As a 70’s kid, I adored the Wonder Woman television show. It was the heyday of great primetime TV family entertainment, with The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman, Six Million Dollar Man, and more, and we kids would re-enact our favorite heroes on the playground. But my heart belonged to the lovely Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. For a while there, I even wanted to change the spelling of my name to L-Y-N-D-A. She was so perfect, so pretty, so strong, so GOOD!
The show only lasted a handful of seasons, then DECADES went by as male superhero after male superhero got a big screen treatment once the studios realized big bucks could be made. Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman were rebooted multiple times, and heck even Ant-Man and Deadpool got their own films. But where was Wonder Woman?
I don’t want to say it was worth the wait, because let’s be serious: studio heads need a big kick in the nuts for being unable to produce anything until now. But I will say, thank goodness the movie is good and Gal Gadot is so perfect, so pretty, and so strong. We all LOVE her… even if (bless her heart) I hope she gets a better acting coach for her next films.
In this origin story, we meet young Diana on Paradise Island, a secret island composed only of Amazons warriors. Amazons are really hot, buff women like Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen, who all speak in indeterminate accents (to cover for Israeli Gal Gadot) and spend their time sword fighting and wrestling. But then a MAN, a World War I pilot and spy, crashes into the sea and washes up on the beach. He is Steve Trevor (Chris Pine, bringing a nice humor to the film), who is trying to do his part to stop the war. Suddenly young, hot warrior Diana has a purpose, because she feels she is the one that can stop the God of War, Ares, and thus the global catastrophe.
OK, the fact that Wonder Woman earnestly feels like if she can just find Ares, the war will just end kind of charmed me (I love the mythology aspect). Diana going to London and then to The Front in the War to End All Wars totally works, even if the multiple villains aren’t particularly strong (which one, if any, is Ares? do we really care?). I liked setting the film in the early part of the 20th century in the same way I liked the first Captain America starting in World War II. I don’t need my superheroes to have technology and spaceships and lasers. Just give me a badass woman with a steely gaze and bullet deflecting bracelets. Simply give me a hero that is awesome.
Wonder Woman is too long (half an hour could be shaved off easily), and Gal Gadot, as commanding and stupendously gorgeous as she is, could use some help with her acting (again, bless her heart). But with its huge box office and solid reviews, it is a great start to a long-awaited franchise. I know some women and girls that were so excited by this movie that they wept when they saw it. It didn’t make me cry, but it made me smile. It’s about freakin’ time that Wonder Woman is back!
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Blu-ray includes a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes featurettes with director Patty Jenkins and cast and crew, as well as extended and alternates scenes, a blooper reel, and a trailer for Justice League (when we get to see Wonder Woman next).
