REVIEW: DC finally makes us feel something again with ‘Wonder Woman’

After being disappointed with every DC movie since “The Dark Knight” trilogy, I was skeptical of how DC would find its way back with a solo movie based on Wonder Woman. I used to find Wonder Woman’s story and character boring compared to the more dangerous comic book heroines like Catwoman and Black Widow.

What made this film stand out to me more than recent DC installments was the powerful aura surrounding Wonder Woman, aka Diana Prince. I give a ton of credit to Gal Gadot for forging an emotional connection with the audience, which is something that Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman failed to do.

Wonder Woman’s appeal comes from her sense of aspiration and journey of self-discovery. It was refreshing to see a hero that shows her vulnerable side, as opposed to many who seem to always know exactly what to do, which is not realistic.

Anybody who has had his or her world rocked when they realized something they believed in was not true can relate to Diana’s lost sense of purpose once she found out that she could not stop war and death from happening.

She gives the audience a reason to sympathize with her noble plight to make the world a better place; I don’t root for her because I feel I am supposed to root for the protagonist, but because she genuinely seems to enjoy helping everyone that she possibly can. Not every superhero has to be dark and brooding, we have enough of those.

However, I will admit that the audience will be left wanting more when it comes to gritty fighting scenes. The action sequences went a little overboard on the CGI effects, and the fighting did not look realistic.

As a comic book fan, I always appreciate a well-developed origin story, and the film definitely did a good job of telling her story from the beginning. The film spent a good amount of time on Diana’s childhood and showed how she came to be the selfless warrior that she is. I think that comic book fans will appreciate the film in the sense that it dove deep into her Amazonian heritage and upbringing.

It is true that most people will love this movie especially if they are a supporter of the feminist cause. After all, the film is about a woman blazing her own trail through a male-dominated WWI.

However, I do think that the feminist tone of this film is deeper than what critics may consider a “feminist agenda.”

One of the most important scenes in the film takes place when Diana defies a man’s order to keep walking through a trench, and instead decides to fight in no-man’s land to save a village of people caught in battle. In another scene, she burst into a British intelligence meeting and tells the general to his face that his idea to fall back is cowardly.

Of course, these scenes can be seen as acts of feminism because she is doing what she wants despite what the men around her want her to do. On the other hand, I think these scenes send the message that anybody can do what they believe is right, no matter what others around them might say.

Diana didn’t grow up in a world that told her she couldn’t do things because she was a woman, she always does what she thinks is right.

While some may see this film as pushing a feminist agenda, I see it as pushing humanity and morality over traditional norms.

The best thing about this film is that it can appeal to everybody because everyone can relate to the struggle to become a better person and learning about his or herself along the way, which is something that can’t be said about other superhero films.

Also published on Medium.