Film Review: 'Wonder Woman 1984'

By Maxwell McClellan

For the longest time, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has tried to rival Marvel’s explosive success but seemed to constantly fail at every step. That is until 2017 when one film shed a light on the dark path the DCEU was taking. This film not only helped redeem the struggling franchise (at least partially) but was itself met with almost universal praise. The movie, of course, was Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman”.

“Wonder Woman”, to put it bluntly, shook up the film industry. It was the first movie in the DCEU to garner an amazing amount of praise, finally bringing one of the most famous female superheroes of all time, as well as a feminist icon, to the big screen. Three years have since passed and Christmas 2020 brought us the highly anticipated sequel “Wonder Woman 1984”. 

So, does this sequel hold up to the hype of its predecessor? Well, put your tiara on and grab your lasso because we’re swinging in. 

The general plot of the movie follows Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) played by Gal Gadot. Early in the movie, Diana stops a shopping mall heist based around a jewelry store acting as a front for the illegal trade of ancient artifacts. The resulting cache of goods leads Diana to team up with geologist Barbara Minerva, played by Kristen Wiig, to document every uncovered relic. 

Among the haul, the duo finds a type of stone that is revealed to be able to grant wishes. They both make their own wishes on this stone. Diana, who is suffering from loneliness and is still not over the loss of her boyfriend, Steve Trevor, wishes that her old love would come back to life, while Barbara, who is a rather meek individual, makes a wish to be like Diana. 

Ultimately, what I will say is this. The main problems of this movie lie in its writing. The script had potential but it was far too loose and unfocussed to be the movie it could truly be. (Clay Enos | Warner Bros)

Diana and Barbara are not the only ones who know of the stone’s power, however. Maxwell Lord, played by Pedro Pascal, also knows of this stone’s power and has been actively hunting for it, hoping to use its gifts for his own personal gain in the oil industry. 

What I like about the movie is how engaging a majority of the characters are. Gal Gadot is the perfect casting choice for Wonder Woman and she continues to deliver in this movie. Chris Pine as Steve Trevor does well in his supporting role and it is very entertaining to see his 1920s character reborn in the ’80s, which reverses their fish-out-of-water relationship from the previous film where he needed to explain the world to Diana. Out of all of the characters in this movie though, my absolute favorite is Maxwell Lord. Pedro Pascal is phenomenal in this film. Maxwell Lord is the CEO of Black Gold Cooperation who wants to exploit the absolute power that the wish stone can give him. He is not some CGI monster with the personality of cardboard, he is not an alien warlord, he’s just a human whose superpower revolves around manipulation to get what he wants. His role as a villain in this movie is really interesting and unique as far as comic-book movie villains go and I believe that Maxwell Lord is one of the best villains the DCEU has given us so far (to be completely fair, there are very few good villains in this franchise so far). Pedro Pascal’s charismatic and energetic performance definitely won me over. 

Well, that’s enough praising this movie, time to tear its flaws to shreds! You may have noticed earlier that I said a “majority” of the characters were engaging. That is because Barbara’s arc was one of the weakest parts of this film. Due to her wish she gets the same beauty and powers as Diana, starting her down the road to becoming the Cheetah, an old foe of Wonder Woman in the comics. The problem is one of pacing; Barbara’s descent into villainy is super abrupt. Within two very close story beats she acts like herself in one scene, then begins acting villainous and apathetic to friends in the next with no catalyst to speak of. On the topic of abrupt change, I’d be remiss to exclude the lack of buildup to her final cat form. She is literally her, albeit, superhuman self in one scene only to be a cat-hybrid in the next. We get no real explanation, no reason, and no buildup. If you’re not going to put any effort into showing this character develop and change, why should I care about her? I would even go as far as to say cutting out her character would improve the film. All of that is only exacerbated by the horrible CGI in their final fight, which is some of the worst I have ever seen in a movie. 

Wonder Woman’s cool golden armor is just that, cool golden armor. The outfit holds no tangible plot significance at all. It’s clear that the movie was trying to relate it to its message of truth and sacrifice, but without spoiling too much, the execution of this idea is done very poorly, if at all. Speaking of poor execution, there are also plenty of subplots in this movie that either go absolutely nowhere or are carried out very unsuccessfully. With so many narrative loose ends to rectify, it kind of annoyed me that the movie prioritized Steve Trevor’s 1980s tour of Washington DC over the actual plot. 

Ultimately, what I will say is this. The main problems of this movie lie in its writing. The script had potential but it was far too loose and unfocussed to be the movie it could truly be. While I did find its characters charming and did enjoy the vast amounts of nods to past Wonder Woman media (with an after-credits scene that really put a big smile on my face), the movie has too many flaws to be considered a perfect film.

I give this movie 6 invisible jets out of 10.

Maxwell is a culture writer for La Tonique.