1. Wonder Woman – Bo
Wonder Woman defied a lot of expectations to become one of the biggest successes of the year. DC’s previous movie ventures were…mixed at best. Patty Jenkins, while an amazing director, had never directed something this mainstream. Gal Gadot’s casting was a controversy all its own. At best fans hoped the movie would be better than the other DC efforts. We just wanted something enjoyable.
And it ended up as one of the best superhero movies ever made. This movie did almost everything right.
Wonder Woman went out of its way to defy the darkness of its DC brethren in favor of hope, justice, compassion, and a main character embodying each of these traits. Diana of Themyscira was an inspiration to a world in dire need of a hero. Her faith and heroism influenced everyone around her to be better than they were, which is often the entire point of a superhero. She represented the best of humanity.
Along the way, Wonder Woman also told an effectively subtle story about the moral gray of human conflict and the need for a hero like Diana to exist. Rather than tell your typical evil Germans story, Wonder Woman used the brutality and complicatedness of World War 1 to challenge Diana’s worldview, which just made the application of her ceaseless courage and heroism even more effective.
Thank you to Patty Jenkins and everyone involved in getting this movie so right.
In Closing
In case you’re wondering, yes those were the only five worthy movies for 2017. Nothing else was even discussed. Well, except maybe Wind River, It, Coco, The Lego Batman Movie, Power Rangers, The Shape of Water, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2. I can tell you one thing for sure Star Wars: The Last Jedi wasn’t even on the list because when we voted and compiled the list, the movie had not yet come out. Otherwise, it would so totally be in our top five; it’s amazing.
