Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior.

A few months too late.

Premise

From a young age, Diana wanted to train like the Amazonian warriors she looked up to. Her mother, Queen Hippolyta, didn’t want her to have that life at first. However, Hippolyta realized she’d never be able to put restraints on her strong-willed daughter. Because of this she wanted Diana to be trained harder than any Amazon before her.

As she’s training and learning more about her abilities a plane crashes into the ocean with pilot Steven Trevor. Diana dives in to save him just in time for a German army to follow.

Learning there’s a war going on the other side of the veil that separates Themyscira and the world, Diana wants to go out and kill the Greek God Ares, who she believes is causing the mayhem in the world.

Island of Themyscira

I’m all for living on an island of woman created by Zeus to protect mankind. The women are warriors and prepare for battle that may or may not happen, but of course does thanks to Steve who brings the army to them.

This is just a small pet peeve but as the Germans pass through the veil separating them to the island with a clear blue sky they immediately fight the Amazons. No reaction to going from a dense fog to a beautiful, lush place that shouldn’t be there?

Besides that, the Amazons learn to fight, as well as learn about the world and man. Diana knows many things about humans including how they mate. Possibly one of my favorite scenes is when Diana tells Steve men are unable to pleasure women. Amazing.

Naive Wonder Woman

One of the main plots of the story is Diana going through London completely unaware that she’s out-of-place and people are staring at a beautiful woman carrying a sword through the street. Although other people see her as a woman who can’t protect herself, she refuses to be unheard. Diana puts herself out there and tries to bring hope.

Steve as well as some likable side characters help her navigate through the world while they’re on their mission to stop a gas attack that would turn the tide to the Germans. Steve’s secretary Etta and a band of misfits are part of their group to end the war. It did have a bit of a Captain America-feel with a couple of soldiers joining the rogue group, each with their own set of abilities.

Okay I will not go on any further comparing Wonder Woman to Captain America. 

But Steve Trevor fighting in a World War and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good.

Now I’m done.

We Do Not Deserve Her

I’m all for strong fictional female characters. Part of me wishes this movie existed years ago. Little me would love to look up to someone, especially someone with the same hair color. Potential Halloween costume.

Any way, do I even have to get into the strength of Diana? She kicks ass. Not only with her fighting skills but ability to rise people up and inspire them, even through means of kicking ass. She’s someone for everyone to look up to and give them hope there’s good in the world who wants to fight for them.

Her relationship with Steve is fun to watch. I didn’t mind it. I love Chris Pine is essentially the “female love interest” and there for us to pine over. Heh. But seriously he holds his own and stands back to let Diana fight. He’s never sexist or puts her down.

Some of the slowed down fight scenes did start to bother me. I get slowing it down allowed us to see what she’s doing better. I just wished they moved along faster. A few here and there I don’t mind, but any time she jumped it seemed to slow down.

Again, another pet peeve. Those are my only negatives of the movie. Just little things but nothing to sway my overall enjoyment.

Overall

Wonder Woman is a strong female character, women and men can look up to, but I don’t need to tell you that. She’s proof women can handle their own in a fight and stand up for themselves. She’s also more than that. She cares. Seeing the war first-hand stirs up a fire to end the evil in the world. Even when men tell her to shut up, she persists.

There are a few flaws to nit-pick and may not even be a flaw in someone else’s eyes. It’s not perfect and can be compared to other movies easily. Did I even mention the villains of the movie? There’s little screen time with them and when they’re around I don’t really care. In the end it’s more about Diana deciding whether humans are evil on their own terms or influenced by others.

Wonder Woman is a fun movie for everyone of all ages to enjoy. Knowing her back story brings more depth to her character in Batman v Superman.  Although I’m skeptical of the upcoming Justice League, I’m looking forward to more Wonder Woman.