Wonder Woman 1984

Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Lilly Aspell, Amr Waked, Kristoffer Polaha
Directed by: Patty Jenkins
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2020

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Diana (Gal Gadot) faces a grave threat when a businessman (Pedro Pascal) obtains a magical stone that grants wishes.

Review:

Tim: I was excited for Wonder Woman 1984. 2020 has been a terrible year and great movies have been few and far between. I liked the original movie, although I didn't care for it as much as most critics apparently did. Still, I was hopeful that Patty Jenkins would deliver something solid for the second film. Here's the thing, though. Wonder Woman 1984 isn't good. It's a deeply flawed, mess of a movie. Sure, there's some positives, but these are vastly outweighed by the negatives. I think this is a decent movie, but it's a deeply disappointing film. I want the DCEU to succeed, but it's hard to see this as anything but another failure. This movie is a major step backward for the character.

There's a lot that is wrong with this movie. First off, it's unconscionable for this movie to be 2 hours and 31 minutes long. I'm all for long superhero movies, if the story warrants it. That's not the case here. The film is a bloated mess, filled with completely unnecessary scenes. It need to be at least 30 minutes shorter. That's crazy and Jenkins is completely responsible for this. There's so many scenes that needed to be cut, starting with the 80s fashion show scene. The story is pretty bad. There's a magic rock that grants wishes. Seriously. I wish I could say more, explain why this was a good idea, but it simply isn't. It's not cool. Maybe it's true to the comics, but it's absurd. It makes Maxwell Lord feel like a bad genie and there's nothing compelling about the plot.

The magical rock brings back Steve Trevor from the dead. This is one of the worst aspects of the movie. The whole body swap thing has been loudly criticized in the media, and for good reason, I guess. I was perhaps less bothered by the ethical implications of it, and more frustrated by the fact that it's a terrible narrative idea. It felt like a nonsensical way to bring Chris Pine back. It's ultimately pointless. Pine's character died in the first film and he should have stayed dead. Or, if they wanted to bring Trevor back, we should have seen the other actor play him. It felt unfair to tell us he swapped bodies, but then allow Pine to play him. This is a troubling aspect of the movie for multiple reasons. I never bought it.

I love Pedro Pascal and think he's done amazing work on Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian. His over-the-top character was kind of fun in an 80's excess kind of way, but this has to feel like a misstep for the actor. He's not a compelling villain. Jenkins spends a lot of time humanizing the character, which is good, but while we might be able to relate to the villain, that doesn't make him compelling. Pascal was fun in the role, so it's easier to forgive this. Kristen Wiig was an unlikely but inspired choice for Cheetah. Again, Jenkins is determined to humanize her villains, which I appreciated. Wiig is solid in the role and it felt fresh. It didn't feel like the typical superhero villain. Cheetah's conclusion is a bit weak, but otherwise, it worked. Wonder Woman just has some terrible villains, so I don't fault Jenkins as much here.

One of the biggest disappointments here is the relative lack of action sequences. For a movie this long, it's surprisingly bland in the action department. Perhaps the best action scene is the opening flashback of young Diana taking part in Amazonian games. That was a compelling, exciting opener. The mall scene that immediately follows it was completely cringe-worthy and made no sense. We get a big scene later where Diana attacks a caravan. I've read the apt comparisons to the highway scene from The Matrix Reloaded and it does feel like it rips that off. Still, it's perhaps the best action sequence of the film, which is pretty sad. The climax was nothing special. Wonder Woman and Cheetah battle it out in a scene that ends far too quickly and gives us zero truly exceptional moments. The final climax is anticlimactic.

I know I've focused most of my time on the flaws, and for good reason. They're the most visible. I'd still consider Wonder Woman 1984 a decent movie, though. It's fun to see Gal Gadot as Diana. She makes a good heroine and it's fun seeing her in the role. Chris Pine brought good energy, even if he shouldn't have been here. The fireworks scene is fairly cool. Her gold armor is impressive. I don't know, I'm trying to think of other positives. This wasn't a bad movie, but it was a deeply disappointing one.

Wonder Woman 1984 doesn't live up to the promise of the original film. It's yet another DCEU failure.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Wonder Woman, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League