I realize I am very late to this Amazonian-sized party, but it's a party I want to join anyway. As a superhero movie, male or female, it is just super, fabulous, awesome. It had great action, cool effects, pretty good superhero dialog, which in my mind should have moments of double-entendres, sarcasm and humor, moments when you say (in your head or out loud) "holy shit that was epic". Gal Gadot is perfect as Diana/Wonder Woman, perfect like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The cast of Amazons, led by Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta, Diana's mother and Queen of the Amazons and Robin Wright as Antiope, Diana's aunt and general of the army, and the rest of the women are fierce and athletic, and I could watch a movie of them doing their training and riding horses. The Amazons live on Themyscira, an island created by Zeus for them, and hidden away from the world of man. They have remained hidden until Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), a captain in the United States Army who was on a spy mission in Germany. The movie is set during World War I, which is infamous for its barbaric trench warfare and poison gas, which plays a pivotal role in the film. Captain Trevor crashes a stolen German plane into the ocean near Themyscira and is rescued by Diana; while the Amazons take him in and treat his wounds, they are wary of what will follow him; which turns out to be German troops who come close to overwhelming the Amazons with their guns. Trevor needs to get to the outside world, back to London, and Diana wants to go with him, to help fight Ares (god of war), whom she believes is the cause of the war. If she leaves Themyscira, Diana is not allowed to return, but she feels it's her duty to help. Steve and Diana land in London, which allows for those funny fish out of water moments as Diana has to learn how to navigate in the society of humans, like, not waving her sword around, trying on 20th century London fashion. Steve wants to find the location of a poisonous gas being developed by Dr. Poison/Dr. Maru and that will be used by General Ludendorff (played evilly by Danny Huston). David Thewlis is Sir Patrick Morgan a British politician, supposedly working towards the armistice. Trevor, Diana and his friends Charlie, Sameer and Chief, embark on the mission to find Ludendorff, which takes them perilously through the trenches and no man's land (please appreciate the irony). Now, I'm getting perilously close to revealing spoilers, so I will stop. You'll want to see this anyway. I loved this movie, really loved it. Aside from the reasons I gave early on, it is so awesome to finally have a female-focused superhero movie (all props to Black Widow and Scarlett Johansson, but they never pulled it off where she's the star) with strong females throughout, even evil Dr. Maru. If you've read any of the articles since the movie came out, it has definitely resonated with audiences, and not just female audiences, although, I think we are reveling in it, for sure. Wonder Woman is physically strong, speaks hundreds of languages, but also (as Chris Pine himself pointed out) has an 'emotional intelligence' that most of the super heroes lack; she has brawn, brain and heart. There have been emails sent to the (female) director Patty Jenkins (who directed Monster, so she knows strong women) talking about the impact the film has had on kids, boys and girls. I look forward to Wonder Woman 2; yeah, I know Justice League is coming out, but then she's going to have share the screen.
It took a long time to get this movie, so I plan to enjoy it for all it's worth.
