Title: Wonder Woman 1984
Release Year: 2020
Rating: PG-13
Score: 6.9
Okay. Let me start this review by saying that this is a very FUN movie. At the end of the day, it is a movie about a really cool superhero who in my opinion is played very well by Gal Gadot. It is by no means a perfect movie, and I don't think it beats the first installment of the Wonder Woman series in my mind, but it is very fun to see a really powerful hero just do her thing. The movie starts with a really really long flashback intro scene. It does make sense later in the film, but this to me is the equivalent of a book that starts with chapters of exposition that easily could lose the interest of readers, or for this movie, viewers. We get some larger, more zoomed out shots of Themyscira during this flashback, and quite frankly it looks incredible. In the flashback we see young child Diana participating in a contest against other fully grown Amazon warriors. The biggest criticism I have of the introduction (other than the length of it) is that the movements of young Diana simply do not look realistic at all. Other than that it's a great scene, but watching her run took me out of the movie a bit.
I'd like to talk about the portrayal of the Cheetah for a bit now. Most of my familiarity with the character comes from the cartoon Super Friends tv show that my father introduced me to. I was curious how Kristen Wiig's character would get her powers, and how they would develop her from a quirky but friendly woman into Wonder Woman's most notorious villain. Now, out of everything that happened in this movie, I honestly think this is what they did the best job of. I was able to follow the character arc throughout the film very easily, while also not making it too obvious or taking over the plot. They also added some really cool foreshadowing with Diana wearing cheetah print heels and Barbara (Cheetah) complimenting them. I also thought that the contrast between Diana and Barbara was really well done. On one hand you have a character who was born with superhuman powers, part human and part god, who only cares about helping people and stopping what she considers to be evil. On the other hand, you have an equally friendly character who has been born awkward and wants to be as strong and charismatic as the hero. It reminds me a lot of the dynamic in the Harry Potter book series in that the key to Harry's heroism is that he doesn't want to be the chosen one. He simply is.
Now, before I get into any real spoilers, I'd like to say that it was very fun watching Chris Pine's character learn that he was in 1984. I think Pine did a really nice job of that.
Okay, now for some spoilers, and this section is mainly going to be about Pedro Pascal's character, Max Lord. I will admit that I didn't know much about his character going into the movie, but after reading about him following my viewing, I don't think any prior knowledge would have helped. Max's character is extremely confusing to me in this movie. I understand that he consumes the power of the wishing rock and therefore becomes the rock, but there is a scene in which his son accidentally makes a wish, and wishes for his father's greatness, and it is really quite confusing and unclear what exactly happens after that. My other complaint about Max is that I really don't think he deserves any sort of redemption arc at the end of the movie. Essentially he becomes worried that his son is going to be caught in the crossfire of the worldwide nuclear war that he caused directly, so he renounces his wish to become the stone, which I guess overrides everyone else's wish? That part is also not explained super well. Max then reunites with his son, who tells him that he will always love him just because he's his dad. It's a nice moment if you forget that this man literally just INTENTIONALLY brought about the apocalypse completely of his own will without any higher power corrupting him. That kind of character does not need a redemption arc in my opinion, and the movie gives absolutely zero explanation for it.
A plot I thought they did do relatively nicely was Diana's loss of powers. I actually didn't quite know what was going on at first, but they did a really nice job hinting at, and then explaining that the stone grants your wish in exchange for your most prized possession (which can be a personality trait). Essentially Diana wishes for Steve back in exchange for her powers, and has to make the very predictable choice of giving up Steve to save the world (again). This allows them to play with the idea of Diana actually being selfish for once, which I thought was a really interesting mini plot. I will say that the way she renounced the wish was a bit anticlimactic. It's talked about for what seems like 20 minutes only for her to say under her breath "I renounce my wish" and instantly unlocks her full potential of godly powers including flight and electrokinesis.
The final battle between Cheetah and WW is pretty cool, except that it's really really dark, which makes it slightly hard to see at times. I don't know for sure, but it sounds to me like the Cheetah theme is some sort of opposite or adjusted WW theme and that was really cool to me. We see a cool role reversal from the intro scene, with Diana reiterating the lesson that her trainer taught her, using the same move to control Cheetah that her trainer used to reel her in during the contest.
Like I said at the beginning of the blog, this was a fun movie for me to watch, as almost any superhero movie is for me. I would absolutely recommend it to people who generally like superhero movies, but go into the movie with the expectation to just have fun. This isn't a life changing movie by any means, but it is entertaining and you get some cool scenes and funny moments.
p.s. there's a really cool mid-credit scene for anyone that grew up with the original Wonder Woman show
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