“It’s wonderful. You should be very proud.” — Diana
Except for fifteen or so excellent minutes of last year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman has not been a real, live-action superhero since the 1970s.
Her show at that time was awesome. I wrote Lynda Carter a letter when I was eight. That’s how much I liked it. I never wrote letters to David Hasselhoff or Mr. T. (Sidebar to self: Get to work on that.)
My favorite part of the movie is that my awesome wife and awesome daughter saw a movie with me starring a female superhero; and she is not a costar or part of a team. She’s the whole movie. Male humans have plenty of superheroes who star in movies. I’m the dad of a female human, and this kind of thing is pretty important to me.
They loved the movie, too.
In one sentence: This movie is excellent and you should see it right now. By that, I mean put down your phone or knock over your desktop computer and run to the theater, right now.
Stuff’s about to get real.
The Wonder Woman movie is uplifting, joyful, even. It is tense, and thrilling, and draws out the emotional stuff from you, the viewer.
Wonder Woman is a hero that should have been in movies years and years ago. Her motives are pure, and she’s not sarcastic or ironic in her willful intent to do good. That’s a good way to portray a superhero, but it’s moreso a good way to portray any heroic character.
For many folks, their only exposure to Wonder Woman is the 1970s TV series and the Super Friends cartoon. She does not have her invisible jet in this movie– as far as we know. It’s invisible.
Everything fans of that show remember is brought back and revamped in the movie, from her secret identity of Diana Prince to Steve Trevor to Etta Candy to the bracelets and the golden lasso.
This is the kind of movie that will require multiple viewings, not because you might have missed something, but because you will want to see some scenes again.
My favorite neat thing about the movie, among lots of neat things, is Antiope, the Amazon general who trains Diana. She is played by Robin Wright — who also played Buttercup in another favorite movie, The Princess Bride.
You do not need to be a diehard superhero geek to enjoy the movie. You do not need to see some other movie before you see this one. (That’s right. It’s OK to skip the previously mentioned Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Or you could just fast forward that movie to the Wonder Woman parts.)
The movie explains everything to you, and also includes bad guys getting kicked in the butt (not literally. Maybe in the sequel.)
Learned individuals who have done their superhero research will find this movie to be crammed with comic-book references, characters, and happenings pulled from the source material. For those who do not consider themselves superhero geeks, give it time. Soon you will be one of us. This is an amazing place to start.
Follow Joe Crowe on Instagram and Twitter at @yojoecrowe and @yojoecrowe.
