1. The movie - Overall, I loved this movie. I was very skeptical going in. I found the trailers very dull, and Wonder Woman's appearance in Batman v Superman was really unnecessary. My skepticism had nothing to do with the DCU, though, - I liked both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman (and I like Marvel movies, too! Crazy, I know.). Patty Jenkins did an amazing job creating a film that was an origin story for Wonder Woman, but it didn't feel as formulaic as previous "origin stories" for other characters. It had humor, a sense of wonder and hopefulness, and two very memorable battle scenes (the one on the island of Themyscira and the now famous "No Man's Land" scene). Is it the greatest movie ever, as some are claiming? Well, no, that's a ridiculous claim. Does it have problems? Well, sure, I have eyes, I can see how terrible the third act battle scene looked. It also drives me insane when people from foreign countries speak English with their accent instead of being subtitled (one of my biggest pet peeves in movies). But I enjoyed every second of it, and I came out of the theater grinning from ear to ear. That's what matters to me.
2. The woman - When I picture Wonder Woman, outside of Lynda Carter, the woman I picture is Gal Gadot. When they made the cast announcement, I, like many, did not know who she was. I googled her image, and thought, "Yup, that IS Wonder Woman". She is perfect. She is able to display innocence and naivete without seeming dumb (I think that's hard to do well), but also, obviously, has this immense amount of strength and power that is necessary for the role. Probably my favorite casting of a modern superhero role - it's right up there with Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and Christian Bale as Batman (and yes, those are the only three that I would say are iconic - everyone else is replaceable. Fight me.). She had a great supporting cast, as well. Chris Pine has never been better.
3. The impact - I don't think that men get it. Even the ones that say they do, don't. And really, how could they? Yes, I can think of several iconic female roles on the big screen - of women that were strong and powerful - like Ripley, Sarah Conner, and Lara Croft. Although, I think the small screen was even stronger for women - Buffy, Sydney Bristow, and of course, Wonder Woman. And personally, I looked up to women who were a bit more "real" like Ellie Sattler, Chris Parker (from Adventures in Babysitting, DUH), and Annie (from Speed, DUH). But, the point is that we, as women, had maybe one or two dozen female characters that we truly admire and see ourselves in, while men had literally hundreds. Things have been changing very slowly over the past few years, but with Wonder Woman, it's like this huge sigh of relief - like, there is finally a movie that is going to change the course of film history for women. It's such a wonderful, emotional thing to think about - little girls growing up now have this character - a female character who is sensitive, inquisitive, intelligent, independent, funny, and fierce. A female character who stands up for herself and will fight for what she believes is right. But more importantly, a movie was made about this character that is universally loved and made a shitload of money. FUCKING FINALLY.
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