'Wonder Woman 1984' film review: Anticipated superhero sequel underwhelms
DC's Amazonian warrior returns to take on greed in 'Wonder Woman 1984' (in theaters and streaming on HBO Max Christmas Day).
In short: Decades after her exploits in World War I, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) begins her public crusade as a crime fighter - when the aspiring businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) searches for a powerful stone with the help of meek gemologist Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig). Chris Pine, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen also star.
In the "greed is good" era, Lord is the perfect villain for the decade that embraced results without effort. Unfortunately, Lord is a thin character whose sole motivation seems to be ... well, that greed is good and more is never enough. It could be argued the villain of '1984' is the self-obsession of the decade itself. Lord is simply the personification of unfettered, insatiable greed and excess. But Lord, the human character, is poorly motivated and Pascal's performance is dangerously close to camp.
Jenkins has cracked for the formula for storytelling when it comes to overpowered superheroes. Wonder Woman, by definition, is a powerful hero able to stand toe-to-toe with literal gods - so simply pummeling her in a fist fight isn't and really can't be her story. This makes the inclusion of Minerva a bit silly (more on that later), but '1984' attacks a weakness that even Diana Prince isn't willing to fix: a heart that remains broken more than 60 years after the death of her one true love, Steve Trevor (Pine).
Steve's death is such major plot point in the first 'Wonder Woman' film that it was honestly jarring to see him featured in the trailers. Afterall, how could such a pivotal character just return from the dead so many decades after his sacrifice? '1984' contorts itself just enough to make his apparent "resurrection" make some sort of sense - so rest assured, his return isn't just brushed aside and it's actually pretty integral to Diana's story. That said, Steve is basically in the movie ... to wear a fanny pack, take note of how eccentric the '80s were and punch some bad guys in the background. He basically just embodies what Diana wishes for most in the world.
On that note: yes, it's pretty obvious this film takes place during the 1980s. It's literally in the movie's title. But '1984' takes a page from the 'Stranger Things' playbook and beats the audience over the head with the "SEE! WEREN'T THE '80S WEIRD?' bat. Frankly, it wouldn't have been surprising if an earlier draft of the script had a character drink a New Coke while using a payphone. There was some charm in watching the culture shock Diana felt in walking into male-dominated, "advanced" technology of World War I era Europe. She is a powerful warrior who walked into a society where women were not treated equally to men. Her anachronism was an indictment on the male-dominated world that had torn itself apart in brutal trench warfare. Steve's "fish out of water" misadventure is basically just one long "the '80s sure were funny" joke.
But this time around it's Steve's turn to be the man out of time ... and it's just played for lazy laughs. There's a literal wardrobe changing montage - and it's cringe not just because Steve is confused by parachute pants - but because of just how dated the idea of a wardrobe-changing montage feels. And for a movie where a superhero capable of batting gods fights to save the world and the soul of humanity ... maybe cut the clothing montage from the final edit. The already long two-and-a-half hour adventure isn't better for the silly '80s were funny jokes.
Wiig's awkward scientist-turned-monstrous nemesis to Wonder Woman ... isn't a great character. For most of the movie she's merely a sidekick doing Diana's grunt research. Then, she awkwardly just becomes a dark mirror to Diana - two equally powered characters with very different motivations when they realize what defeating Lord would cost them. And her time as the Cheetah, a heavily CGI iteration of her famous DC Comics persona ... lasts only for the duration of one fight. A running theme of '1984' is the sacrifice someone would make to get their wish -- but Minerva's sacrifice is flat, and it's basically just stated in one lazy line of exposition. Some internal conflict on Minerva's part would have made her choices more personal, empathetic and tragic.
The 2017 film earned a grassroots effort to push ‘Wonder Woman’ into Best Picture consideration. It was filled with powerful, evocative moments - even if the story itself fell apart in the third act. Sadly, ‘1984’ doesn’t have a single moment that deeply resonates at all. And for a movie that decries huge results with little to no effort, then unfortunately ‘1984’ is itself a film that tries to evoke strong feelings … with little to no effort in character development.
Final verdict: '1984' doesn't evolve Diana much as a character or inform the audience about who she is as a character. The story is weak. The villain is meager. It's entirely skippable.
Score: 2/5
'Wonder Woman 1984' opens in theaters and streams on HBO Max on Dec. 25. This action adventure is rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence and has a running time of 151 minutes.
Directed by Patty Jenkins / Screenplay by Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns & David Callaham / Score by Hans Zimmer / Cinematography by Matthew Jensen / Film Editing by Richard Pearson / Production Design by Aline Bonetto / Starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen.
