The early critique is in, and it seems by all accounts the new Wonder Woman movie was worth the wait. As much for comic fans, and summer movie junkies Gal Gadot’s turn at goddess Diana of Themyscira is making the top of everyone’s list. The movie earned 103.1 million on its release (setting it almost dead center of box office earners of a super hero film opening weekend) with its director Patty Jenkins enjoying the distinction of breaking the record for the most successful opening weekend for a movie directed by a woman. But the ‘girl power’ of the movie itself is what lots of critics and fans alike are talking about.
In articles like this one from the Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat- vision/wonder-woman- what-gal- gadot-movie- gets-right- 1009454) and infamous movie fan web- portal “Ain’t It Cool News,” (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/77951) what is being recognized and applauded as much as the usual round of C.G.I. is just how this female character of another time (and from a completely different place) is a much-needed heroine of these times.
Director Jenkins went for the one thing certainly missing from lots of pop movie fare (lots of art, in general, these days) but something she certainly wholeheartedly admits to putting into this movie: Wonder Woman is unabashedly sincere in all aspects…even when she’s kicking bad guy ass! The wisecracking of Iron Man’s Tony Stark, Deadpool’s often completely ribald asides, and Ant-Man’s quips serve a purpose and are in keeping with their characters as written. But for this film writers Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg-and Jenkins-remembered well that on Wonder Woman’s home of Themyscira, all the negative qualities of mankind do not exist. It is only when the lady is thrust into World War I and the orbit of Steve Trevor, that she begins to experience the horrors (and lots of the silliness) of the world we all deal with on a regular basis. As Ain’t It Cool’s writer makes clear, Wonder Woman here enters into a “curious discovery,” of the new world she comes to, but never seems confused by it.
Diana is also introduced to the intricacies of sex and attraction when meeting Trevor. But hetero attraction here is treated completely different than it usually is in other movies, reminding us that indeed this is a movie with a real lady at its center. While there is no denying that cosplay fetishists will come out in force to see Gadot in her costume, it’s male nudity we see in this movie and Diana who initiates the sexual interplay between her and Trevor. She has no knowledge of the interplay between the sexes, so she simply marches forward with her wit and honesty.
The DC Extended Universe certainly needed an influx of true strong femininity and Wonder Woman delivers for us all.
– RG with Dr. Victoria
