Hello guys and welcome to a brand new review! Today I will be focusing in on what turned out to be one of the more polarizing big films of recent memory, Wonder Woman 1984. When the original Wonder Woman came out it was huge phenomenon that audiences and critics loved and it gave many hope about the future of DC’s cinematic ventures. So naturally anticipation for it’s follow up was very high and it was bound to be a huge hit… that is until the pandemic came around forced it to delay it’s release date so many times until WB decided to release it day and date on HBO Max and in theaters. Still though at least many people got to see it and the reactions were varied to say the least. There were those who absolutely loved it and found it better than the original and those who were massively disappointed by what Patty Jenkins and co. came up with. And then you had those who saw it as one mixed bag. So yeah it got people talking for a number of reasons as I imagine many were not expecting the directions this feature ended up going in, myself including and personally I can greatly admire this film for a lot of things. However I do also have a good number of problems that do hold it back for me. Without further ado let’s travel back to 1984 to see what adventure the Princess of Themyscira gets in on this time and why it is such a divisive one.
After a thrilling prologue centered on a young Diana competing in an Olympics like competition in Themyscira, we jump straight to the year 1984 in Washington D.C. where she is working at the Smithsonian Institution while also secretly stopping crimes and helping those in need as Wonder Woman. While life seems to be going smoothly, as she even makes a new friend in the form of insecure geologist, Barbara Minerva, she still feels the loss of her love, Steve Trevor, and yearns to have him back. So much so that she ends up wishing him back to life thanks to an ancient artifact in the museum known as the Dreamstone which has the ability to grant anyone one wish. Even though she is happy that Steve (now in a completely different time period) is back, things start to get urgent as struggling businessman, Maxwell Lord, has stolen the stone and is using it for his own gain. Now Diana, along with Steve joining her, must muster her strength and wisdom in order to stop him but it may come at some great costs for her and everyone around her.
Right off the bat this follow up establishes a very different vibe when compared to the original which was a WW1 origin story. Here we are transported to the 80s and the tone is campier and playful and while it may be a bit of a drastic shift in tone for some, I actually thought it worked for the most part as it befits this era in history and allows the movie to stand out from it’s predecessor. It also allows Jenkins to invoke the feeling of Richard Donner’s Superman movies (one of the more apparent inspirations she has stated) and one can see the admiration for those works as she tries to craft a film that wouldn’t be out of place in that world. However while the world around Diana the character’s core ideals of optimism and hopefulness remain intact and is more present here than before. The entire film just has this sense of optimism to it as it is all about making the right choices and that people can be inherently good and make the world a better choice if given the choice. It can be pretty extreme in this regard, but it is not ashamed of it at all and that’s something I do really like about it and it’s nice to see a big blockbuster be as unashamedly hopeful as this one even if it does lead to some suspension of disbelief (more on that in a bit). I also like how it handles the message of “be careful what you wish for” as it weaves into each of the character’s arcs nicely and is a compelling theme to explore and use to continue Diana’s growth as a character as she learns that cheating or taking the most convenient, even with good intentions, won’t result in the happiness she or anyone else longs for. However, while there is a lot of credit I can give to Patty Jenkins and co. for swinging for fences and tackling all these themes and ideas in creating a sweeping epic it doesn’t always reach those ambitions. For one the movie runs over two and a half hours and I don’t think it is able to justify such a runtime as the pacing can be very uneven at times with some scenes dragging for a little too long which does hurt the flow of the story. Plus for certain things to happen there does require a lot of suspension of disbelief and listen I am usually not one of those people who complains about these types of things as well it’s a work of fiction and I just don’t find it to be compelling criticism. But for here there were so many times where the film just makes audiences accept so many things that raise a number of questions (how is Steve Trevor able to fly a modern jet?, Would the world really just accept what happens in the climax?, etc.) that it does become a little distracting at times. There are also times where the campiness that I mentioned above can get a little too much in particular when Maxwell Lord starts giving people the ability to make their wishes come true and it reminded me of Superman III at some points (although I enjoyed this MUCH more than that). Issues like these are what hold me back from really praising this as much I want to for going for the stars, but there is still plenty of entertainment to be had and it certainly wasn’t a forgettable undertaking at all.
One thing I will not deny about this movie is that the craftsmanship is once again top notch. At it’s best Jenkin’s direction brings everything together perfectly and create some genuinely powerful scenes that can either provide great emotion, excitement or both. When it comes to the action a lot of it is extremely well done and exciting to watch and I like that the emphasis for most of them is on saving lives and rather than harming them, a nice touch that fits with the morals of the character. My favorite sequence (and probably my favorite scene of the entire movie) is the opening concerning these Amazonian Olympics where Diana competes among her people as it is a truly visceral sequence that shot in a way that makes one feel they are going through these challenges and it shows off the skills of the Amazons in spectacular fashion. I also really enjoyed the subsequent set piece in the mall which sets the mood of the film effectively and car chase in Egypt involving military vehicles also provides plenty of thrills. I will admit the climactic battle between Wonder Woman and Cheetah was disappointing as it was a pretty standard fisticuff that felt awkwardly staged and had a drab color palate to it making it look pretty ugly, and it felt forced in just so there can be a big third act fight. Still the rest of the movie is a colorful blast for the eyes as everything just pops off the screen and the production designers do a great job capturing the 80s setting with all the lavish costumes and 80s iconography. The VFX artists also show off some strong visual effects and are able to bring to life some really cool visuals like Wonder Woman using her lasso to swing on a freaking lighting bolt! Adding to it all is an sweeping score from Hans Zimmer that does what any good character theme does, and that is capture who they are. It truly is wonderous to listen to (apologies, but I had to say it at one point) and it Rupert Gregson-Williams’ theme from the original serve as grand compositions that put the wonder in the character’s name.
Of course one of the reasons why Wonder Woman was such a phenomenon was due to Gal Gadot’s strong portrayal of the character and she once again gives a strong performance that shows both the strength and vulnerability of the character as well as her inherent optimism and it is just nice seeing her as a full fledged super hero, even learning new things about herself and her powers. Plus as mentioned before I liked her character arc regarding learning to accept Steve’s death and learn to become the hero that the world needs as that feels like a natural direction to take this character. Also speaking of Steve, guess who is brought back to life in a convenient fashion? But seriously putting aside the unnecessarily awkward way in which he is brought back (still don’t understand why he had to come back in someone else’s body) I thought his “resurrection” worked. I’m usually not a fan of dead characters coming back but in the case of Steve I thought it tied into Diana’s arc about letting go of her loss, it wasn’t a permanent resurrection, and Chris Pine brings plenty of charisma to the role again and the chemistry between him and Gadot is still nice and provides much of the emotion and humor as there is a fun role reversal where now Steve is the fish out of water the jokes involving him admiring how much things have advanced got some good laughs out of me. They also share some lovely scenes together with a ride in the invisible jet being a stand out despite amount the suspension of disbelief required. Then we’ve got the villain side of things with there being two major players here with the main one being Maxwell Lord played by the Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal. He makes for a surprisingly sympathetic character as he isn’t some corrupt villain, but rather a struggling businessman who wants to be a successful person that his son can look up to and be proud of. He sees the monkey’s paw as the key to getting what he wants, but as he keeps abusing his power his action become more and more extreme, again tying into the whole “be careful what you wish for” element. He worked as a different kind of threat for Diana and Pascal hams it up like no other, playing the over the top businessman archetype well and one can buy his turn into becoming as obsessed as he does with the power of the paw, although I still do question the lack of consequence he receives for his actions as I feel that would have thematically worked better for his arc, than him not receiving any form of punishment whatsoever. And then there is Barbara Minerva, AKA Cheetah for us fans, and yes her arc of going from someone who is a nerdy fan of our main character becoming a powerful supervillain has been done before (Riddler in Batman Forever, Electro in Amazing Spider-Man 2, etc.) but I actually thought this was one of the better handled versions of that trope at first. Kristen Wiig is solid both when Barbara is her awkward self and when she embraces her predatory instincts as I bought the shift and I like how she remains an ally of Diana for a good while before turning bad for not wanting to give up her newfound strengths. However once she turns bad she devolves into just being a Hench person for Maxwell Lord and mainly exists just so Diana can fight someone in the climax and that was disappointing as I thought she started out with promise. Hopefully she gets a good bit more to do in a theoretical threequel as Wiig is good in the role and I can see her being a potentially strong arch nemesis to Diana.
On the whole I found Wonder Woman 1984 to be a solid follow up to it’s predecessor that has a lot to admire in terms of ambition, themes, craftsmanship, and character work even if I think it doesn’t always reaches the heights it sets out to reach due to some uneven pacing, constant use of convenient plotting, and certain elements that could have been handled better. Still it manages to be different from the original and is refreshing in it’s optimistic attitude and feels like the follow up Patty Jenkins wanted to make warts and all. I can absolutely understand people not liking the direction that was taken and I’m not surprised by it’s polarizing reception but I appreciate what it was going for and it continues to exemplify DC films as a brand that is becoming a lot more creatively driven where the filmmakers are allowed to make the movies they want to make and that for me is a wonderful thing.
Rating: B
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