By George Haerle

For The Daily World

Way to go, DC Entertainment. Not only did you finally make a good movie after a pretty poor start to your superhero film universe, you made one with a strong female hero to inspire the girls.

After years of superhero movies with male leads and shoddy romantic subplots shoehorned into every adaptation as thinly veiled attempts to woo female audiences, “Wonder Woman” is a breath of fresh air. The leading lady’s performance is a bit of a wonder to behold — and not just because she’s gorgeous.

The movie follows Diana of Themyscira (Gal Gadot) from an early age, when she lives in the utopian island paradise created by the Amazons. Yearning to become a great warrior but denied from doing so by her loving mother, Queen Hippolyta, Diana is trained in secret by her aunt, Antiope (Robin Wright), a general who believes Ares, the god of war, will one day return to wreak havoc upon the world.

As Diana reaches adulthood, a World War I spy named Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash-lands in the waters just off the island. His arrival is seen as the call from the outside world that Diana must heed to save the world from destruction.

First off, any reservations you may have had about Gal Gadot’s casting can be brushed aside, because she owns the title of Wonder Woman. Grace, innocence, resolve, fortitude, strength — her Diana has it all, and she’ll make you believe so. The movie doesn’t focus on her gender, but on her journey and who she is as a person as she discovers the world outside her idyllic island for the first time.

The instances Diana comes across old-timey sexism is mostly situational to the point she practically just shrugs and ignores it; and the moments when everyone notices her beauty are quick, fleeting and mostly unspoken. It’s her qualities that shine here: her good nature, intelligence and courage. Gadot gives as much life to Wonder Woman as the gods gave to her in the original comics.

There is a moment in the middle of a battlefield where Diana charges in fearlessly, leading her allies into a German-occupied town that’s pretty inspiring — and it may be the moment you realize that she will be associated as much with Wonder Woman as Hugh Jackman is with Wolverine.

Now, of course “Wonder Woman” has a romantic subplot shoved in — but it is actually vital to the third act, rather than just being thrown in. The chemistry between Gadot and Pine is pretty adorable. Diana’s undying resolve and innocence clash with Trevor’s world-weariness and cynical realism, but not quite in the “opposites attract” sort of way. They are yin and yang, their attitudes complementing each other in the mission that unifies them: ending World War I.

But while the movies leads are perfect in their parts and will steal your attention the entire time, without them the movie would be pretty mediocre. The story is like a polished hybrid of the do-gooder wanting to change the world (“Captain America”) and the fish-out-of-water story (“Thor”) — nothing terribly original that hasn’t already done.

And this is not the movie’s worst flaw, which is unfortunate. Two continuing problems for Marvel movies (and the superhero genre as a whole) arise after the first hour and a half of “Wonder Woman” — the bad guys, and the third act.

While the first hour or so on Themyscira is pretty incredible to watch and the second act has some pretty inspired stuff, the third act takes a nosedive to the point it nearly crashes and burns. Ares is built up throughout the movie as this mighty Greek god, but what we get is CGI garbage, with the villain (who’s not quite what you expect) and Wonder Woman hurling obviously fake debris at each other for 10 minutes. It’s “we ran out of special effects money” bad. There are also two extra villains that the movie focuses on most of the time, and they are just flat-out lame.

Still, “Wonder Woman” is worth the price of admission — and it’s a must-see if you have young daughters, who need every positive role model they can get in today’s world.

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“Wonder Woman” is currently playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.