Wonder Woman is a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the DC Extended Universe . The film is directed by Patty Jenkins, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg, from a story by Heinberg, Zack Snyder, and Jason Fuchs, and stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, and Elena Anaya. Wonder Woman is the second live action theatrical film featuring the titular character, following her debut in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Jenkins's role as director makes her the first female director of a live-action, theatrically released comic book superhero film. The film tells the story of Princess Diana, who grows up on the Amazon island of Themyscira. After American pilot Steve Trevor crashes offshore of the island and is rescued by her, he tells the Amazons about the ongoing World War. Diana then leaves her home in order to end the conflict.
While development for the film began in 1996, Jenkins signed on to direct in 2015. Principal photography began on November 21, 2015, with filming taking place in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy before wrapping up on May 9, 2016, the 123rd anniversary of the birth of the creator, William Moulton Marston. Additional filming took place in November 2016.
Wonder Woman premiered in Shanghai on May 15, 2017, and was released in the United States on June 2, 2017, in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D. It received largely positive reviews from critics, being praised for the direction, performances, action sequences, and musical score. The film set numerous box office records, including becoming the highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman, the biggest domestic opening for a film directed by a woman, the highest-grossing superhero origin film in the United States and worldwide, as well as the largest opening for a female-led comic book film. Wonder Woman is also the fifth-highest-grossing superhero film domestically and 20th-highest-grossing film in the United States. It has grossed over $821 million worldwide, making it the seventh highest-grossing film of 2017. It also helped the DCEU to push past $3 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the fourteenth-highest-grossing film franchise of all time. As of October 2017, the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes has listed the movie as #1 on its list of the 50 Best Superhero Movies of All Time.
PLOT
In present-day Paris, Diana Prince receives a photographic plate of herself and four men taken during World War I, prompting her to recall her past. Daughter of Queen Hippolyta, Diana was raised on the hidden island of Themyscira, home to the Amazonian warrior women created by Zeus to protect mankind. Hippolyta shares the Amazonian history with Diana, including how Ares, Zeus's son, became jealous of humanity and orchestrated its destruction. When the other gods attempted to stop him, Ares killed all but Zeus, who used the last of his power to wound Ares and force his retreat (thus dying in the process). Zeus left the Amazons the island and a weapon, the "Godkiller", to prepare them for Ares' return.
Initially forbidding Diana to train as a warrior, Hippolyta allows her sister Antiope to train Diana, only more rigorously than any other warrior. In 1918, Diana, now a young woman, rescues American pilot Captain Steve Trevor when his plane crashes off the Themysciran coast. The island is soon invaded by a German ship pursuing Trevor. The Amazons kill the crew, but Antiope sacrifices herself to save Diana. Steve is interrogated with the Lasso of Hestia, and reveals that a war is consuming the outside world, and that he is an Allied spy. He has stolen a notebook of the chief chemist Isabel Maru, who is attempting to engineer a deadlier form of mustard gas, under the orders of General Erich Ludendorff. Believing Ares to be responsible for the war, Diana arms herself with the "Godkiller" sword, the lasso, and her armor before leaving Themyscira with Steve to locate and destroy Ares for good.
In London, they deliver Maru's notebook to the Supreme War Council, where Sir Patrick Morgan is trying to negotiate an armistice with Germany. Diana translates Maru's notes and reveals that the Germans plan to release the deadly gas at the Western Front. Although forbidden by his commander to act, Steve, with secret funding from Sir Patrick, recruits spy Sameer, marksman Charlie, and smuggler Chief to help prevent the gas from being released. The team reaches the front in Belgium. Diana goes alone through No Man's Land and captures the enemy trench, allowing the Allied forces to help her liberate the village of Veld. The team briefly celebrates, while Diana and Steve grow closer romantically.
The team learns a gala will be held at the nearby German High Command. Steve and Diana separately infiltrate the party, with Steve intending to locate the gas and destroy it, while Diana intends to kill Ludendorff, believing that he is Ares and thus killing him will end the war. Steve stops her to avoid jeopardizing his mission, but this allows Ludendorff to unleash the gas on Veld, killing its inhabitants. Blaming Steve for intervening, Diana pursues Ludendorff to a base where the gas is being loaded into a bomber aircraft bound for London. Diana fights and kills Ludendorff, but is confused and disillusioned when his death does not stop the war.
Sir Patrick appears and reveals himself as Ares. He tells Diana that although he has subtly given humans ideas and inspirations, using Ludendorff and Maru as pawns in the process, it is ultimately their decision to resort to violence as they are inherently corrupt. When Diana attempts to kill Ares with the "Godkiller" sword, he destroys it, then reveals Diana to be the "Godkiller", as the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. He fails to persuade Diana to help him destroy mankind to restore paradise on Earth. While the two battle, Steve's team destroys Maru's laboratory. Steve hijacks and pilots the bomber carrying the gas to a safe altitude and detonates it, sacrificing himself in the process. Ares attempts to direct Diana's rage and grief at Steve's death by convincing her to kill Maru, but the memories of her experiences with Steve cause her to realize that humans have good within them. She spares Maru and redirects Ares' lightning into him, killing him. Later, the team celebrates the end of the war. In the present day, Diana sends an email to Bruce Wayne thanking him for the photographic plate of her and Steve and reaffirms her new mission to fight and give on the world's behalf.
