★½

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Written by Dalton Welsh - January 5, 2021

The first Wonder Woman in 2017, while by no means a great film, was a pleasant surprise when compared to the treasure trove of nightmarish garbage that the previous DC films including the likes of ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ and ‘Suicide Squad’ had presented. So it is unfortunate to see director Patty Jenkins’ sequel ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ more closely tied to these lesser DC films in terms of quality. The film follows Diana (Wonder Woman) several decades following the first film now living in the 1980s as she must now face off against burgeoning businessman Maxwell Lord after he comes into possession of an ancient stone that has the ability to grant wishes. While the actors all for the most part try their best with the material they are given, and some scenes are entertaining in a more classic 70’s superman kind of way, it is not enough to save the faults that come with the rest of the film.

I’ll try not to compare this to the first film too much, but one of it’s greatest strengths was that unlike other superhero films that tend to over bloat with characters, Wonder Woman was truly the center-piece of the film, showing her character and growth from her naivety about war and the world of man, to accepting and deciding to make a change. I say this because in 1984, our titular character of Wonder Woman, has no character or arc to speak of. She’s almost like a secondary character, and with an uninteresting and seemingly unmotivated protagonist it can cause the film to feel aimless. Similarly lacking direction is the films tone, for a large chunk of the runtime it unsurprisingly goes for a more cheesy style, which is befitting of the period and could have worked as a nice contrast to the rather dower first film. Because of this tone, logical consistency is given a miss in many cases, but then the film also tries to make a half baked political statement about the conflict between the U.S and the Soviet Union in the 80’s and it causes the film to feel very disjointed, and the logical inconsistencies begin to shine out more with the grounding of some story elements.

As far as the other characters in the film are concerned, our main antagonist of Maxwell Lord can at times be entertaining to watch in the more hammier moments, but are again smushed in amongst the more dramatic elements of the film making for an awkward juxtaposition of style. With that being said Pedro Pascal does the best with what he is given with his performance and is probably the most interesting part of the film, although that isn’t saying all that much. Then of course being a sequel to a superhero film we need to have multiple villains, thus we introduce Barbara Minerva. Again, similar to Pascal, Kristen Wigg does a decent job with the material at her disposal in her portrayal of Barbara, but what she is given is very little. Barbara essentially acts as a foil to Wonder Woman in the film, asking what if someone who gained Wonder Woman’s abilities instead used them for selfish gain. But ultimately, Barbara’s conflict isn’t really with Diana, it is more adjacent to her, making Barbara’s role in the film even less interesting. As a result her placement in the story feels unnecessary, and with a film that is 2 and a half hours long, it certainly could have used some trimming. Then by removing Barbara, perhaps more time could have been given to the film’s protagonist perhaps?

Going back to the film’s runtime, just basic editing to tighten the pacing has seemingly been left by the wayside. So many of the scenes feel as though they have been stretched to pad out the runtime, and when done frequently it really causes the film to drag. This isn’t to say it was boring necessarily, just moments over staying there welcome. And there were still moments that were entertaining, like some decent action, and unintentionally funny scenes or dialogue. 

Just to wrap up with the more technical aspects of the film, the cinematography is neither hit or miss, pretty stock standard. They are able to use the bright colours of the eighties to liven up the scenery, but they never utilise this to its fullest potential, and I wish the setting in general had a bit more influence on the visuals outside of the marketing material. In terms of the music in the film, Hans Zimmer’s score is fine, the main Wonder Woman theme is still interesting, but again the period is seldom felt in the music. Perhaps a more prevalent synth through-line would have been nice, while it’s been done before, at least it would have been something resembling a creative choice. You can particularly feel Zimmer’s disinterest in his recycling of music from Batman v Superman in the film’s emotional climax, making it’s placement in this film feel very ham-fisted.

All in all, glimmers of underutilised 80’s nostalgia and an entertainingly over the top performance from Pedro Pascal aren’t enough to save the disappointment of Wonder Woman 1984. With a passive personality-less protagonist, a dragged out pacing, uninspired music, cringeworthy dialogue, wildly fluctuating tone and a secondary villain that feels unnecessary and inconsequential, One can only hope that this is the final nail in the coffin for the DCEU.