Watch & Remark: Wonder Woman

I'm still trying to catch my breath. This movie, guys. It was amazing and beautiful and heartbreaking, and I am already planning to go see it again. Every single scene brought the full force of this amazing cast to the front of the movie. This star-studded cast, including Gal Gadot, Robin Wright, and Chris Pine, are brilliant members of their craft. I was left sitting in the theater waiting for more. Even the credits were beautiful.

This movie is going to start a wonderful new trend for movies. We're gonna get more female-led superhero movies, better representation in said movies, and more female directors to helm these movies.

Women have wanted movies like this for decades, and it's refreshing to see that we can make movies like these succeed, as long as we ignore those who say they won't. Movies like Wonder Woman, where women are both the main focus and not sexualized, are the next step in achieving true equality.

Wonder Woman follows Diana, Princess of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, is the youngest member of the Amazons, a female warrior race created by Zeus to help humanity rise past their failings. Diana is beloved of her people, a bit naive, and, eventually, trains to become a warrior like the rest of her people under Antiope, the general of the Amazons.

Diana has grown into a fine young warrior when a plane crashes into the waters surrounding the hidden island where the Amazons live, and Diana is drawn into the conflict of man--the worst war to date, WWI. Alongside her new, male, companion Steve Trevor, Diana sets out to kill the god of war, Ares, who she believes is causing this war, and stop it.

The film is tied to the present time of the DC universe by brief scenes at the beginning and end of the movie that show Diana working as a collector or curator at the Louvre, when she receives a briefcase from Batman that provides context for the film. These brief scenes were a great use of context for the film, and let us see Diana still hard at work protecting the Earth--ready for her next mission, with the Justice League.

Diana is never overly sexualized, and while there is a romance, it never takes center stage. Diana is always in control of her own self, and does nothing she does not want to, and does everything she thinks she can do to prevent more needless deaths. She is a powerful character, and Wonder Woman is needed so much in this day and age. I don't think I'll ever get over how important she is. Wonder Woman is her own person, and this film makes that crystal clear to every viewer.

Of course, it wasn't perfect. There were still some aspects of overt "male gaze," less character development than I would have liked, and a bit too much blind acceptance on Diana's part of her actions, despite their consequences.

This movie was still extremely impressive, vividly beautiful, and it is so important as well. It's important for all the little girls out there, and all the women too. Seeing such a powerful icon on the big screen is the next best thing to being that powerful icon ourselves. Identifying with Diana makes us all better people and protectors.

I cannot wait for the Justice League movie. We'll see more of Diana, more of the DC universe (though I'll always be a Marvel girl at heart), and some good ass-kicking as well. Until then, we say goodbye to Diana--but not for long.