To be fair, I am a HUGE comic book nerd; my discussions about superheroes rival those of nuns on the 12 Apostles. When I first heard there was going to be a stand-alone Wonder Woman movie, I was beyond myself. Gal Gadot as Diana in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was the only good part of Zach Snyder's horrific film. In fact, she was better than good: she was super.
Inside, I was ebullient with joy, but I couldn't shake off the fact that previous DC movies were atrocities (save Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy). DC was having a tough time figuring itself out. When I saw Patty Jenkin's Wonder Women during its Thursday night premiere, however, my angst was quelled. Diana Prince really did save the day.
Finally, DC seems to have figured itself out after Christopher Nolan hung up his cape and cowl as director (at least, I hope so). The biggest takeaway from Wonder Woman is that each character mattered and was fleshed out. Wonder Woman cared about its characters.
Screenwriter Allan Heinberg has a history with the Amazonian Princess, and it shows. By the end of the film's two-and-a-half-hour runtime, I felt like I knew everyone, even the villains. The Amazonians were full-blown B.A. warriors with a strict moral code; Rogue reconnaissance warriors Charlie, Sameer, and Chief were given traumatic back stories and purpose other than extra fire power; Dr. Poison was comically maniacal, yet a terror to American G.I.s; Daughter-of-Zeus Diana was believable—she even changed. She lost her naivety when she saw how vicious humans can be, but her optimism and hope for world peace never truly falter. She adapts to a new world outside of Themyscira.
The eponymous heroes of Snyder's Batman v Superman and the scoundrels of Ayer's Suicide Squad were very boring and as flat as pre-Enlightenment Europeans believed the world to be. DC should use Wonder Woman as a guidebook for the rest of its films. We have to care about our heroes on the silver screen. We have to because we do care. They're our heroes, and they're also human (for the most part).
