Wonder Woman 1984 Stylish & Thought Provoking
Director: Patty Jenkins
Writer: Dave Callaham, Geoff Johns, Patty Jenkins (Screenplay) William Moulton Marston (Creator)
Starring: Gal Gadot, Pedro Pascal, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright
Plot: Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah.
Tagline – A new era of wonder begins.
Runtime: 2 Hour 31s Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Wonder Woman 1984 starts as we see Diana (Gadot) working for the Smithsonian being one of the few people to show Barbara Minerva (Wiig), offering her friendship, while fighting crime in her free time, her latest actions lead to the discovery of a secret item that has the power to grant wishes, one which Diana uses herself to help deal with her loneliness after losing Steve (Pine), decades of loneliness.
Diana gets a chance to be with Steve once again, only for this item to fall into the wrong hands leading to conman Max Lord (Pascal) gaining power around the world and Barbara going through her own transformation, with Diana needing to make a difficult decision if she wants to save the world again.
Thoughts on Wonder Woman 1984
Characters & Performances – Diana has lived decades in the real world now, growing to educate herself working in Smithsonian, giving her access to artifacts from around the world, she does still fight crime around Washington, while dealing with the crippling loneliness of life without her love one Steve. Diana gets a chance to be with Steve again, with the tables turned with her needing to him about the modern world, well 1984. She is however left with another one of the hardest decisions of her life, save the world or have her own happiness. Gal Gadot continues to shine in this role, looking part, showing her distant side and the kindness others avoid. Steve Trevor is the love of Diana’s who has returned to her, he needs to learn about the 1980s culture and support her on the latest fight, even if he does know what is best. Chris Pine does bring the comedy the side to the film, always being amazed by what Diana can do, but he also brings the serious side required in the supporting role. Barbara Minerva is the geek socially awkward nerd figure that is desperate to breakout of her position, have friends. She gets to change, and in a way she doesn’t want to give up, becoming an enemy Diana never imagined seeing. Kristen Wiig does wonderful job in this, showing how important just being part of the world is to her character. Maxwell Lord is trying to sell black oil, he is a glorified con man that has seen his actions catch up with him, until he unlocks a true piece of power that could have harnessed from a mysterious item. Pedro Pascal is great in this role, showing us just how desperate for power his character is.
Story – The story here does bring Diana into the 1980s, where she is living a quieter life in historical discovery in the Smithsonian, which will see a mysterious artifact appear and change her world, putting Diana in a position where she will need to fight to save the world. This story does go in a very different direction to what you would be expecting, taking an idea to make an enemy Diana wouldn’t be able to prepare for, one which will see her needing to make her own decision to save the world, we get a lot of drama about knowing who you need to be in the world, with Diana needing to learn this lesson, just as much as the other characters, with Diana, Barbara and Maxwell all having in depth looks at their lives and what they would like to change.
Themes – Wonder Woman 1984 does have glorious action sequences, with the opening showing us a lesson Diana learnt while she was young, along with the car chase we saw the biggest moment in the trailer, the final battle does however feel like the weakest part of the action, much like how it was the weakest part of the first Wonder Woman movie. When we look at the themes that are being focused on, we do take a step away from the action, which is different for a superhero movie. The film does take place in Washington before a trip to Egypt, which will give the big action sequence, with the journey there giving us a beautiful flight moment. The effects in the film are mixed because the Cheetah doesn’t end up looking as slick as it could, but elsewhere things all look great.
Final Thoughts – Wonder Woman 1984 is a delightful treat in the superhero selection of films, one that will stick with you once it is all set and done.