I appreciate the original Wonder Woman for what it is: a fun, well made superhero film with some exceptional scenes (No Man’s Land) and some great chemistry between Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor. It was the perfect introduction for the character of Wonder Woman, brought down a few pegs by the disastrous CGI mess of a final fight scene; a scene director Patty Jenkins has recently gone to great lengths to distance herself from, citing studio interference as the reason for its existence. For the sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 Jenkins takes up writing duties alongside DC veteran Geoff Johns, meaning she is in far more control of the muddled mess of a film that she has crafted this time around. From the awful CGI to the incredibly annoying, terribly written villains and almost incomprehensible plot, Wonder Woman 1984 fails on many levels, only kept chugging along thanks to the star power and charisma of Gadot and Pine. That plot is so incomprehensible at times that it is almost necessary to dip into some minor spoilers here and there, so consider this your warning.
Things get off to a roaring start with an introductory flashback scene to Diana’s homeland of Themyscira providing exciting thrills as a young Wonder Woman competes against a bevy of fully grown Amazonians in an Olympic games style triathlon. It’s all terrifically shot, with quick fast cuts and an exciting theme from Hans Zimmer that enraptures you quickly and never lets go, even if the scene never really justifies its relevance to the overarching plot. After this, it is straight into the titular time period and Jenkins seems hell-bent on earning that title, with a suitably cheesy fight scene in a shopping mall featuring some questionable fashion choices and Stranger Things style synth music announcing loudly and proudly that this film is set in the eighties. This scene pops with colour and seems overloaded with eighties references, a theme that crops up in a few noticeably lighter moments in the film, with montages of eighties fashion a joke that the film relies on quite a bit. Other than these visual gags however, the film doesn’t seem to really have much of a reason for being set in the eighties, using it as a visual and comedic crutch rather than for any meaningful plot significance.
That plot starts to lose its way almost 20 minutes into the bloated 2-and-a-half hour run-time, as we meet our first of the film’s two villains: Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a scientist who works with Diana and a bumbling klutz who means well, but lacks the social skills necessary to really connect with anyone. Wiig is a terrific actress, as we’ve seen in films like Bridesmaids, but here it seems her only instruction is to play the character as annoyingly as possible, like something out of an SNL skit. When Minerva is tasked with uncovering the origin of the mysterious dream stone by the museum, she stumbles upon a story of the stone granting wishes, and – fresh off an encounter with new friend Diana – tests it out by wishing to become more like her, unknowingly committing herself to a future filled with super-strength, speed and unbridled power she could never dream of. Like an episode of the Oprah show, Jenkins gives every major character a go on the stone, as Diana finds herself wishing for the return of her love and fraudster wannabe oil tycoon Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) wishes to literally become the stone, granting wishes for others in an effort to establish power over all the worlds major players and resources.
It becomes clear shortly after the plot reveals itself that Jenkins’ only concern is Diana herself. Every other character in the story is simply there to service her arc of coming to terms with the loss of Steve and diving into the future, unafraid of showing emotion or letting herself get invested (a prelude to her keenness to assemble the Justice League?). Minerva’s change from good-hearted, if somewhat overzealous friend to full-blown villain is so ham-fisted and unexplained, relying on an inexplicit obsession with Maxwell Lord borne from him showing her the smallest amount of previously unreceived attention. Why does she suddenly hate Diana, her former friend, who has done nothing wrong to her? How does she become Cheetah? I still have no idea. The closest approximation I can make to any affinity towards the African cat is a scene involving a pair of cheetah print high heels she remarks on Diana wearing. Her ability to later walk in heels is the incredibly cheesy and cartoonish representation of the strength she has inherited from Diana which again, explains absolutely nothing about her motivations to turn into a supervillain. When she does, the CGI used to bring her newly feline form to life is laughably bad, with fights involving her shot in frustratingly low light and with such quick cuts to hide as much as possible.
Similarly, Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord is an interesting enough villain at first, driven by his lust for power but also the desire to show his son that he is not a failure and can make something of himself. The performance is, similar to Wiig’s, dialled up to eleven as Pascal screams and yells about any number of things, playing off his cheap television persona to get ahead until he becomes one with the dream stone, suddenly turning calm and ominous in his tone. Pascal does what he can with the role, but any attempt to redeem Lord through his relationship with his son feels completely unearned when he hasn’t given a damn about him as he rips the world apart. The clichés never cease to end in both characters and plot as we head towards a typically large scale, end of the world scenario that we’re told can only be saved by Wonder Woman’s inherent goodness. That message in itself is hammered home multiple times throughout the film but doesn’t hit like it did in the first film. In the original Wonder Woman Diana was a symbol of peace, fighting the wars of men in an attempt to end the violence and show them the error of their ways. Here it is as simple as Diana is good and Minerva and Lord are bad so she has to win. It never gets any deeper than that.
Here’s where that minor spoiler comes in, you have been warned again. As you have probably seen throughout the endless streams of trailers and clips that have been released in the lead up to the film’s release, Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor returns to the fold, after having sacrificed himself at the end of the first film. This is obviously Diana’s wish on the dream stone, but the film makes the frankly mind-boggling decision to place Trevor in the body of a random civilian rather than his own. Over the course of these increasingly epic adventures, that excellent chemistry between Gadot and Pine is undercut by the fact that no one in the film is actually seeing Chris Pine, not even Diana herself. The film presents Steve as Pine to us the audience because that is who we are familiar with and that is how Diana remembers him, but in actual fact a complete stranger is joining her on all these adventures, completely robbing every moment of its emotional impact. If it is some attempt at conveying the “beauty is on the inside” message it doesn’t land, muddying up an already confusing storyline with a downright bizarre decision. Would it have been so hard for Steve Trevor to have regenerated in his own body? There isn’t a pre-established logic to the fantasy of wish fulfilment in a superhero movie.
Wonder Woman 1984 is a disappointment on nearly every level. The sequel to one of the most beloved superhero films of recent memory fails on almost every level as it fills its terribly paced, excessive runtime with nonsensical plot points, poorly written characters and mixed messages that contradict each other. With only a handful of memorable scenes and less than that of actual action, there is simply too much of a burden placed on Gal Gadot and Chris Pine’s chemistry to carry the picture, and it crumbles under that weight. Do yourself a favour this holiday season and watch Pixar’s Soul instead. The wonder is missing from this instalment of the franchise.
Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen & Pedro Pascal – In Australian cinemas now and streaming on HBO Max in the US.