Considering the copy-and-paste job Hollywood has done with many of the comicbook movies of late, I fully expected this to be another piece of glossy garbage.

I was pleasantly surprised. While it should by no means be taken seriously, the Wonder Woman movie provides some solid entertainment. It has some nice cinematic visuals, thrilling battles, a few laughs, and a moment or two of true emotion. Chris Pine plays a fantastic role - arguably the best of the film. The supporting characters are likeable and well-portrayed. I was particularly impressed with the writer's use of little-known biblical parallel. Despite several tongue-in-cheek moments and minor "fail"s, I quite enjoyed the movie.

However, a movie is only as good as its star, since even a great character can fail to convince viewers if his/her actor lacks talent. Gadot was a very, very poor choice for the role of Wonder Woman. Firstly, she is not an actress, but is actually a beauty pageant contestant. Secondly, her ethnicity, eye colour, build, and general appearance differ too greatly from the comicbook character she was chosen to portray. Thirdly - and most importantly - she has absolutely no acting ability. Her repertoire consists of two basic facial expressions and the movements of a fashion model. In the role of a warrior, she is laughably lacking in stature, physical strength, agility, and fluidity of motion. In the role of /any/ character with a heart, she is painfully devoid of emotion. She was chosen for her pageant looks and nothing more, and that fact is clear throughout the film.

Had a different "actress" been chosen for the starring role, Wonder Woman could have stood alongside the Avengers, Batman, and X-Men movies. Unfortunately, we're stuck with Gadot, and so any future Wonder Woman flicks are doomed to mediocrity.