A hero for everyone: Wonder Woman review

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From start to finish, Wonder Woman is a beautifully crafted film that announces in no uncertain terms that Wonder Woman is the hero we all need.

Wonder Woman is one of those rare movies that hits all the right notes while telling a compelling and powerful story about the personal journey of Diana as she realizes her destiny. Diana is introduced as a young child on Themyscira who grows before our eyes until one day a plane crash alters the course of her destiny forever.

Gal Gadot owns this character and infuses Diana Prince with such emotion and joie de vivre, but when Wonder Woman needs to kick butt Gadot does it with such graceful ferocity that watching her in action is like watching poetry come to life.

Patty Jenkins has done an amazing job crafting this film. It has the perfect balance of humor, drama, action, emotion, and edge-of-your-seat thrills. It is abundantly clear that Jenkins made sure that every detail was perfect, with every scene flowing together seamlessly with careful consideration as to how each scene contributes to the overall film. With a run time just over two hours, the film manages to capture every element of the story without leaving viewers feeling like it drags on or is too rushed.

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Wonder Woman is a film that will appeal to everyone. You don’t need to read comics to understand the story and at the same time the story will be one familiar to longtime Wonder Woman fans. While there has been a lot of misguided controversy about women-only showings of the film, I’d like to say that this is a film that parents can really enjoy with their kids. This is a film for dads to share with their little girls and for moms to share with their young sons. It’s a film that will provide a strong female character for little girls to look up to and it’s a chance to show little boys that female superheroes can keep up just fine with the boys. This is truly important for those kids who were too young to see Batman v Superman, which is much darker than Wonder Woman. Jenkins talked about the importance of keeping the film away from an R-rating for that very reason, though some of the war scenes still might be intense for the young ones.

As I watched the film, the audience in my theater laughed, gasped, clapped and cheered throughout the movie. As soon as the credits rolled, I left the theater with the distinct feeling that in addition to seeing a great movie, I’d just been a part of something really special.

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With Wonder Woman, the floodgates are officially open for female superheroes (and villains) to lead their own films. It’s time to see Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Captain Marvel, and the Gotham Sirens. The time is now. And don’t forget that we’ll see Wonder Woman again soon enough: She appears in Justice League, which opens in November 2017.