Wonder Woman 1984
It’s been a long time coming and movie fans everywhere are excited for a new superhero blockbuster to hit the big screen. Particularly a follow-up to the smash hit 2017 film spearheaded by Patty Jenkins who took a fresh new take on a long overlooked superhero and breathed new life into her franchise. Wonder Woman is back and now living in 1984. Gal Godot is back in the iconic role and believable as ever as the Amazonian Princess Warrior who now dons cheetah print high heels and effortlessly saves citizens of Washington DC, without mussing her hair or wrinkling her dress. And back with her are the high-minded virtues and heroic bravado the capture all anyone would want from your favorite super woman.
Also returning are Robin Wright and Connie Nielson as Diana’s tutor and mother in a badly needed opening flashback sequence from Diana’s childhood featuring an Amazonian Olympic style tournament that makes Harry Potter’s Tri-wizard tournament look like a cake-walk. It is powerful and exciting and unfortunately one of the most engaging parts of the film.
Chris Pine is also back as Diana’s love interest, Steve Trevor in a muddled sub plot of unknown parameters where he is brought back from the dead in another man’s body for the sole purpose of having Chris Pine in the movie. Sadly, Steve’s inexplicable return feels out of place and the chemistry between Godot and Pine seem to lack energy. Pine’s a fine actor, but he had very little to do in this film but make fun of 80’s fashion and look surprised at everything he sees. His arc has no where to go so there is very little he can do with it.
New to the cast in what I suppose you would call “villian roles” though really their just misunderstood nice people are Kristen Wiig who brings a large portion of the genuine humor in the film with her self deprecating humor and Pedro Pascal (Mandalorian) who gets more laughs than intended with his cartoonish bad guy Maxwell Lord. Wiig transition into Wonder Woman nemesis, Cheetah, is compelling as you feel for her character’s decline, but sadly the physical transformation lacks the same charge and leaves one with unpleasant flashbacks to the movie musical “Cats”. Pascal is chewing the scenery at the troubled “Lord” whose greed endangers the entire world. His sub-plot with his young son and their strained relationship is so on the money that the their final scene in which the film-makers are going for manipulative tears left us with, shall we say, not a moist eye in the house.
Wonder Woman 1984 soars in big action sequences with exciting stunts and Jenkins does a great job of capturing the feel of the 80’s without being restricted by the technology of the era. But as far as a story goes, the movie is a hot mess. The rules of this story’s realm are confusing at best making it hard for audiences to appreciate any of the story’s turns or the character’s choices. So many choices felt like clunky set-ups in order for a scene or a joke to happen rather than a natural outcome of the chain of events. Causing the film to feel jolting and disjointed. At one point Diana and Steve enter a Smithsonian Airplane hanger so that Steve can pick out any airplane near his era that he would like to fly. The pair hop into one of the display planes which of course is gassed up, charged up and ready to fly to Egypt on one tank of gas. The premise is so weak and feeble that it’s eye-rolling. But it was a nice set-up for a romantic flight through a huge fireworks display. Did I mention that it happened to be the “4th of July”? Nobody knew that until Diana announces it as they fly around through explosive flammable fireworks in a rickety antique plane with ease.
It is this kind of set-up and release mentality that makes the film feel very forced and frankly labored in its execution. Characters often feel flat with low stakes and weak in execution. The final credits are very telling with character names like “Jealous Man” and “Scared Mother”. Not much goes below the surface. Is it all bad? No, there are nice moments and some decent performances. This isn’t “one for the ages”. It’s exciting that it’s here, as we are all desperate for something new to watch, however; this one will be forgotten as soon as something new and better shows up which won’t be all that long.
Content wise it is a family friendly film. There is a little bit of pillow talk and kissing and of course, intense action sequences. However, Diana is a hero through and through and exhibits tremendous character. She even gets a bit preachy by the end with again (eye-rollingly effective global results).
This was a highly anticipated movie that has turned out to be a bit of a disappoint to be completely honest. But if you want to check your brain at the door and are alright with not being all that engaged with the characters, you can have some fun watching it.
Written by David Alford
Score: 74 out of 100
Parents: Yes
Teens: Yes
Kids: Some older ones, maybe.
Tots: Nope. too intense.
