Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

 

The colourful artwork for the poster should have already given it away: this is in no way comparable to the first outing of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Nope, this is way goofier and just not as good. It isn't horrendous, but well... 

Like the title says: we're now in 1984 and Diana is working at the Smithsonian because she naturally has an interest in ancient artefacts. Maybe because in some weird way, she herself is an ancient artefact? Things get weird when she and a colleague called Barbara Minerva come across a strange stone that has the ability to grant wishes. Diana wishes Steve Trevor back, Barbara wishes she was more like Diana and there's a shady businessman played by Pedro Pascal who wants the stone for himself so he can actually become the stone. 

Yes, it's all a bit odd. But then again: how few comics have people read if they don't see that comics themselves are oftentimes a lot more bizarre than what we get on the screen?

Diana gets Trevor back, but not quite in the way she envisioned, as his 'ghost' now inhabits the body of a totally different person. This also makes her lose het superpowers, as there is always a price to pay. Barbara becomes superstrong, but is now a cast iron bitch as her humanity is going and when Max Lord (Pascal) lets everyone wish for whatever they want, his health starts to fail. Moreover, the world is stooped in chaos as this is exactly what happens when everyone gets what they want.

I'm almost convinced there's a message here somewhere...

This film is not completely a lost cause, even if certain people will try to tell you otherwise. Gal Gadot is still a very good fit for the part of Diana/Wonder Woman. It's fun to get Chris Pine back, even if it is as a rather thankless sidekick. The fact that the film is now colourful and downright goofy at times still makes it enjoyable on a certain level.

But alas, there's also a myriad of problems. For starters, most of the runtime this film about Wonder Woman is curiously devoid of Wonder Woman stuff. It's a lot of mundane, almost soap opera-like dialogue, which at times is off-putting. The special effects are also shoddy at times, which doesn't gel right, considering how most of the first outing was done so well. 

The villains suck, though. They really do. Nothing against either Kristen Wiig or Pedro Pascal, but Wiig doesn't get a lot to do besides starting off as the socially awkward nerdy girl and Pascal's motivations are all over the place. The conclusion is also weak, as Diana fights Barbara (now as Cheetah) for about two minutes tops in her golden armour (which was heavily used in the advertising, but is hardly in the film at all) and then makes everyone renounce their wish. Pascal sees the error of his ways, Bob's your uncle, voila. It is hugely underwhelming. 

Maybe that is one the film's biggest shortcomings: the stakes don't feel high and the motivations of the characters are very, very shallow at best. The first one had the strong atmosphere and grit of the First World War, but this one feels disjointed and lacks that sense or urgency. Yes, it is the 80s here, but they could have done better. 

Oh, and the throwaway explanation of some new powers Diana has is infuriating. Suddenly she can fly, suddenly she can turn a jet invisible, you know: that kind of thing. 

If you leave your brain at the door, you can enjoy this on some level, but in all honesty: you had better stick to the first one, as in every respect it is a better product.