There’s no doubt that “Wonder Woman” is easily the best movie released by DC since “The Dark Knight” trilogy. Not to mention that by being the first successful superhero Film with a woman in the lead role, it has also set a very progressive precedent.

However, despite all the positives about the film, there was something about it that was just simply lacking. For a movie that seemed pretty focused on showing the horrors of war, perhaps doing this in a PG-13 format wasn’t exactly the best way to go about it. In fact, I’d argue that by doing this, it held the film back from being a great film rather than just a great superhero film.

The overall theme

While on the surface, the film seems to be spreading a pro-feminist message, in reality, that is really more of a secondary theme.

The true theme of the film is the dichotomy of human nature and how it’s constantly at war with itself. Despite humanity’s immense capacity for good, our capacity for evil is every bit as large. Perhaps no institution in the history of mankind has shown this dark side more so than war.

The film tries to balance out this duality by showing gruesome acts of warfare followed up by scenes displaying kindness, generosity, and camaraderie. By doing so, the film tries to address perhaps one of the oldest questions in history: is humanity inherently good or evil? Although the film is meant to be a superhero blockbuster, it surprisingly delivers a far more satisfying answer to this question compared to plenty of other films, let alone other superhero films.

Why it should’ve been rated-R

While it’s not at all necessary for every movie with mature themes and violence to receive and R-rating, “Wonder Woman” seemed to be a movie that would’ve heavily benefited from it. The setting of the film takes place during WWI, which most historians agree, is one of the darkest chapters in the history of mankind.

While it may sound a bit redundant to call it a “horrible war”, in this case, it’s fairly justifiable. On top of the tens of millions of people that were killed during this war, it also marked the beginning of modern industrialized warfare which was something that most militaries at the time were just not prepared for. As you could imagine, this didn’t exactly bode well for the soldiers fighting on the ground.

In my opinion, not only did making this film PG-13 hold it back, but it’s also just downright insulting to the legacy of everyone who fought during that war. For a film that was trying to show the horrors of war, doing so in a whitewashed format completely lessens the film's message.

By making the movie PG-13 instead of rated-R, Wonder Woman and her companion’s mission felt more like an exciting adventure rather than a true gritty war story. Despite the film’s anti-war message, it seemed to have no qualms glorifying violence. Not to mention that having a protagonist complain about how terrible war is, and then actively contribute to it, just seems a bit hypocritical.

WWI was absolutely the perfect setting to highlight the darkness lying in mankind’s soul. However, the delivery left a lot to be desired.
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