Wonder Woman receives surge of rave reviews

Wonder Woman poster

Warner Bros.’s Wonder Woman movie has received a surge of positive reviews, a big change from the usual pattern for the studio’s superhero films.

The movie starring Gal Gadot as the title character has an early score of 97 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes website, with 60 positive reviews and two negative ones.

That’s a huge change compared with the 28 percent score for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 25 percent for Suicide Squad.

Gadot’s Wonder Woman was part of Batman v Superman (set in the present day). Wonder Woman, which comes out Friday, is set in World War I, a revision from the original comics stories, which were set in World War II.

Warners’ movies based on DC Comics characters have generated business at the box office, but not as much as many of the films released by rival Marvel Studios, part of of Walt Disney Co.

“Mr. Warner” wants to improve the reception of its DC-based movies. In any case, here’s a sampling (spoilers excluded) of some of the early reviews.

PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE: “The good news is that this big-screen outing for William Moulton Marston’s creation is that it leaves the cornball 1970’s TV series with Lynda Carter in the dust and is leagues better than Suicide Squad, the last DC Extended Universe movie to stink up the multiplex. And like she proved in her extended cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, dynamo Israeli actress Gal Gadot owns the role, her body-beautiful forged with feminist fire. She really is all that. The movie? It’s nowhere near what it needs to be to give the actor and the character the resonant sendoff both deserve.”

ALISON WILLMORE, BUZZFEED: “What’s striking about her turn in the spotlight in Wonder Woman, beyond its milestone status as a female-centric studio superhero feature directed by a woman, is the movie’s sense of elated lightness….It’s a saga, written by Allan Heinberg, with a decent sense of humor, which any story prominently featuring Zeus and a Lasso of Truth demand.”

RICHARD ROEPER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: “Gal Gadot shines in the title role. Diana is sweet and sexy and clever and intense, and she moves with the grace and power of a superhero gymnast (among other skills).”

CATH CLARKE, TIME OUT LONDON: “Unlike Batman, Wonder Woman is not plagued by doomy angst. She’s good and kind, with a strong moral compass. A complex female character? Not exactly. But Gadot (who is ex-army and knows her way round a fight sequence) never lets her become bland and simpering.”

STEVE ROSE, THE GUARDIAN: “Those hoping a shot of oestrogen would generate a new kind of comic-book movie – and revive DC’s faltering movie universe – might need to lower their expectations… What promised to be a glass-ceiling-smashing blockbuster actually looks more like a future camp classic.”

Thunderball’s Molly Peters dies

Nurse Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters) helps James Bond (Sean Connery) off “the rack” in Thunderball

UPDATE (June 4): It turns out Molly Peters was born in 1939, rather than 1942, making her 78, according to the MI6 James Bond website and other sources.

ORIGINAL POST (May 30): Molly Peters, who played a nurse in Thunderball who becomes involved with James Bond, has died at 75, according to an announcement on the official James Bond account on Twitter.

Thunderball billed itself as the “Biggest Bond of All.” Bond was particularly active wooing women characters in the film, with nurse Patricia Fearing (Peters), SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe(Luciana Paluzzi) and Domino (Claudine Auger), the mistress of SPECTRE operative Largo.

Peters’s entry on IMDB.COM lists only seven acting credits from 1964 through 1968.

Here’s the posting from the official James Bond feed on Twitter.

 

We are sad to hear that Molly Peters has passed away at the age of 75. Our thoughts are with her family. pic.twitter.com/6k3Ifs2gpY

— James Bond (@007) May 30, 2017

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