Wonder Woman

So I came along with a slightly jaundiced eye, knowing DC’s record on women characters was not very good. We start on the paradise Island of Themyscira where Diana, a young child, thirsts to train with the adult women warriors who inhabit a fantasy ancient Greek world of gods. We are told she is ‘the only child on the Island’, although this lack of children is not explained, nor why there are no men on the island nor where the inhabitants originated from. Her mother Hippolyta tells her that she was made from clay and given life by Zeus at Hippolyta’s request. Whether the rest of the island women believe this nonsense is unknown. The amazons are very good at riding and fighting and shooting bows, but they don’t ask many questions about life. They’re here to defend the world for Zeus and as servants of the male god might be compared  to Odin’s Valkyries.

The island is hidden by mists from the outside world and seems to actually exist in another reality (when Steve Trevor crashes there and he and the pursuing Germans go to the island they penetrate a sort of invisible curtain. It’s all rather like The Mists Of Avalon, though perhaps Marion Zimmer Bradley did not originate this idea herself.)

The women of Themyscira are dignified. They aren’t over youthful and their outfits are reasonably practical (though I doubt anyone really ever needs boob shaped armour, a normal breastplate would probably be better and stronger).

Once Diana gets a chance at combat she turns out of course to be something really special. Hippolyta obstructs her from training, then relents and tells the others to train her ‘ten times harder’. All seems a bit unnecessary and clumsy and I think we could lose the scenes with her as a child and start when she is ready to train.

Despite some impressive female power the story is heavily male dominated with a lot of weight given to Diana’s friend/proto love interest Steve, played by the charming Chris Pine, and with the island women being really only agents of the god Zeus. The main enemy is another god, Ares. Goddesses seem to be in short supply. Perhaps Athene and Artemis could have helped out.

There is a female enemy, the chemist Dr Poison– as it’s WWI they have her experimenting with gas-mask-eating gases. Diana has come along at the very end of World War I when the armistice is about to be signed but a German general thinks he can win with Dr Poison’s new super deadly gas. Also she gives him something nice and druggy that makes him extra powerful, which is handy as otherwise WW would be able to defeat him too easily and they wouldn't have much of a fight.

I like the twist that Wonderwoman kills the wrong person in her quest before the real big bad is revealed. (Though I should have guessed  who that might be as he’s English and those slippery Brits are not to be trusted you know). Not the most original of twists I know but at least there is some attempt to surprise us.

The action is fun to watch, particularly in the scenes where the island women fight the Germans on the beach, with slo mo and bullet time type sequences, very pretty and make me nostalgic for the Matrix. Also, women fighting and doing athletic things.

Noticeable CGI inserts during Wonder Woman’s fights in Europe were an annoyance. I want to see real people doing stuff and I think two pure CGI figures fighting each other is a cheat.

Etta Candy was quite fun though underwritten.


There was a hint that she is a feminist in one scene where Diana shops for an outfit. Perhaps Etta is a suffragette.  But we never find out more. Looking this character up I see her name is a pun, and her role originally was being Wonder Woman’s fat best friend/sidekick. I enjoyed Lucy Davis's performance and I thought she did what she could with what she was given. Perhaps a better part can be written for her in the sequel, which will surely happen given this movie’s popularity.

Wonder Woman  gives us some all women scenes early on and is alleged to pass the Bechdel test 'with flying colours' in several online reviews. But it didn't feel that way to me, as the Amazons were constantly talking about Ares and occasionally Zeus, who are male figures. This movie is a great leap forward. It just isn’t as feminist as it thinks.

Don't bother waiting for the end of the credits, there are no teasers or trailers or other Easter eggs. Boo.

Looking forward to Wonder Woman 2.