WONDER WOMAN 1984 Review
I’m gonna mourn here for a minute. I really miss movie theaters. With this godforsaken pandemic decimating everyone’s lives and livelihoods, I won’t argue that shutting down movie theaters wasn’t a necessary measure because it was. Say what you want about your local theater chain or little movie box (and I’m sure there is a TON you can say) but no matter the movie, no matter the quality, there’s something magical about the act of taking time out of your day to journey to a building that is there solely for movie watching. Sure, you may sit behind or in front of people who kick your seat or talk too loud and the theater itself may smell a little but in the end everyone’s there for one goal: to watch a movie (or make out, not judging). Nevertheless, watching movies at home just doesn’t hit the same as watching them inside a theater environment as the urge to focus on something else (namely, one’s phone) is much more present in your home theater or cramped room. In that way, the movie theater is magical in its power to restrain the thought of even thinking about doing something else, quality of the movie be damned. Simply put, I can’t wait for movie theaters to come back, in whatever changed form that may be. Miss you, baby.
*END OF MOURN*
As it happens, watching WONDER WOMAN 1984 (or WW84 if you’re hip) on my dad’s HBO Max account led me to wonder if I would’ve enjoyed the film more if it was in a theater setting. Probably not, but I definitely would’ve looked at my phone less. Regardless, one fact is certain with this sequel: it is surprisingly very weird to both its credit and detriment. In fact, this sequel feels like much more of a Saturday morning cartoon special on the dangers of selfish wish fulfillment moreso than an impactful step forward character wise for returning superhero Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (Gal Gadot). With director Patty Jenkins returning once more supported by a new writing crew composed of Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham, WW84 finds the amazing Amazonian stopping crime and running the Smithsonian in 1984 Washington D.C., which looks like present day Washington D.C., just this time everyone (even the criminals!) has their collars popped and their clothes are brighter.
For the first half or so of this two-and-a-half hour long film (!!), WW84 more or less plays out like a slice of life character piece that just so happens to focus on a superhero going about their day. It’s a strange and almost impressive detour for a tentpole superhero film as the audience catches up with Diana’s life after the events of the first film. Eventually though, as this is a superhero film, fantastical threats begin to rear their head in the form of a magical wishing stone that grants wishes (go figure) which entices all who come near it to wish for their deepest desires. For Diana, this turns out to be a wish for her boo-thing Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) to come back to life after his tragic demise in the previous film to which the stone grants in a way that is entirely in line with comic mumbo jumbo with just a tad bit of questionable morality operating behind the actual logistics of said wish. Nevertheless, Steve is back! And Diana couldn’t be happier! But like all stories that deal with the concept of wishes, there’s always another shoe to drop and this comes in the form of the power hungry yet nearly bankrupt oil tycoon, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal, wonderfully hammy here) who soon manages to take control of the stone in an effort to become the most powerful man on Earth.
Oh, and Cheetah, aka Barbara Minerva (Kirsten Wiig) is here too to help dole out dull CGI fight fists with Wonder Woman. Even at two-and-a-half hours, WW84 feels overstuffed in a way that feels closer to SPIDER-MAN 3 morseo than AVENGERS: ENDGAME as various characters feel sidelined (Ms. Wiig’s Cheetah in particular, who really just acts as something for Wonder Woman to athletically fight) in a dopey, if well intentioned story that could’ve used a little more fine tuning. As Diana is once again paired up with Steve on a quest to stop a power hungry man from destroying the world by using humanity’s flaws against itself, the only character who gets a moment of intriguing character depth is in Mr. Pascal’s over-the-top Max Lord. Perfectly embodying the role of a smarmy and desperate swindler, Pascal manages to make his character’s cliché rise and fall ring with (overdramatic) tragedy. Despite the character’s comic booky nature, WW84 nearly manages to create a villain that digs at something much more flawed and human rather than some ancient god or extraterrestrial threat in a final set-piece that becomes apocalyptically surreal as the world literally succumbs to its own greedy wishes. While the resolution to this world ending situation may come off as anti-climatic to some, I was happy to see WW84 commit to its optimistic worldview in a “fight” scene that pretty much comes down to a one on one intervention with humanity as a whole.
Despite a nice change of pace in regards to the final set-piece, it’s a shame that WW84 still manages to fall victim to some of its past flaws while still managing to find some new ones. As per the last film, the CGI in here ranges from acceptable to flat out terrible, particularly in an action set-piece situated on a Middle Eastern road where Wonder Woman literally looks like she’s running in place with a wonky greenscreen behind her. Additionally, the fight between Diana and Barbara near the film’s finale barely holds any thrills as two computer programs just bounce off one another in the dark (this area in particular, I was checking what Twitter was up to), continuing the great trend of superhero movies being more than content to take convincingness out of its fight scenes. Probably the most disappointing flaw of WW84 however, is with Wonder Woman herself as the writers and Gadot fail to grant the character any true growth. While she can still sell the hell out of a sly smile and create intimate chemistry with Mr. Pine, Gadot struggles to sell the film’s redundant emotional moments for her character as she deals with the consequences of Steve’s return. These issues should be emotionally investing but for whatever reason I just couldn’t jive with Gadot’s performance in this.
Whatever the case, WONDER WOMAN 1984 sadly acts as a noticeable step back for the franchise. While the film retains its refreshing rosy outlook and colorful visual palette in addition to a few interesting ideas, the main problem lies in a delirious script that fails to make anything happening on screen seem important.
2.5/5
