Review of Wonder Woman (2017) by Clarisesamuels — 13 Sep 2017

A while back, spy movies were dominating our local theaters, but this summer it seems that Marvel and DC Comics have taken over the world. As the first solo feature film for Wonder Woman since its creation in 1941, it must have been a challenge to find the right person for the role. Who has muscles, beauty, intelligence, charm, physical grace and alacrity, and a thick head of jet black hair? My first choice would have been Catherine Zeta-Jones, but unfortunately Hollywood would want the actress to be under 40. The pickings must have been slim, which is how a former beauty queen and Israeli unknown (Gal Gadot) jumped from relative obscurity to a Hollywood film that has already made over $800 million at the box office. Gadot gives Wonder Woman a multilayered persona and a martial arts mystique with her bullet-proof bracelets, golden Lasso of Truth, and god-given sword, and she also adds to it a mysterious, not-quite-identifiable Hebrew accent.

Princess Diana of Themyscira, a.k.a., Diana Price, is not your average princess. She was born into a secluded island paradise for women only, a mystical place steeped with Greek mythology, whose inhabitants claim ancient ancestry that harks back to Zeus himself. They are Amazonian warriors, who are trained for war from childhood by practicing swordsmanship and skilled hand-to-hand combat. They are mortal, but they have longevity and superhuman strength. The little princess is told by Hippolyta, her mother (Connie Nielsen), that she did not have a father—her mother sculpted her from clay, and Zeus infused her with life. (It's not clear how the island civilization produces babies, although their ancient philosophical treatises conclude that men are in fact necessary for reproduction.) Coincidentally, all the inhabitants of the island speak English with a vaguely Israeli accent.

Diana has even greater strength and skill than her compatriots, including the island's greatest warrior general, Antiope (Robin Wright), who is also her personal trainer. The little girl grows into a perfect picture of royal elegance, courage, and magnanimity. But the peace of the island, which is magically hidden from earthly view by a translucent, watery curtain, is disturbed by the appearance of an American WWII pilot, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who somehow permeates the protective curtain (which malfunctions easily) and crashes into the water. Thus begins the journey of Diana to end the "never-ending war," the one prophesied by all the elders on her island. She is convinced that the monster behind the war machine is the god that causes everyone a big headache, Ares, the god of war. It was Diana's destiny from birth to challenge Aries and destroy him, thus restoring humanity to the good creatures that they were meant to be.

Classic and mythical superhero tale though this may be, the script has an underlying theme regarding the paradoxical nature of human nature, as seen from the perspective of a naive, unblemished, and highly evolved being. Wonder Woman might as well be an extraterrestrial as she perceives humanity through alien eyes, often shocked and confused by the contradictions, the indifference, and the ambiguous morality of the human species. "You are getting what you deserve!" she lashes out at Steve Trevor. "It's not about what you deserve," he insists, "it's what you believe." And figuring out what humans believe is a complex and disturbing investigation that may in the end confound even Wonder Woman.