Movie Review: Wonder Woman (2009) directed by Lauren Montgomery
Diana has always lived on Themyscira. Her mother Hippolyta, it is said, made her from clay infused with godly power, making Diana the only child (now grown) of this Amazon society. The Amazons live on the isolated island both to protect themselves from the male-dominated outside world…and to keep Ares, god of war, imprisoned so that humanity’s conflicts will not grow worse. Diana feels stifled by island life, and longs for a change…which will soon fall from the sky.
This animated feature adapts part of Wonder Woman’s origin story, updated to the early 2000s. It’s related to the DC Animated Universe of the time, but doesn’t quite match the continuity.
Captain Steve Trevor, fighter pilot and man of action, crash lands on Themyscira after conflict with never-identified enemies. After it’s established that his presence is an accident and he means no direct harm, a contest is held to determine which lucky Amazon will be detailed to return him to Man’s World. Diana enters the anonymized contest and wins. Steve’s already smitten with Diana, but not yet vice versa–she’s more interested in donning the ceremonial garb we will come to call Wonder Woman’s costume and getting to see the outside world for a few hours.
Things get more complicated when Ares takes advantage of the contest drawing away most of his guards to escape his prison. Now Diana must also track him down to return to imprisonment before the god of war can launch a nuclear conflict. Steve joins her on this quest, both because he’s attracted to Diana, and because he has access to military intelligence that can help track Ares down, on the premise that he’s a threat to national security.
Good: The “made of clay” origin is used. There are subplots showing that Amazon society is not uniform and different Amazons have different priorities. Good monster designs and battle scenes. Some interesting twists to Greek mythology.
Less Good: The “War of the Sexes” aspect of the plot gets far too much focus. Steve Trevor is depicted as considerably more of a dudebro than in the comics (so that he can get better for character development), and Etta Candy is reduced to a “use flirting and submissiveness to get my way” bit part, a far cry from her Golden Age characterization. Wonder Woman is depicted as killing humans, always controversial.
Content note: Ares enslaved the Amazons and raped Hippolyta in the backstory, after an initially consensual relationship. Sexism, mild profanity, some blood.
Overall: Not as good as the 2017 Wonder Woman movie, but watchable if you need a WW fix.
