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Diana thinks that the only reason men are killing each other is because Ares, the god of war, has instilled evil into their hearts. She decides to help Steve put an end to the fighting by stopping Ares. She leaves with him to London to join the battle.

From there, they embark on their journey to “man’s world” and the movie becomes, at least for a while, a fish out of water story. And Gadot sells the befuddlement with a wide-eyed mixture of confusion and awe.

Seeing our world through her eyes is one of the movie’s highlights. When Diana meets Steve’s secretary, Etta Candy, (Lucy Davis) she is genuinely perplexed by her job. To Diana, Etta’s duties sound an awful lot like slavery. Davis gives an entertaining and delightful but luckily not overused performance.

It’s great to see how Diana reacts to what we accept as normal. Because if you think about it, the casual sexism and misogyny that is accepted as “normal” would totally seem crazy to an outsider. And before their mission really gets going, Diana gets a taste of what “man’s world” is really like when she is shushed, told to cover up and escorted out of rooms when men are talking.

In what seems like standard practice, they pick up a few comrades along the way. As far as rag tag teams go, theirs is nothing mold breaking but they are entertaining enough. The team is made up of Charlie, (Ewen Bremner) a sniper suffering from PTSD, Sammy, (Saïd Taghmaoui) A French Moroccan con artist and secret agent. In one of the movie’s funniest moments, Sammy explains that he wanted to be an actor but is “the wrong color.” Lastly, we have Chief (Eugene Brave Rock), a Native American smuggler who can get people across the front lines.

Along the way there are some genuinely thrilling set pieces. In one particularly captivating scene, they find themselves at one of the trenches. Steve explains that it’s impossible to cross it and that they have to go on with their missions but Diana refuses to leave without helping.

She puts her hair down, sheds the clothes given to her by men and boldly, and symbolically, ventures out into “no man’s land” (the deadly space between trenches during World War I).

The scene is electrifying and instantly iconic. Diana slowly makes her way, confidently deflecting bullets with her bracelets. As the fire becomes more and more severe, she speeds up and along the way, she does what heroes are supposed to do; inspire. Following her lead, Steve and the rest of the team charge in after her. But the fire only increases, and she is momentarily held back but never beaten.

Eventually, the rest of the army joins in and Diana makes it to the other side, taking out the gunmen. A chase ensues and seeing Diana unleashed is incredibly exciting. During a CGI-heavy-but-not-overwhelmed scene she uses her lasso in the fight and it’s as glorious as you could hope for.

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