Great movie but not without flaws *spoilers included*

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 2017)

I was walking into Wonder Woman with high expectations given the reviews. However, I had read some critics reviews and while the critics said it was a really good addition to the superhero movie with great casting (Gal Gadot was perfectly cast), the story had flaws. I do agree with those critics. Still, I walked out thinking it was a great movie and would go back again and again to see it.
The great thing about the movie really are the actors. Gadot blew me away. Whoever cast her for the role of Wonder Woman deserves a medal. She really embodied everything that is Wonder Woman to me. She's charming, funny, smart, naive and absolutely bad-ass. Gadot carries this role off with panache. Robin-Wright Penn and Connie Nielsen were also well cast in their respective roles.
In terms of story, the first half is slow as it introduced Diana's back-story. However, I appreciated the slowness if only to make me understand where the character came from and what motivated her. The second half made up for the slowness when the action kicked into high gear. I will say this though about the first half, the imagery is mind-blowing. There are absolutely gorgeous screen-shots of the island from which Diana originated.
The great thing about the story was that Wonder Woman is portrayed as a great fighter while still retaining her heart, humanity and sense of wonder. Another great thing about the story was the twist with Areas near the end of the movie. I have to admit it took me by surprise, and I am rarely caught off-guard anymore when it comes to plot twists. Well done by the writer!
Unfortunately there were weaknesses. There wasn't enough explanation about why some characters were motivated to do certain things or why they believed the way they believed. There was little explanation why some characters were "evil" while others were "good". In other words, there was a shortage of backstory. Then again, you can only do so much in two and a half hours.
There was also a moral/philosophical stance the movie took, that I understood was important to the story. However, it was never truly explored how Wonder Woman arrived at the conclusions she did except for "love". Don't get me wrong, love is a great motivator, but it just wasn't enough, given the horrors that she saw for the first time and the internal crisis she faced, when the rosy glasses she wore about humanity finally fell off and she saw the world and human beings for what they were. Lastly, the free will argument was weak in the movie. I found the movie to give mixed messages about that and in some places, it was contradictory.
However, this wasn't a philosophical movie but an action-hero movie. It's important to put that in context. So overall the fact that the movie had some philosophical failings isn't really a major problem. I'm hoping the writer and director will continue exploring those themes in the subsequent movies, in fact, to give us some more insight into the Wonder Woman and her motivations. I will also say that I am VERY glad that the movie brought up these questions of "what is good?", "what is bad", "where do I fit in?" The world isn't black and white and action hero movies shouldn't be either.
Having said that, I really thought overall it's a great movie and it was really elevated by the actors performances, especially Gadot. I'm hoping to see a lot more of her on the big screen in the future!