A Review of “Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)”

 

Wonder Woman 1984 was one of my most anticipated DCEU movie for 2020. Due to the Coronavirus, the movie kept getting delayed but is finally here in theatres and HBO Max streaming service at the same time. The DCEU is such a frustrating cinematic universe in the early days due to how poor the movies were but then Wonder Woman came. The first Wonder Woman movie was a breath of fresh air in the DCEU because it was good and I would give it 4/5 stars. The sequels premise is “Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) lives quietly among mortals in the vibrant, sleek 1980s – an era of excess driven by the pursuit of having it all. Though she’s come into her full powers, she maintains a low profile by curating ancient artifacts, and only performing heroic acts incognito. But soon, Diana will have to muster all of her strength, wisdom and courage as she finds herself squaring off against Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah, a villainess who possesses superhuman strength and agility”. Does the sequel manage to surpass the magic of the first movie or fails miserably?

Firstly, I like the direction the movie goes in. Patty Jenkins, the director, has the movie set in the 80s which isn’t a setting that’s common in superhero movies. They utilise this setting by having more vibrant colors compared to the grey, dim colors of the first movie. Also, the set and costumes designers do a phenomenal job in bringing the 80s to life.I also like the idea that it is kind of a reverse situation to the first movie for Wonder Woman. In the first movie, she was the fish out of water learning about the world outside Themyscira but here it’s Steve Trevor instead. Due to this, we get to see a completely different Wonder Woman from the first movie and a slightly flustered Steve which was entertaining. The action scenes are also pretty fun to watch but they are nowhere near as good as the first movie to be fair. Also, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) was a surprising villain as he was more emotional and less stoic than I expected. Most supervillains in comic book movies, even the first Wonder Woman movie, are bad because they are bad and just stone-cold but Maxwell is more energetic than that which is different.

On that note, I think the actors all do a really good job. Gal Gadot feels better than previous movies now as it feels like she has got the ropes. Chris Pine is still charming and charismatic as Steve Trevor. The chemistry between the two is still there and the best moments in the movie are the scenes where Wonder Woman and Steve are together. There are some emotional moments in this movie and Gal Gadots performance is incredibly convincing. Pedro Pascal is so good as the main villain and his performance throughout the movie as Maxwell Lord becomes more insane is very convincing and enjoyable to watch. Kristen Wiig as Babara/Cheetah, the secondary villain, was a controversial casting but I think she does a great job with what is given. Kristen is great as the weird and awkward Babara in the first part of the movie but is also great as the more confident Babara in the second half of the movie.

On the other hand, the story is kind of disjointed and messy. It doesn’t flow well and due to that causes some pacing issues. The movie is a whopping 151 minutes but this is fine if the movie was constantly engaging which this movie isn’t. There are a fair amount of moments where the movie drags. Additionally, Wonder Woman’s character arc in the movie is kind of weak. I feel like Wonder Woman from the beginning of this movie is still the same at the end of the movie. It doesn’t feel like this movie was an important story to tell for her character and she even feels like a supporting character in her movie. The villains are shallow and cliche as well. Maxwell Lord has a son he loves which adds some humanity to his character but for the most part, he wants power because he just does. Babara/Cheetah motives are just so generic as she becomes villain just because she is jealous and that’s it. I also disagree with the way Steve was utilised in the movie and felt the emotional moment with him could’ve been stronger.

I think my biggest complaint is how cheesy this movie is. I don’t know if the director intended to devolve the superhero movie back to the 80s but it sure feels like it. I cringe so much in this movie even when it’s meant to be serious. The movie is just laughably dumb at times and that is just kind of disappointing when compared to the serious nature of the first movie. For example, the mall action scene is just so cheesy with bad supporting actors, silly choreography and terrible lines. The movie also ends with a very cheesy message that they try to shove down the audience’s throat. Instead of pushing the movie to new heights, the movie decides to embody all the cliches you can think of.

The action scenes are fun, except for the mall scene, but there are some very noticeable and shoddy CGI. You think with all the delays this movie went through that they would fix the CGI but nope it’s quite bad. An example would be the truck scene with Wonder Woman running along with the car and it’s so green screen or the Cheetah CGI looking like it’s from Cats (2019). On that note, one of my complaints about the first Wonder Woman movie was the dumb fight near the end against a dark-coloured CGI thing at night and Wonder Woman 1984 kind of does the same thing. It’s not as dark and bad but it is just her fighting some terrible CGI Cheetah.  Hans Zimmer who is a legendary composer does the score for the movie but it feels phoned in. Also, severe lack of 80s music for some reason. The score is just okay and that’s not what I expect from Hans which is a shame. My last point is a nitpick but this movie is still set in the DC extended universe yet this global scale threat is barely mentioned. It just feels so weird that such a large scale event doesn’t seem to be of that much importance in this universe. Honestly, I don’t even understand why the director made this a global threat because it didn’t need to be. Also, the movie ends with no repercussions for some reason.

Overall, this movie was kind of a disappointment. It is nowhere near as good as the first movie. The story and characters are one of the most important aspects of a movie but they are incredibly weak in this movie. It attempts to cram in too many things and not all of them land plus the movie is way too cheesy than it needs to be. It does have great Wonder Woman and Steve moments with great performances, especially from Pedro Pascal. However, it is not enough to elevate this movie to greatness. It’s a shame because there are some great things in the movie but they don’t quite shine through.