After many delays due to the pandemic, Wonder Woman 1984 is finally out in cinemas,
well not all, as most are still closed but I thankfully managed to see at my local Odeon.
With talk and plans for WB to release WW and a bunch of other big movies on HBO Max in the USA
its caused a lot of disappointment with fans and filmmakers of cinema
who wish to watch these latest big blockbusters on the big screen, with
everything being very unpredictable at the moment I can smypthese with both sides of the argument,
but with HBO Max not available outside the USA many of these movies will still come to the cinema
if they’re open in your area. I certainly want to watch DUNE for example on a massive screen,
it would be a loss to have that opportunity taken away. Even though some cinemas are
open around the world, its predicted Warner Bros are going to lose money on this film
with its theatrical run, well only in the short term I imagine, they will make a profit later on.
So where do we find Diana in 1984,? I’m going to try and avoid spoilers. The film opens with
a flashback to young Diana competing in a multi stage competition, she appears to be wining but
falls off her horse and finds a short cut to get to the finish line but just before she does she
is stopped by Antie-O-pea who tells her the truth is more important than winning pointing out she
cheated. Jumping to 1984, Diana is working at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.,
specializing in the culture of ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
The world is unaware of her alter ego as Wonder Woman but people have seen her in
action but no one has come forward with any evidence despite the numerus news reports.
Diana meets a new co-worker Barbara played by Kristen Wigg, an insecure woman, who gets no
respect from her new colleagues and idolizes Diana and tries to befriend her.. After an attempted
robbery is foiled by Wonder Woman, the FBI asks Barbara to identify some stolen antiquities.
Aspiring businessman Maxwell Lord played by Pedro Pascal is the founder of the Black Gold
Cooperative is trying to gain his fortune through his various oil wells but his business is failing,
its revealed he has been searching for a magic stone that was created by the god of
treachery and mischief with legend telling that it apparently grants people wishes.
The last wonder woman film hit the big screen in 2017 and got solid reviews and I personally really
enjoyed it, its still one of my favourites of the modern DC films along with Shazam, which I didn’t
review at the time, it’s definitely a film I want to discuss more in future. Once they announced
they were setting this sequel in the 80s, I was a bit underwhelmed by that decision, I felt
maybe they could’ve explored WW2 or perhaps the 1960s, having 70s year a part from each film and
not seeing WW in action in pivotal points of the 20th century seemed a bit of a missed opportunity.
Aside from those issues of what I wanted to see, the film was certainly very entertaining
but I don’t think its as a good as the first film, if you’re familiar with director Patty
Jenkins and her views on the super hero genre she is a big fan of Richard Donner’s Superman
and took inspiration from that film for its tone and treatment of the source material for her
adaption of Wonder Woman, come this sequel there is elements that feel very similar to Superman II,
which didn’t bother me at all, because if you’re familiar with my channel,
I’m huge fan of the Chris Reeve films, also Geoff Johns who co wrote this film with Patty,
worked for Richard Donner early on in his career so you have two individuals who are fans of the
Richard Donner Superman universe so you can see the influence across these two WW movies.
The film only has a small cast, really only focusing on 4 characters which is surprising for
a big sequel, Gal Gadot is yet again very good as Wonder Woman, hits the emotional beats with ease,
delivers everything with a smile on her face like a classic super hero should do
and shows total confidence on camera in the brightly coloured outfit.
As we saw from the trailers, Chris Pine is back as Steve, his return all makes sense and he brings
along the comedy aspect to the film as he tries to deal with being in the future and interacting with
new technology and trying to fit in wearing 80s clothing. The film doesn’t get lost in that 80s
aesthetic thankfully, as some film or TV shows create that idealist ‘fake’ 80s look, and it
doesn’t try to ram pop culture down your throats and constantly have pop songs thrown at you to
remind you that you’re in the 80s, its all very subtle with its production design and direction.
Pedro Pascal ie The Mandorlian plays as Maxwell Lord who some may think is a spoof on Donald
Trump, but the director says he is a mix of Michael Douglas performance as Gordon Gekko
from Wall Street and Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor and I can see comparisons.
Maxwell is a very spymetic villain, he isn’t a typical bad guy, he is charming and is aware of
his faults and wants to gain power really quickly once he knows he is about to lose everything
after many failed attempts to build up his career, being a accused of running a
pyramid scheme by one of his investors. The film satires those emptereunrs of the 80s,
who promised you riches beyond your dreams for little effort but wanted loads of money
in return. Pedro has great comedy timing as well throughout, making for a memorable performance.
Kristen Wigg is great at playing this clumsy woman who lacks confidence and begins to
transform into this powerful villain, I did feel however we needed to spend more time with her
as this insecure person, as she is off camera for a while so we don’t really get inside her head to
fully get to know her properly, it falls into a simple her against Diana because she didn’t
have the confidence in life and so forth, its familiar character trait you’ve seen before.
In terms of action, there are nice moments especially the sequence involving the army
security vehicles and the battle with barbara in the white house, the end finale I wasn’t
really fussed about, if you’ve seen the trailers, you will know Barbara turns into
a cat like creature called Cheetah which is one of Wonder Woman main villains from the comics,
she ends up looking like Cheetah from Thundercats, thankfully the effects are good
and the closes up have Kristen in make-up, but it’s all during a night time setting,
so its easy for them to hide the CG character and for those looking for questionable wonky
CG , but with the night time lighting it’s a bit hard to make out what’s going on.
its great seeing Wonder Woman do some really cool heroic stuff,
watching her run at top speed is awesome and seeing her leap into the sky and attempt to
fly was nice to see, all done very gracefully as well, it’s like watching Chris Reeve again
as you saw him move his arms and bank his body to simulate the effect of flying.
As with seen so many super hero films over the past decade, you will find them following very
similar plot beats and structures, so you know what to expect by the end, WW 84 does have those
moments but to me it didn’t seem that predictable, it felt little more refreshing with its overall
outcome. The humour in the film isn’t as full on as you see in the Marvel films, it’s just littered
throughout and generally works, but it never gave me any big laughs, just a chuckle here and there.
In terms of its production values, the film is lit and photographed well,
with great colours and contrast, the visual effects are generally very impressive
with many sequences shot on IMAX with the majority of the movie itself shot on 35 mm film,
so we can look forward to a decent 4K transfer on Bluray in future.
I was surprised Hans Zimmer was composing another super hero score after apparently
bowing out of working on Super hero films due to Batman V Superman,
but he returned quickly to the genre with Dark Phoenix and has continued with it. I loved the
score to the first WW film and I was expecting Hans Zimmer to provide something we’ve heard
many times from him before but thankfully this score has him firing on all cylinders
it’s a uplifting, magical, playful, emotional, delivers on the action beats
and is full of heart, it’s a triumph for him. So definitely worth getting hold of.
There are some issues with the script, with a sluggish second act and the face-off with Cheetah
I didn’t really care much about as highlighted earlier. The film deals with themes of truth and
being honest with one self, and I suppose that’s its strength, even if it’s a bit simplistic with
its themes it’s easy to get behind it and get invested in the story for the most part.
It’s a strong sequel but doesn’t quite have the impact and punch of the original
but still a lot of fun and worth watching on the big screen if you get the chance.
Make sure to stick around during the end credits for an additional sequence
which is fantastic, but don’t waste your time waiting till the very end of the credits
as there is no more surprises. There are talks of a third film and even a spin off focusing on
the Amazons of Themysicra. so I’m excited to see Gal Gadot continue as the character and hopefully
this movie will do well for them to make third and we could end up having a solid trilogy in future.