ironhorse_iv Review of Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Oh Lord! What Happen? Wonder Woman 1984 sure could had been so much better. It's only semi entertaining.

[6/10 · 26 April 2021]

Be careful for what you wish for HBO MAX. This sequel about one of the world's most famous superheroine kinda divide your audiences when it came to your streaming platform. Based on the DC Comics character of the same name by Dr. William Moulton Marston, the Warner Bros film from director Patty Jenkins has one of the weirdest saving the world concepts ever put onto the big screen. Instead of fighting off evil gods like the previous movie, aliens from 2017's 'Justice League' and criminal masterminds such as those in 2016's 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'; Jenkins has Diana Prince AKA Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) go against everybody wishes, in order to stop total chaos in the 1980s. What a surreal, but interesting watch. It's like many goofy clown cars getting into a wreck. You can't help staring at how bizarre everything is. A guilty pleasure for the most part. Even if the opening Ancient Olympic-like games went so long and play very little to the plot. The mall robbery for the Dreamstone McGuffin should had been the first thing we see. Regardless the tone for that action scene is so fluffy cheesy that I kinda wish it was taken a little more seriously. The over-the-top silliness made it hard to believe that these events take place in the same world as the previous flick or any of the future timeline dark gritty DC Extended Universe films. After all it does beg the question, why the near disaster events of this film were never heavily talk about before and why nobody still didn't know who Wonder Woman was during the start of 2016's 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' in-story? Seriously, I think the overall story would make more sense if was the two Jenkins films were left along separate from the canon of the Zack Snyder cinema-verse. There would be too many jarring questions if not. Nevertheless, most of the action sequences besides the first two openers got better as the movie went on as the chaos started to add on due to Maxwell Lord's (Pedro Pascal) undoing. The desert car chase and the White House fist fight are good examples. Using CGI and practical, traditional special effects with stunt performer work semi well. Being honest here, I didn't really notice the child-like dummies during the first time watching. Really. If there, a worthy few nitpicks about the later action sequences, it would have to be the disappointing over preachy 'Greed is bad; struggle is good' message during the climax along with pitch darkness fight that equally as annoying due to how hard to see it was. Thank goodness, not all the action took place in the night. Still, I would have love to know what any of this has to do with George Orwell's most famous book and why the film used part of it as the title. More exposition on that please. Nevertheless, I also dislike the way Diana's new powers like turning things invisible or flying with pointless armor wings are introduced out of nowhere with very little exposition how she gained them. Along with the leap of logic that came along with it such as amount of travel time, energy intake and extreme inside knowledge of the characters. It's quite worse than the first movie like it comes to that. Then there is the reincarnation of a dead love one-swap subplot. I really couldn't get into the idea that both Diana and Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) were risking the well-being of some bloke body! It gets worse as they also boned using that same vessel without his permission. Because of that the romantic elements and chemistry in this sequel felt dirty, exploitation and wrong. To add onto that, the whole rebirth moments really come out of nowhere with a proper hello and disappears just as unabrupt without a solid goodbye. Nevertheless, I didn't really mind too much of the reverse fish out of water tale between their characters. As it's Trevor turns to get used to then modern life. It was quite funny. However, Steve's unearthly ability to fly a jet engine plane full of fuel just in time to intersect Maxwell in the Middle East who left days earlier, but not able to understand the single means of a trash can is really mind-boggling stupid. Regardless the two performers really put it all out in the comedy, stunt work and dramatic. Along with that, the two thespians playing the villains were equally as an impressive. Especially Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva. Her character's metamorphosis into the antagonist was well executed. Likewise, I didn't mind that Pascal was over the top hammy. There was certainly some charm. The end credit cameo was also a nice touch. As for the soundtrack. While it's not as epic and intense as the first movie; the music is very listenable for its choice of 1980s vibes and tunes. Plus, Hans Zimmer's theme score is still iconic. Overall: After several release date changes caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, it's nice to see it finally come out. While not as good as the first movie. The weird choices the sequel makes this a must watch.