The second movie in the current DC franchise displays all the strengths and weaknesses of super-sequelism. The origin story out of the way, Diana can get down to some serious crime-fighting. On the other hand, the dark nemesis of any sequel is that old forced feeling, and that’s true here, too. I mean, they managed to find a way to shoehorn in Chris Pine’s romantic-interest character, and he and WW have good chemistry. But if you remember, the guy died 60 years ago.

Gal Gadot again personifies the tiara-ed tough girl, though I couldn’t tell if that’s because of her acting or just her monumental charisma. Let’s talk about Kristen Wiig. It’s great that she has fulfilled her dream of being in a superhero movie. She brings a fun and refreshing geekiness to her character early on, but once she morphs into a powerful supervillain, it’s a job anyone with an army of CGI technicians can do. I hope she’s got it out of her system now and will return to her previous life as a gifted comedic actor. 

Personally, I’m pretty over superhero movies, agreeing with recent comments by Scorsese and Coppola that they’re better described as “theme parks.” There have been almost 200 of them since Superman. A few rise above the formulaic (Logan, the recent Batman trilogy), but this isn’t one of them. If you still find them entertaining, you could do worst than this old-fashioned approach, but memorable it isn’t.

Stay for the heartwarming surprise midway through the closing credits. And yes, WW3 is already in the works. (151 min)