Wonder Woman 1984

Directed by Patty Jenkins.

2020. Rated PG-13, 151 minutes.

Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Amr Waked, Kristoffer Polaha, Natasha Rothwell, Lilly Aspell, Ravi Patel.

    As it did in 2017's Wonder Woman, the festivities kick off in Themyscira with our heroine, Diana (Aspell) as a child. She's competing against grown women in a rather difficult race and is winning, until she isn't allowed to actually win. Don't worry, her mentor Antiope (Wright) is on hand to explain and it all makes sense. We then jump back into the movie's present - 1984 Washington D.C. Diana (Gadot) has been Wonder Woman for all of the decades since the events of the first movie and performs heroic deeds all over the city. To pay the bills, she works as an anthropologist at the Smithsonian. Also working there is Barbara (Wiig). She's straight from the Hollywood playbook of undesirable nerd-girls - frizzy hair, glasses, says too much in casual conversation, openly envious of the "pretty girls." In this case that's Diana. Naturally, any male attention causes her to lose all of her judgment. This is where Maxwell Lord (Pascal) comes in. He (somehow) knows all about the latest artifact Barbara is working on and, more or less, seduces her into letting him "borrow" it. That item is a special stone that grants any person a wish, but at a cost. Before she gets her hands on it, Barbara wishes to be more like Diana, meaning sexy, confident, and popular, but of course gets more than she's bargained for. Diana made her own wish, which was spoiled long ago if you saw the trailer. The too-on-the-nose named Lord wishes himself the power of the stone and proceeds to try to take over the world.

    The film's biggest plus is Gal Gadot once again fitting the character of Wonder Woman like a glove. We buy her as a person with a deeper sense of responsibility, but also beset by loneliness. It's odd that it's been so many years since Steve's (Pine) passing without her allowing herself to move on, but she makes it work. From a viewer's standpoint, it also helps that it's only the next installment in the franchise. Still, Gadot sells it, all while looking stunning in 80s gear. The next best thing is her chemistry with Chris Pine, once Steve makes his return. Normally, that would be a spoiler, but again the trailer gave it up many months before release date. The cinematic sparks between them are still there.

    As far as bad guys go, Pedro Pascal opens up very wide with every line of dialogue he gets and chews scenery like his life depends on it. At times, it works. Other times, it's too much. Love it, or hate it, he's never anything less than committed. Kirsten Wiig fares much better. The writing both helps and hurts her, though. It's helps because it gives her room to develop, come to grips with what's happening to her, and make logical decisions. We may not agree with her decisions, but only because they run counter what the heroine wants. They make sense. We might make those same decisions if in her shoes. The writing undermines her because even though she is the character besides Diana for whom we harbor the strongest emotions, good and bad, she is relegated to second fiddle to Pascal's stark-raving lunatic, Maxwell Lord.

    The pacing of the film is also problematic. It shoots out of the gate with that opening race and follows that up with a Superman III-esque montage of shenanigans around our nation's capital with Wonder Woman swooping in for the rescue. After that, it struggles to build any momentum as it bounces between the various plotlines and adding some fan-service along the way. Diana's multiple ponderous moments grind things to a halt. Thankfully, but expectedly, the third act cranks things up and tries to go out on a bang. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite turn the trick. For most of the film, when we get action, it's pretty well staged. Gadot is as good as ever. We still believe in her. Whenever Kirsten Wiig is involved it's a bit more cgi-heavy, but is still solid. Things change for the worse by the time we get to Wiig's character in her full glory. At this point, cgi completely takes over and the fighting seems framed to hide the fact as much as possible. Suddenly, the shots are all ultra-tight with a bunch of quick cutting so that it's hard to make out what's happening. I think it works better than the overlong, dialogue heavy light show that ends the first film, but not by much.

    I'm going to tread lightly, from here on out, in an effort to avoid spoilers. You should also. I'm only going down this road because it's integral to my complaints about the film. That's your spoiler warning. 

    With that out of the way, the biggest issue of the movie is the execution of its message. First off, it's delivered with all the subtlety of Wonder Woman's fist slamming into your nose as she yanks you towards her with the Lasso of Truth. Even that would be fine if it didn't inadvertently, and simultaneously, push a diametrically opposed message. There are simply no consequences for choices made and actions taken. This flies in the face of the film's near-constant preaching about the costs we pay for the decisions we make. It's as if saying, "I didn't mean it," after you screw up actually fixes things. My daytime alter-ego teaches third grade during the day. He often speaks with students about making good choices because you can't take back bad ones without damage being done. Wonder Woman 1984 says the exact opposite. The only characters who suffers any repercussions do so by choice. Before getting to this point, the film is earning a pass as at least a decent superhero flick. When it ends it's a frustrating watch that starts off pretty good and regresses as it goes along. 

Click below to check out my thoughts on other Wonder Woman fare:

Wonder Woman (1974)

The New Original Wonder Woman (1975)

Wonder Woman (2009)

Wonder Woman (2011 and 1967)

Wonder Woman (2017)

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Justice League

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Confessions of a Superhero