20 Best Films Of 2017 (So Far)
4. Wonder Woman
There are several things that mark Wonder Woman out as a success well beyond the almost cliched duty of it being the "first great DCEU movie": first, it proves the cynicism about female-led action movies is bunk.
Second, it also proves that men will watch female-centric comic book movies (since the split of the audience was close to 50/50 in the end), and third - and most excitingly for the future of the franchise, it proves that there is life in the DCEU away from po-faced, pitch black fight scenes and glumness. That's the least important of those revelations, but it's also the one that matters most to the studio.
After idiotic early "leaks" suggesting it was poor, Patty Jenkins' gorgeous epic proved to be the DCEU's missing heart, built more on its central relationship and the human propaganda therein than on the exceptional action that nevertheless delivers wonderfully. The villain might be slightly disappointing, but there's so much to enjoy on the way there that it barely matters.