Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Review

 

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Wonder Woman 1984 jumps forward (or backward I guess) in time, following Diana Prince who, after the mysterious reappearance of Steve Trevor, must stop Maxwell Lord who is granting everyones wishes, most for the worse.

So, I may be in the minority here but I strongly disliked nearly every aspect of this movie, from the opening scene to the last. For starters, it was a tonal mess that followed way too many stereotypical, fan service tropes, making it feel like DC’s attempt at Rise of Skywalker. The logic used behind much of this movie contradicts itself way too much and while Maxwell Lord as the villain had promise, he felt so small potatoes for Wonder Woman. She felt severely underutilized and when she was on screen as the heroine, she was weakened and beaten back 90% of the time.

The few redeeming factors were mostly tied to the 80s time period, like the style, color, and feel, but also like an 80s movie, the story and plot narratives were as hokey and ridiculous as can be.

Returning as Wonder Woman is Gal Gadot, who wasn’t bad by any means, but she wasn’t given much to work with or strive towards, really being shafted aside from her story with Steve, which I didn’t mind. Other notable performances were that of Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal, who again, wasn’t bad by any stretch, it was just super far fetched and contributed to the goofy Wonder Woman villains we’ve had so far in Nigel Thornberry in armor and an oil baron. Kristen Wiig was also a bit unbelievable as Cheetah, though she showed promise at the start. Her turn as emo Peter Parker just made no sense.

Patty Jenkins, from what I can gather, made a movie to empower young girls and she accomplished that. But it didn’t translate well in being universal in it’s storytelling and emotion, feeling empty and forced, with lots of uninspired action. Definitely the biggest disappointment of the year, especially for a genre that needed some hope in such an empty year for superhero movies.

4/10