a good person dropped into a world war, using decency as a weapon rather than a weakness. Same earnest, old-fashioned heroism, same period spectacle.

But Steve Rogers is a quieter, more restrained hero than Diana; some find the first act slow going.

Captain America: The First Avenger poster

Superman1978

The film that basically invented the 'alien among us, chooses to be good anyway' template Wonder Woman is riffing on. Christopher Reeve's sincerity still holds up completely.

But Pacing and effects are of their era; the tone is gentler and slower than modern blockbusters.

Thor2011

A god learns to be human by falling in love with humanity's flaws rather than despising them — the same fish-out-of-water arc, played with more jokes.

But Leans harder into comedy than Wonder Woman does; the Earth-set half is stronger than the Asgard half.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Wonder Woman

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

They Shall Not Grow Old2018

Wonder Woman's No Man's Land scene dramatizes the trench war as triumph; this shows the actual mud, gas and boys it was built from.

Peter Jackson's restored, colourised WWI footage turns the trenches Diana wades through into something unbearably real. No score, no myth, just the soldiers' own voices.

But There's no hero, no rescue, no catharsis — it's documentary testimony, and it sits with you differently.

Wonder Woman 19842020

More Diana, decades later, wrestling with desire versus truth instead of war versus peace. Gadot and Pine's chemistry is the whole reason to watch.

But Widely considered a step down — baggier plot, a villain who tips into camp, less discipline overall.

The Avengers2012

If you want the scale turned all the way up: gods, soldiers, and a green rage monster learning to work as a team. Pure, confident blockbuster momentum.

But Ensemble chaos rather than one hero's journey — less interested in interiority than Wonder Woman is.

Man of Steel2013

Shares the DC mythology and the question of what a godlike being owes a violent species. Visually gorgeous, genuinely wrestles with the cost of intervention.

But Much grimmer and more joyless than Wonder Woman — the hope is buried under a lot of collateral damage.

Justice League2017

Diana again, this time in a scrappier team-up that reunites some of the same faces. Fun in a lower-stakes, more disposable way.

But Troubled production shows — tonal whiplash and rushed character work throughout.

X-Men: First Class2011

A period-set superhero origin with real historical stakes and a mentor figure who turns dangerous — the moral complexity Wonder Woman only flirts with.

But Cooler and more cynical in tone; less interested in unclouded idealism than in moral compromise.

Black Panther2018

A hidden nation, a mythic bloodline, a hero deciding what she owes the wider world — thematically Wonder Woman's closest modern cousin.

But More political and dialogue-driven, with less pure action spectacle than Wonder Woman's set pieces.

Sergeant York1941

Same war, same premise — an innocent forced to fight who becomes exactly the hero the moment demands — but grounded in history instead of myth.

A real WWI conscientious objector turned reluctant hero, made while America was heading into its own war. Gary Cooper plays sincerity without a trace of irony, decades before Gadot did.

But Old-fashioned pacing, a folksy first half, and a very different, unabashedly patriotic register.

Kill Bill: Vol. 12003

Both build their whole engine around an unstoppable woman warrior moving through a world of men; one asks what that means, the other just lets her cut through it.

Take Diana's total moral clarity and lethal competence, strip out the idealism, and drench it in genre pulp: a woman who is simply, spectacularly better at violence than everyone around her.

But Gleefully, cartoonishly violent and morally uninterested in Wonder Woman's questions about war — it just wants to watch her win.