Wonder Woman (5 Stars)

It's difficult for me to write about this film. I'm in awe. It's a film about a powerful woman, a role model for all other women to follow. Wonder Woman, the character, has been called a feminist icon. I prefer to call her a feminist ideal. Other women can't jump through the air swinging swords. Even if they could, they wouldn't want to. That's just fantasy. But women can have an attitude like that. A woman can feel power coursing through her veins. A woman can go into any situation feeling confident that she can solve any problems in front of her.

The film, even more than the Wonder Woman comics that I used to read in the 1970's, shows the dichotomy of the character. Princess Diana of the Amazons believes in solving problems through love, and yet she spends most of the time with a sword in her hand. Is that a contradiction? I prefer to call it a compromise. She sincerely wants to "make love, not war", but she's willing to use a sword to reach her goal faster.

Diana's nemesis, the nemesis of all the Amazons, is Ares, the God of War. When Diana finds out that a great war is raging, bigger than any other war in history, she knows straight away that Ares is responsible. She knows that if she kills him the war will end. This might sound like childish naivety to the fighting men at her side, but she's convinced that she's right. When she finally meets him he's smooth talking and seductive, like the Devil in the Christian Bible. He doesn't want to fight Diana, he wants to persuade her to join his side.

The film is far superior to the television series of the late 1970's. I watched less than a dozen episodes. It was a series that I felt I ought to watch, because I like strong women, but it didn't excite me. I couldn't take Lynda Carter seriously as a super-heroine. In the film Gal Gadot shows much greater emotional depth. We can understand her motivation for running through a battlefield with a sword in her hand. When Lynda Carter went into action she looked like she was just looking for an excuse to show off her stars and stripes bathing costume.

I've read that not one but two sequels have been planned. I really hope they can live up to the first film. DC has made too many mediocre films in the last few years. "Wonder Woman" was much better than I expected it to be. It has a lot to live up to.

Success Rate:  + 4.8

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