The Feminist Icon Becomes A Message Against War In Oustanding Superhero Film

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2017)

Wonder Woman was not created by Aphrodite or Zeus, but was rather the brain-child of a controversial psychologist and inventor, William Moulton Marston. (Marston's other claim to fame is the invention of the lie detector.) Although Superman and Batman were selling well to kids, there was a wave of pseudo-psychology which claimed that comic books were poisoning the minds of impressionable youths. Detective Comics (later renamed DC) were frightened that these radical groups were influencing the voting public which might hire lawmakers to ban comic books altogether. DC hired Marston to address this problem. Rather than changing existing comic books, Marston offered an unexpected solution: make a female superhero, i.e. a super-heroine. The result was Wonder Woman.
Little did DC comics know Marston had been involved in the early suffragette and birth-control movements of the early 20th century, and he incorporated much of the iconography and symbolism into the comic book. Wonder Woman's looks was originally a hybrid of the Varga pin-up girl posters of the 1940's and Suffragettes of the early 20th century. For example, Wonder Woman's early adventures often involved her being chained, an icon used by feminists and suffragettes in the early 20th century in propaganda posters and political illustrations. When chained, Wonder Woman loses her powers. Her magic lasso compels the person being lassoed to tell the truth, an obvious reference to Marston's lie detector. The comic was an instant hit and even became iconic for the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970's.
Fast-forward to 2017. Patty Jenkins has directed an outstanding film on a screenplay by Allan Heinberg from a story by Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs based on the DC Comics character. Starring Gal Gadot as the title character and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, this superhero action film flies as fusing of Ancient mythology and human history, and the offering is one of the best of the genre since the original "Superman" film starring Christopher Reeve (1979). Like "Superman", "Wonder Woman" begins with the backstory of the title character. Her name is Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nelson) and she lives on Paradise Island where only women reside whose culture is a throw-back to Ancient Greek mythology. (Paradise because there are no men to screw things up...?) Diana as a youth is taught by the best combat teacher of the island, General Antiope (Robin Wright) in the ways of combat and becomes the best among her peers.
Sticking to the origins, Captain Steve Trevor, an American spy working for the British, is being chased by Germans during the First World War and crashes off the coast of Paradise Island. He has in his possession plans written by Dr. Poison (a real character from DC Comics). After a confrontation between Amazons and the Germans, Trevor is taken in by the Amazons and forced to reveal who and what he is. Eventually, Diana decides she must go with Trevor back to "the world of men" and help stop the war. Her reasons are mythological in which she must stop the "God of War". Of course Trevor doesn't buy into Diana's myth story but plays along to get back to the war. They sail by boat back to London.
One of the best sequences is Diana's introduction to early 20th century society. Gadot offers an excellent performance as the slightly culture-shocked fish-out-of-water but never overplays it. She tries on a pouffe dress which definitely wouldn't be "Wonder Woman". Eventually, she dons a suitable outfit and signs onto a mission with Trevor and several marginal characters to stop a fatal gas attack which makes the mustard gas of the war seem like the steam from a sauna. The inventor is Doctor Isabel Maru, a.k.a. Dr. Poison who has been supported by General Ludendorff. (In fact Ludendorff was a real general in the First World War and was involved in Hitler's so-called Beer Hall Putsch to overthrow the German government in 1923.) The mission is not sanctioned by the war office of London but in secret with only one member of Parliament offering assistance, Sir Patrick Morgan (David Thewlis). This merry band of misfits, a woman who knows nothing about western society and culture, a Scottish drunk, a Native American pacifist, an Italian actor, and an American spy make their way to the front lines of the First World War.
An outstanding film all around with excellent performances and a good balance between story and action. The filmmakers made the decision to withhold Diana becoming "Wonder Woman" until nearly half-way into the film, similar to "Superman". One of the best decisions: she never says "I'm Wonder Woman". A superhero speaking his or her name is a fatal screenplay error made by many other screenwriters who shall remain nameless.