MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Rating: 7.5/10

STARRING: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Bateman, Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom Jr., Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Colman and Johnny Depp

RATED PG-13 for emotional content, some bloody/violent images, and brief language 

Well, I finally did it. I saw Murder on the Orient Express.

It’s been a long road to get here. When I first saw the trailers, it seemed all but given that I would see it. Why? Well, mainly because it seemed like surefire Oscarbait. Consider: a sumptuous period piece epic that is also an adaptation of a classic novel (Agatha Christie’s 1934 thriller) brought to life by a cast full of diverse, accomplished actors, several of them previous Oscar winners or nominees…So this was definitely on my list. But then came surprisingly-middling reviews. Critics said it was not long enough, not as good as previous big-screen adaptations of the novel (which I have not seen), and it supposedly paid too little heed to its remarkable cast while focusing all the juicy character development on the main character, Belgian detective Hercule Poriot, played by the film’s director, Kenneth Branagh. The reviews, I must admit, scared me off. But then one of my best friends said it was one of the best movies she’d ever seen. Several other friends reported that they liked it a lot. It became a surprisingly strong contender at the box-office. Several of my family members made plans to see it…the day after I left town to come back home after Thanksgiving. Its very title (let alone the trailers) promised an intriguing murder mystery to which I was itching to know the outcome. And that cast…honestly, in what world would a movie-lover like me not see a movie starring two previous Oscar winners (Judi Dench and Penelope Cruz), the new darling of Star Wars (Daisy Ridley), one of the Tony-winning stars of Broadway’s Hamilton (Leslie Odom Jr.), a couple of reliably-great supporting actors (Willem Dafoe and Josh Gad), arguably the biggest movie star of the 2000s (Johnny Depp), and Branagh, the five-time Oscar nominee who is more responsible than anyone except my seventh grade English teacher for making me a fan of Shakespeare?

            So yeah, I saw it. And I have good news and bad news.

            The good news? Thanks to my Regal Crown Club membership, I had enough “points” to see this movie I had been-iffy-about-but-decided-to-see-anyway for free!

            The bad news? I saw it the same day I returned home from Thanksgiving travels, and, it turns out, I was a little tired. I was literally nodding at several points during the first half, so I may have missed something.      

            I think I still got the finer points, though.

            Murder on the Orient Express is a solid and engaging film, with some dazzling visuals, terrific music, a Sherlock-esque brainteaser of mystery with myriad key details, and that cast, of which several members are appropriately utilized. I liked it. And I absolutely want to see it again, both because I may or may not have been snoozing during some parts and just because it’s a detail-loaded murder mystery, the type of movie that can leave me in the dust with its complexities and seems ripe to reward second viewings. I have some misgivings, though, and I’ll get to those in a moment.

            Murder on the Orient Express centers around the aforementioned person of Poirot (Branagh), a renowned Belgian detective with an equally renowned moustache. After foiling a theft in Jerusalem, Poirot finds himself traveling first-class aboard the famed Orient Express, special guest of his old friend Bouc (Tom Bateman), the train director. Despite a cheeky, charismatic demeanor, Poirot is in great need of some R&R, dealing with shades of guilt after refusing to help with an American crime case that ended in the most horrific manner possible. But the train is luxurious, and Poirot is able to occupy his mind with A Tale of Two Cities and the unique, colorful characteristics of his fellow passengers. Among them are a Russian princess (Dench), a missionary (Cruz), an Austrian scientist (Dafoe), a pretty young Englishwoman (Ridley), a stalwart doctor (Odom Jr.), a boozy middle-aged socialite (Michelle Pfeiffer), and a roughish American art dealer (Depp) and his two assistants (Gad along with Derek Jacobi). But the same night the Orient Express is buffeted and then derailed by an avalanche, one of the passengers is found dead of stab wounds. The compartment window is wide open. Poirot deduces immediately that either the person responsible fled, or the killer is still on the train, which can go nowhere until a work crew from the nearest station can come dig it out. Begged by Bouc to put his great mind to work in the hopes of a speedy resolution, Poirot begins to “interview” his fellow passengers. One by one, they each offer alibis as to where they were at the time of the killing that are only half-convincing. One by one, each somehow slips up, giving Poirot reason to suspect them of the heinous crime. Then another passenger is stabbed. The remainder begin to suspect each other. And Poirot, who failed to answer the call of the American crime case where he was so badly needed, is put to the test.

            The critics’ reviews I read were right about one thing: Orient Express starts and ends with the person of Poirot. Featured in nearly every scene, Poirot is arguably the only character explored on multiple levels. As this mustachioed protagonist, Branagh (last seen in July’s Dunkirk) is effective. Yes, he has always been a very theatrical actor (duh, he’s the modern era’s foremost Shakespeare enthusiast), and with the moustache, the accent, and the quips, he veers close to caricature in the early going. Branagh has always had a tendency to overact, sometimes badly (see 1994’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or, even worse, 1999’s Wild Wild West), but the movie is ultimately engaging, meticulous, and serious enough that Poirot’s broadness and accessibility are needed. In the movie’s biggest moments, Branagh does wonders with his eyes, and he suggests a depth to the character that makes us want to learn more.

            As stated, Branagh gets by far the most screen-time of any of the film’s actors, but most of the others who will be familiar to audiences make an impression. Dench does her gruff older woman thing, with a softness in the eyes and a Russian accent to boot. Depp commands the screen in a surprisingly no-frills performance, his most straightforward work in years. Jacobi, Ridley, Pfeiffer and Odom Jr. all make strong impressions. But the one who really jumped out at me among the supporters was Josh Gad. Best known as comic relief in animated classics (he voiced Olaf in Frozen), live-action Disney remakes (this year’s Beauty and the Beast) and a crappy Adam Sandler film (Pixels), Gad is surprisingly effective as an emotional, tormented straight man. He cracks no jokes and gets no laughs, but his expression during his interview with Poirot is an indelible image of emotional anguish.

            The reason I don’t rate Murder on the Orient Express higher is not only that I may have missed something while I was nodding there in the theater. As stated, some early scenes with Poirot are a little too quippy and cartoonish, with gags galore about his moustache and the way he likes his eggs cooked. Branagh the overactor (and, remember, the film’s director) is way too eager to lavish attention on these “amusing” eccentricities. A few early shots of the Orient Express in motion scream CGI, despite some gorgeous backdrops. The episodic nature of Poirot’s interviews with his fellow passengers gets a little repetitive, plus the movie’s not-even-two-hour running time means the audience is bombarded with details during and immediately after each of these episodes, which gets a little wearisome. A story (and a cast) like this would be much better served with a mini-series, at least.  

            But what you’ll probably remember about the movie, apart from the murder investigation’s emotionally-resonant, effective resolution, is that tracking shot of Poirot entering the car in a moment of suspense, while the camera pans across the intrigued/concerned/tense expressions on each of his fellow passengers’ faces. It sums up the film nicely, with the character, the cast, the score, and the lavish look of the dining car. It’s a beaut.

In Summary

Did I literally sleep through parts of Murder on the Orient Express because I saw it in theaters less than 90 minutes after concluding a 4-hour car trip back from my dad’s house for Thanksgiving? I can neither confirm nor deny. Would such a detailed movie be well served by me seeing it a second time at some point, at which time my opinion of it might be improved? Almost certainly. But did I enjoy it? I did. As the trailers suggest, and as people have been telling you, this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1934 murder mystery is a lavish production stuffed to the gills with striking visuals, a lovely musical score, constant Sherlockian explosions of eye-opening details, and a strong cast, headed by your favorite Shakespeare enthusiast who was also once a Hogwarts professor, Kenneth Branagh. It’s entertaining, well-acted, and emotionally-satisfying. Yeah, I’m already looking forward to seeing it again (when I’m, you know, awake).

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Screenplay by Michael Green
Based on the novel "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie (publ. 1934)

Rated PG-13

Length: 1 hour 54 minutes

JUSTICE LEAGUE

Justice League (2017)
Rating: 5.5/10 

STARRING: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Henry Cavill, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, and Diane Lane. Also Featuring J.K. Simmons, Connie Nielsen, Joe Morton, Billy Crudup and Amber Heard, with Ciaran Hinds as the voice of Steppenwolf.

RATED PG-13 for intense action and destruction and some language

            I didn’t think Justice League was terrible, but I can’t think of a whole lot I really liked about it, either.

            Justice League, as you surely know if you’re reading this, is DC’s version of The Avengers, a teaming-up of their biggest names. The Justice League is made up of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg (maybe others, but I don’t know enough about comics to know who they might be). This movie, as you also probably know, was rushed into production, beset with obstacles during production, and, frankly, just came out too soon. We all know what happened. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been tearing apart the box office and the fabric of pop culture with its increasingly regular blockbusters. DC efforts—apart from those written and directed by Christopher Nolan—have not been up to par. With the team-up Avengers films (and Captain America: Civil War) proving wildly popular with audiences, DC rushed to set up their version. First, there was 2013’s Man of Steel. Last year, we had Batman v Superman, which featured a cameo from Wonder Woman. In June of this year, Wonder Woman got her own movie. Movies for Aquaman and The Flash are surely in the works. The Justice League, everyone!

            With Superman (Henry Cavill) dead in the wake of his battle with Doomsday (see: the climax of Batman v Superman), his surviving superfriends Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) and Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) have sensed more danger to humanity is imminent. They have begun keeping tabs on enhanced individuals, such as lightning-struck speedster Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), robo-enhanced explosion survivor Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), and gruff water-dweller Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa). With the help of Bruce’s butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons), they have kept an eye on the whereabouts of these individuals in case the need for their help should arise. And arise it does. Mysterious reptilian minions have been creeping about, drawing attention to a series of ancient, all-powerful cubes that were hidden all over the world. When one of the cubes is energized, the evil, ax-wielding Steppenwolf (voice of Ciaran Hinds) comes forth, bringing more swarms of his winged minions. Steppenwolf, as you might have figured, has plans to destroy the world. He's intent on using potential fusion of the cubes' energy to create a field through which all the fury or wrath of his home world can come forth—or something. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter. Bottom line, Steppenwolf doesn’t have good things planned for the world/humanity, and this bothers Bruce, Diana, and the others for some reason. So they team up to save the world. But can they?  *dramatic music plays*

That Justice League is meant to be DC’s answer to the uber-successful Avengers is a given. That it was rushed into production and release before DC really had its cinematic footing is well-known. That it was rushed into production also shows. I wouldn’t say Justice League is an aggressively bad movie, but there’s almost nothing in here you haven’t seen done a million times before, and done better. Like I said, the specifics don’t matter. There’s a Bad Guy, with an Evil Army and an Evil Plot, seeking to get his hands on an all-powerful MacGuffin (or MacGuffins, plural), and if he does it’s bad so the Good Guys try to stop him, first in a series of escalating skirmishes, and then in a full on fiery, explosive, shouty, CGI-soaked extravaganza that features a lot of good guys and bad guys slamming into brick or rock walls and falling down only to get right back up again because, you know, strong and stuff. An early flashback to a team-up of Men, Atlantians, and the all-female Amazons is straight from the first 10 minutes of The Lord of the Rings, as is the lingering idea that, you know, men are evil and greedy and not to be trusted. The Bad Guy who comes through a portal is from the first 5 minutes of the 2012 Avengers. The Bad Guy’s Evil Army coming through a larger portal later on is transparently reminiscent of the climax of the same Avengers. The Eastern-European-town-with-innocent-civilians-in-jeopardy concept is borrowed from Avengers: Age of Ultron. The MacGuffins-that-need-to-be-aligned-to-create-energy-portals-that-can-destroy-the-world-or-even-the-universe is from 2013’s Thor: Dark World (which, admittedly, didn’t execute the idea much better). And the powerful sky beams created by the fusion of the powerful MacGuffins is from every movie made in the last 20 years.

Oh, and the bickering, ego-clashing of good-looking individuals in cool costumes who all have powers? I think I’ve seen that in a movie before, too.

Sorry if this review feels lazy. The movie Justice League feels lazy. The movie isn’t terrible. It just reminds you why the ever-more-frequent superhero movies of recent years are only good up to a point. We’ve. Seen. It. Done. By. Now. I never thought either of Marvel’s Avengers films were incredible, but this is little more than Avengers-lite, with a shorter running time, a more generic villain, a lazier climax, and characters who are less original and largely undefined (remember, the Avengers came out only after Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Loki, and even Hawkeye and Nick Fury had been introduced in other movies). Speaking of, it says a lot that the two brightest spots in this movie are Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa, who play the two most interesting characters who haven’t had their own movies yet. Miller’s chatty geek is slightly overdone, but he delivers laughs most of the time, and has a nice little character arc moment in his first battle when he nervously saves one man with his super-speed and then realizes, hey, that wasn’t too hard, why not save more? And when the burly Momoa jocularly shouts “my man” after Cyborg catches him mid-air during the climactic battle with Steppenwolf’s minions, the moment has such energy and excitement it reminds you what the rest of the movie is lacking.

Like I said, the movie’s not godawful. It’s certainly more minute-by-minute entertaining than the ponderous, brooding, two-and-a-half-hour slog Batman v Superman, and it’s not nearly as devastatingly silly as Suicide Squad. Justice League moves pretty briskly at a shade under two hours, and, despite being formulaic, the first two-thirds aren’t bad. It’s always entertaining to learn about new people with cool abilities, to see them team up, and to see the opening skirmishes. This movie also addresses the previously-unspoken DC Universe question of “why did Wonder Woman get so wound up about WWI (as seen in Wonder Woman) only to seemingly not lift a finger to stop Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Vietnam, or anything else in the next 100 years”. But the by-the-numbers third act that involves the final team-up, the final pep-talk, a few internet-ready group shots, and the slam-bang-whizz finale pretty quickly quench one's hope.

In a way I feel bad, because I feel like the movie was doomed from the start, being asked to carry such a heavy burden. Like I said, Miller and Momoa are bright spots, Fisher does what he can with an under-explained character, and Irons, Diane Lane, and even Connie Nielsen (as Wonder Woman’s mom Queen Hippolyta, back on Themyscira) are on hand and trying hard. But Affleck seems bored, Gadot’s performance is almost all reactionary, Cavill, when he appears (spoiler? I mean—surely you figured), is awkward, and J.K. Simmons, the new Commissioner Gorden, is wasted in a tiny role. And you just have to feel bad for Amy Adams, who deserves so much better than this shlock, being borderline-embarrassed working her tail off in some of this movie’s sappiest, least-interesting scenes.

In Summary

            Justice League isn’t the worst superhero movie I’ve ever seen. It’s not even the worst DC move I’ve seen in the last couple of years. I have a hard time even saying it was bad. There’s just nothing here – except for a few fun character moments with The Flash and Aquaman – that I haven’t seen done better, and recently. Comparisons to The Avengers are inevitable, and they aren’t flattering. Hey, it’s not super long, and there’s a post-credits scene that, depending on who you ask, is the best part of the movie, but the build-up is cliché, most of the characters are underwritten, certain parts are kinda silly (*cough* Atlantis *cough*), and the big blow-it-all-up-real-good CGI climax is lazy and uninspired. This review won’t stop many people (or anyone?) from going to see Justice League because they love their heroes. It’s just a shame this movie wasn’t released later, and better developed, once all its characters were defined in their own movies. So, now I wanna see The Flash starring Ezra Miller, and Aquaman starring Jason Momoa. Just sayin’. 

 JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Screenplay by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon
Story by Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
Justice League of America created by Gardner Fox
Fourth World created by Jack Kirby

Length: 1 hour, 59 minutes
Rated PG-13

WONDER WOMAN

Wonder Woman (2017) 

Rating: 8/10 

STARRING: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Danny Huston, Connie Nielsen, David Thewlis, Elena Anaya, Robin Wright, Said Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner and Eugene Brave Rock, with Lucy Davis as Etta and Lilly Aspell as Young Diana

RATED PG-13 for intense action, some emotional content, and some language

            After 2016, the DC Universe was reeling.

            First, their long-awaited Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice came out in March and, despite scoring impressive box-office returns, landed with a thud. The film had its defenders, but most said it was too long, too slow, too busy setting up future movies and, oh yeah, had too little actual Batman vs. Superman in it. August’s Suicide Squad fared even worse. The movie flopped hard with iffy effects, too many characters, and a couple of pathetic, cringe-inducing villains. At that point, it was clear DC was lagging way behind Marvel in terms of big-screen quality and fanfare, a problem considering they had two flagship films planned for 2017: Wonder Woman and Justice League. Justice League has yet to be seen, but the June release Wonder Woman proved a huge shot in the arm to DC financially and publicly. Not that people didn’t expect it to be successful; the first female-superhero fronted film, riding the momentum of Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s winning cameo in Batman v Superman, had many people curious. But after the high-profile disappointments of 2016, and with DC’s great hope ensemble piece on the horizon, there was legitimate worry that Wonder Woman would take even more air out of the balloon.

            Well, we all know how that turned out.

            After a brief present-day prologue (complete with Wayne Enterprises plug), Wonder Woman shows us young Diana (Lilly Aspell), Princess of Themyscira, a shining city in the mythical Paradise Islands populated entirely by the tough female Amazons. Daughter of Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), Diana grows up yearning for adventure and longing to fight like her tough aunt Antiope (Robin Wright). When actually given the opportunity, Diana (played as an adult by Gadot) proves a deft hand, showing powers none of her fellow Amazons can match. But, with great power comes…well, you know. After a training incident in which she nearly kills Antiope, Diana hides in shame on a secluded corner of the island, only to get a front-row seat when a damaged airplane crashes in the ocean in front of Themyscira, with a lone male pilot (Chris Pine) struggling to escape. Diana saves him, and marvels. He’s a man! Spoiler: she’s never seen a man (all-female Amazons, remember?). The man, Steve Trevor, marvels himself when he awakes and learns of Diana, the Amazons, their hidden island, and their lack of knowledge about The Great War, in which he has been fighting as a spy against the Germans. Diana is convicted at the idea of this great, costly war, and urges Hippolyta to send her and other Amazons out to stop Ares (the Greek God of War, whom Diana has been told corrupted the hearts of men and is responsible for their fighting). Hippolyta rebuffs the idea of sending Amazons out into the world, but idealistic Diana isn’t about to sit by after hearing Steve’s stories of the horrors of war. Soon, Diana has left Themyscira with Steve, and is learning more about the world, people, and war than she could have imagined. She and Steve are soon on the trail of sadistic German General Ludendorf (Danny Huston), who sneers at the talks of “armistice” while his top scientist (Elena Anaya) creates a gas that kills everything it touches. Seeing casualties and fighting up close makes Diana even more determined to stop Ludendorf, whose cold sadism can only mean one thing: he’s Ares, her people’s sworn enemy.

            I get that the movie came out five months ago, so chances are you’ve seen it, so my spoiler-averse plot summary probably doesn’t make much sense. Hey, a guy’s gotta practice, right? True, after re-watching it last night, I feel like I barely touched on half the movie’s plot, not to mention about half its main cast. I didn’t even get to mention Diana and Steve’s growing chemistry, Diana’s amusing fish-out-of-water routine in London, Steve’s delightfully chirpy secretary (Lucy Davis) or his ragtag band of fellow undercover operators (Said Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, and Eugene Brave Rock). Nor did I get to mention the movie’s instant-classic No Man’s Land scene, in which Diana rises from a Western Front trench in full WW gear and walks straight into the teeth of German fire with her shield high and her head higher…

            The thing is, while DC’s high point was obviously the Dark Knight Trilogy, Marvel’s rival studio has proven they can do individual origin stories pretty well. Personally, I was a pretty big fan of 2013’s Man of Steel, which came with a slow build, well-written, well-acted characters, and a non-linear plot structure to change up the formula. It’s just that the movie’s wheels fell off during a slam-bang third act that not only wiped out any notions of subtlety and character nuance, but also flew in the face of what Superman is about. Still, setting the scene, establishing the characters, their motivations and feelings, and building the world…Man of Steel did that. So it's a shame DC seems to be rushing to copy the Avengers formula in search of a huge box office windfall instead of taking their time (remember, Avengers was the end result of four years of Marvel origin stories building the characters and the universe).

            Wonder Woman’s accessibility—its mix of charm, humor, action, and drama—is obviously the product of a lot of people putting forth real effort, starting with Director Patty Jenkins and screenwriter Allan Heinberg. The movie develops slowly and lets sequences breathe, yet it’s almost never boring over its 2-hour, 21-minute run-time. Sure, a straight drama or a non-superhero film might’ve dug deeper and developed the characters more, but, for a movie that you know is going to end as Wonder-Woman-Saves-the-World, it does about as well as could be expected.

            For that, the lion’s share of credit goes to Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. I promise I won’t fawn over Gadot, but I will say she is irresistibly appealing in this role, not only with her luminous looks but her believable portrayal of Diana’s idealism, internal conflict, and shock and horror at the realities of war. But I’m really close to saying it’s Pine’s performance that makes the movie. Somehow, despite his iconic presence in the Star Trek series, plus his appearance in last year’s Oscar-nominated drama Hell or High Water, I feel like this is the performance of his career so far. Diana’s fish-out-of-water routine in London wouldn’t play as well without someone so committed playing the straight opposite, and Pine gets big laughs from his reactions to Diana’s cluelessness (“I didn’t have a father. My mother sculpted me from clay.”… “Well that’s neat…”). Pine, more than Gadot, is our catalyst in the film, and he makes the most of an amusing come-sleep-with-me bit, a foray undercover with a German accent, and a dramatic monologue where he tries to convince Diana that people are just evil sometimes. And as good as Diana’s No Man’s Land scene is, for me, there’s no question: the most impressive and memorable moment in the movie is one roughly 15-25-second close-up of Pine’s face during a key action scene (you’ll know it when you see it). It’s a marvel of expression and nuance, and it’s haunting.

Yes, as is wont to happen in movies like this, a lot of the sincere development goes out the window during a boss-battle-style finale in the third act. It’s a rough moment for David Thewlis, a fine actor who gave my single favorite acting performance in all the Harry Potter films (in 2004’s Prisoner of Azkaban). The effects are on par with an early 2000s video game, and the acting flies way over the top. Not only is it a good reminder that we’re watching a superhero movie, so of course it had to end in a big battle, but it squanders a few moments of genuine nuance immediately preceding it, when Diana was forced to ponder man’s morality—the idea that people just might not be all good, that there isn’t just one bad guy you can kill to make everyone good again, even though that would be easier. Overall, it’s safe to say, when Wonder Woman is being its straight, sincere self, it cruises along. When it tries to amp up the effects to meet the required standards of today’s superhero-obsessed movie industry (see also the unnecessary Zack Snyder slow-mo during a fight between WW and some Germans inside a building), it doesn’t work nearly as well.

            Also, do we want to talk about how Diana has supposedly been around all this time and got all fired up about WWI, but apparently didn’t lift a hand to stop Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Vietnam, or 9/11? No? Okay.

In Summary

             With Justice League coming out next week, one wonders: “how long will the goodwill last?” Coming off two high profile disappointments from DC, Wonder Woman surprised many people with its assured direction and conviction, strong acting and character development, poignant love story and some really legit action sequences. It did fall into the go-big-or-go-home third act effects extravaganza that hinders so many action movies these days, but, having now seen it twice, I can say when I think of this movie, I’ll think first of Gadot and Pine, their fine characterizations and their chemistry, before I think off the iffy “boss battle” that closes things out. I’m trying not to get my hopes up for Justice League, but in an era jam-packed with superhero films, Wonder Woman stands out. 

WONDER WOMAN (2017)

Directed by Patty Jenkins 

Screenplay by Allan Heinberg
Story by Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs
The character Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
Rated PG-13

Length: 141 minutes