It barely took five minutes for me to fall in love with this film. Perhaps I'm overly sentimental, overly sensitive but I found it to be enthralling. Watching a fearless little girl be inspired to be a hero by the women around her was just utterly brilliant and the hero she grows up to be engages so many of the timeless issues women face. But Wonder Women isn't just a hero for women, she's a hero for humanity. A lot of her words about cowardice ring true with contemporary events. Diana calling the British Generals out for letting innocents die in the name of war seems like a barely veiled statement about the West's actions in Syria and other recent wars. But the film never becomes sanctimonious. It balances the morality against action and humour with great ease making the whole piece a pleasure to watch. It's also set apart from it's comrades because it works as its own piece. You don't need to worry about watching any previous films and it doesn't get hooked up on setting up a sequel.
Wonder Woman isn't immune from blockbuster problems. The editing during the action is a little choppy, sometimes missing shots that would help the action make sense. The final fight might be two Gods fighting each other but it doesn't excuse it for being a bit messy visually and narratively speaking. I was dubious about Hans Zimmer's theme which seems to come out of nowhere in the trailers but in the context of the film it worked great.
Others might criticise the film for being too on the nose at times, with its use of slow-mo for dramatic-effect and grand speeches but you know what? It's allowed too. The first major female superhero film from this generation is allowed to drive the point home, to let us soak up the image of a woman walking into No Man's Land to save innocent lives and punching a tank in the process. I find myself genuinely looking forward to Justice League if it means I get to see more Wonder Woman.
It's been a long, hard road but Patty Jenkins has struck a huge blow for female superheroes and female blockbuster directors. This film deserves to do extremely well and perhaps other characters will finally start to get the screen-time they deserve and studios will stop questioning whether a female director can deliver the goods because Jenkins has delivered with Wonder Woman.