No justice
Gal Gadot is saving grace of new panned action film
Justice League, the latest Warner Bros superhero film, hits screens Thursday in Israel and Friday in the US, but the reviews are already in, and it’s clear that Israeli superstar Gal Gadot is the best thing about it.
Gadot reprises her role as Wonder Woman in the film, alongside Ben Affleck’s Batman, Henry Cavill’s Superman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s The Flash.
While critics were divided about the film overall, just about everyone agreed that Gadot provided the brightest star power in the movie.
According to Variety, the film is “an adequate, high-spirited studio lark,” that’s a “penance” for 2016’s lackluster Batman v. Superman. And Gadot, the magazine said, “builds on her star-making performance in Wonder Woman by giving Diana Prince a glow of molten fury that burns even more brightly than before.”
The Guardian gave the film just two stars, but said Wonder Woman was “enjoyably played by Gal Gadot,” and it falls on her character “to cheer things up a little.”
The reviewer for Forbes was a fan of the film overall, and called Gadot “every bit as charismatic and commanding as she was in her previous two cinematic appearances.”
Likewise, the Los Angeles Times called the movie “seriously satisfying” and said Gadot was “in full command of the role.”
But over at Vanity Fair, the reviewer labeled the film a “big ugly mess.”
“I could be projecting, but boy does poor Gal Gadot look so sad in Justice League,” wrote Richard Lawson, “watching this lumbering and witless movie lay waste to the nice thing she just got finished making.”
The Hollywood Reporter said Justice League was “lacking the spirit” of the standalone Wonder Woman film earlier this year. Nevertheless, Gadot is “just as kick-ass as she was this summer but in a less imaginative, onenote way.” In fact, said the reviewer: “Of the main performers, only Gadot pops from the screen at all. For now, her Wonder Woman looks to be the savior of Batman and Superman, though you may end up wondering why she’s wasting her time.”