Wonder Woman 1984
Director: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 151 minutes
There are a lot of reasons that Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot’s take on Wonder Woman is considered one of the best cinematic superhero interpretations, despite having only appeared in one movie prior to now but there’s one that I don’t see mentioned as often and it’s that they just understand what makes someone heroic more than a lot of the competition. Wonder Woman saw Diana fighting to end a war and struggling to deal with mankind’s cruelty before deciding that despite it their potential for good and love makes them worth saving regardless. The sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, offers a moving study in sacrifice, illustrating why the essence of heroism is to selflessly put aside one’s own needs for the good of others. This compelling central sentiment gives the new film considerable power and makes up for a lot but unfortunately, while there is plenty to love about it, it still falls far short of the original.
Almost seventy years after the WWI-set original, Wonder Woman 1984 takes place in the titular year. Wonder Woman herself has settled into a life in her civilian identity of Diana Prince, as whom she works at the Smithsonian. When she meets new colleague Dr. Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) the two women connect over their shared loneliness. Diana is still grieving Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) after he sacrificed himself at the end of the first film and the shy Barbara struggles without any notable friends or connections. After encountering an ancient artifact that serves as the film’s extremely powerful McGuffin they both receive their greatest desires. Diana is shocked and overjoyed when Steve mysteriously turns up alive. And Barbara suddenly finds herself with both superhuman physical abilities and a more assertive, feisty attitude. While trying to discover how he returned, Steve and Diana investigate Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a charming oil magnate who is actually a conman whose life is falling apart. As Barbara and Max’s actions cause increasingly severe chaos Diana must determine what she is willing to sacrifice to fulfill her duty as a hero.
One of the major differences between the two films is the size of their casts. While Diana was unquestionably at its center the first film’s cast was rather large. 1984‘s is much smaller. Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright’s roles as Diana’s Amazonian mother and aunt are reduced to basically being cameos in an opening flashback (one of the new movie’s big mistakes in my opinion) and there are no sidekicks along for the ride like Steve’s mercenary friends from the first film. The sequel is razor-focused on the core quartet of Diana, Steve, Barbara, and Max. Theoretically this would most benefit the new villains and to some extent it does. We certainly spend enough time with Barbara that her transformation from meek scientist to ruthless villainess works but she still vanishes for the film for large chunks of time, which ultimately leaves her feeling somewhat removed from the main drama. Max is a more consistent presence but he’s not actually that menacing. Which is clearly intentional, to be fair. He’s not characterized as a monster or even really ruthless. He’s a desperate guy who gets his hands on way too much power and while this idea of an accidental villain is interesting it doesn’t always work. Even though Max causes chaos he doesn’t really mean to so there’s little intensity to the plot despite the stakes being raised to an almost absurd height. But the issues with the writing for the character don’t hamper Pascal’s efforts. He does an excellent job conveying the character’s descent into complete mania without losing his sympathetic core.
Whatever the new characters’ charms, however, they can’t top the core duo. Diana and Steve, and even more so Gadot and Pine, are unquestionably the best things about the movie. Little can be said about Gadot’s casting that hasn’t been already. She was simply born for the role and brings Diana to life with the perfect mixture of warmth, compassion, and regal authority. Pine and the writers clearly had a blast with Steve’s enthusiastic embrace of the 80’s, which leads to most of the film’s best comedic beats but Steve is also a masterfully handled supporting character with a wide emotional range. And as good as they are individually, Pine and Gadot shine even brighter together. Diana and Steve’s is a tender, easygoing dynamic with little to no friction, but that doesn’t mean it’s uninteresting. They make each other better and Steve’s return forces Diana to reevaluate the life she’s been living since he died. And the actors are perfectly matched, resulting in a cinematic romance for the ages that can stand comfortably beside Hollywood’s very best. Unfortunately, the film surrounding them isn’t always as great as the two of them are.
Wonder Woman 1984 was filmed back in 2018 and was originally slated for release in November 2019, before being pushed back to June 2020 in an attempt to replicate the original’s summer success that backfired when it wound up being delayed multiple times and shifted to a simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max release because of the pandemic. Jenkins spoke positively of the first delay, noting that while the film would have been ready by the 2019 date the extra time would allow her to fine-tune it and create an even better work. Despite this, the film ultimately feels rushed. There are a lot of strange little details in the script that feel like things that could have been excised or fixed in an additional draft (one in particular related to the film’s limited sexuality has caused it some serious bad press). But much more importantly the new film isn’t constantly dripping with emotion like the first. Diana’s character arc, while predictable, only really snaps into focus at the beginning of the long third act. When it does, it results in some stunning sequences and excellent work from Gadot, to be fair, but that doesn’t help the fact that the prior two acts feel light on character development for the hero, even if they do build up the villains decently well.
In addition, while the film definitely commits to it, the 80’s setting doesn’t add nearly as much to the story as the World War I one did for the first. As funny as Steve’s reactions to the later decade are, the only character for whom the setting is even somewhat important is Max, but even his role could easily have been altered to fit a different period. The film does replicate the feel of a family friendly, adventurous blockbuster like those released in the 80s but this isn’t always to its benefit. Jenkins has noted how she drew influence from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies and while that has the desired effect of making Diana a truly aspirational hero it also results in the film having a degree of silliness that doesn’t really work in a modern context. There are scenes and elements of the film, including an especially goofy early action scene in a shopping mall, that feel more like something out of the Schumacher Batman movies, or the weaker parts of the Burton ones, and that’s not something a modern blockbuster needs.
Perhaps most upsetting of all the film doesn’t always succeed as a spectacle. A big part of the first film’s appeal was, of course, the fact that it was essentially the first competent live-action superhero film with a female lead but something else it had going for it that less warmly received successors like Captain Marvel and Birds of Prey lacked was that it was genuinely awe-inspiring to watch Diana in action. Jenkins made the action sequences in the first film really majestic but there’s nothing here that generates the same level of excitement. After the Themyscira-set opening and the mall scene the first act is pretty much devoid of action and the car chase meant to spice up the second is nothing more than competent, limited as it is by a tired trope of superhero sequels that wormed its way into the plot. Again, things don’t really liven up until the third act when Diana and Barbara finally face off, but even then it’s only their first encounter, in which they simultaneously battle one another and some other parties in the White House that’s anything above average. There are, however, two really great bits of fan-service in which Diana discovers new abilities that Jenkins absolutely nails, delivering an appropriate degree of well… wonder, that somewhat make up for the lack of Diana kicking ass.
Because, again, Jenkins and her star get this character, on a deep, personal level. That’s the most important thing and it’s why, despite all its flaws the film is well worth watching. Diana is one of the most compelling and important characters in modern cinema and while the way it’s told isn’t always perfect the core of her latest story is equally important. Wonder Woman 1984 isn’t the masterpiece its predecessor was but it’s still an enjoyable superhero adventure and its heart is unquestionably in the right place.
Notes:
- I’m of course aware that Gadot debuted as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman, but the interpretation of the character that comes from her collaboration with Jenkins is very different, something that is emphasized by the way this film pretty blatantly contradicts that one, although weirdly enough there is a pretty great use of a musical piece from Batman v Superman featured in Wonder Woman 1984.
- Speaking of which, those who want to see more of Wonder Woman won’t have to wait long as she’s a main character in the long-awaited Snyder Cut of Justice League, which is expected to come out on HBO Max in a few months.
- A lot of the discourse around the movies has revolved around how timely it supposedly is but I feel its actually more timeless.
Wonder Woman 1984
Wonder Woman 1984 is a fun superhero blockbuster with great leads but it can't touch the original.
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Writing7
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Acting9
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Production8