‘Wonder Woman’ On HBO: This Legendary Film Needs To Be Seen On The Small Screen

The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived: Wonder Woman is now on HBO.

I know that sounds melodramatic, like it’s possible to overhype a movie that critics loved and made a ton of money. But the reality is, and this is what I would tell you while wrapped up in the Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman is more than just a movie. And it being on HBO, it being available for people to watch whenever they want, is a powerful, magical moment. This is a movie that, while it certainly rocked the big screen more than nearly every other movie last year, actually belongs on the small screen.

Go with me a second.

Wonder Woman does so many things well, but two specific things standout: it feels timeless, and it feels necessary. First, it feels timeless in that it simply, literally, feels as if it has always existed. The World War I setting contributes to that, giving the film an old-world charm. Even the film’s action scenes feel like part of the tapestry of film; epic beach battles, muddy warfronts, stately European manors, stunning pseudo-Mediterranean vistas–it all feels effortlessly pulled from cinema history books and splashed across the screen. Wonder Woman pulls you back in time, both narratively and emotionally. And that’s largely in part due to Gal Gadot’s performance, one so brave and classy that the Israeli actress feels more like a member of classic Hollywood royalty than the comparative newcomer she is. Gadot does what is so essential to a superhero role, but also so easy for an actor to miss: she makes her icon mortal, both in a relatable way as well as an aspirational way. You see yourself in Wonder Woman while she’s also showing you how to be your best self.

On the Mount Rushmore of superheroes, there is Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Chris Evans’ Captain America, and now Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther ascends to that height as well; we’ll know in a week!)

The second thing I want to point out, how necessary Wonder Woman feels, plays in direct contrast to and in tandem with how timeless it feels. That’s because, you know, a movie like Wonder Woman literally isn’t from any other time but right now, because female superhero movies have never been made on this scale before, with this much care, love, and devotion. Wonder Woman’s period piece setting makes it feel like a spectacular piece of cinema history, but the viewer in the theater knows that it’s from right now–and that it took Wonder Woman 76 years to get her own movie. The film feels necessary because it’s long, long, long overdue, and half of the population has sat through so many Batman and Spider-Man reboots. There’s a reason why Wonder Woman’s No Man’s Land sequence was instantly iconic: that moment of sheer strength and compassion was not only unlike anything we’d ever seen in the crowded superhero genre, it was unlike anything we’d ever seen on film, period.

And that’s why this film was made to exist on the small screen, not because it’s not big enough to exist larger-than-life (it definitely is). It’s meant for the small screen because that is where legends are born, thrive, and inspire. Think about where you first watched Star Wars, or first saw Reeve rip open his shirt to revel that “S.” Think about all the times over the past year you’ve replayed Captain America’s boot camp scenes. Our heroes are born on the big screen, but they live on the small screen–on televisions, on VHS tapes and DVDs, and now on phones and tablets. That’s where we carry them, close, where we can access them when we need them to inspire us or–and this is the big deal–inspire our children.

That’s where Wonder Woman is now, ready to answer the call whenever her legions of fans need her. And for a new generation, one that will be old enough to watch the movie this year as opposed to last year, this is how they’ll meet Wonder Woman. This is where she will inspire them just like all the great heroes that came before her (but not really before her as, again, it took her 76 years to get a movie). Wonder Woman made history, and now she is an accessible part of our present, and will inform our future.

Where to stream Wonder Woman