The fatal flaw in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) is that it isn’t Wonder Woman (2017). The Gal Gadot iteration of the DC character is a victim of her own success, as WW84 doesn’t feel special, which the first film did, but instead feels like another installment in the neverending superhero movie deluge.
(Editor’s note: I think that being scared of spoilers is generally silly, as we all know how narratives work… especially paint-by-numbers narratives like superhero movies. However, this movie makes some batshit choices, so I will warn you this one time: SPOILERS AHEAD).
To be clear, WW84 is every bit as good (bad) as Captain America: Civil War (2016) or Iron Man 2 (2010), and even its muddiest, dimly lit moments are more lively than any scene in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
But I’m sick of treating superhero movies like they are some kind of institution separate from the rest of moviedom. That cultist isolationism (elitism? corporatism? disneyism? it’s some megacorp markting shit of some kind) is exhausting. So for the rest of this review, I’m not doing that.
WW84 is more fun than a bunch of movies that I saw this year. It’s also miles worse than many other movies that I saw. But it doesn’t work as a standalone movie, and all of its emotional beats work because of the groundwork laid in the previous film.
And slathered over the good parts (Kristen Wiig, the Gadot/Pine chemistry, any time WW gets to fight) are some baffling writing choices. Off the top of my head:
- Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) returns to life by possessing the body of a local man, and Diana is fine with it.
- Diana has pined for Steve for 70 years (like, her apartment is full of pictures of him and there is even a picture of her standing on his family’s ranch), and her one true wish was to be with him again.
- Maxwell Lord’s Wishmaster schtick is confusing and the resolution of it is a dud. His whole “MORE. MORE. MORE.” mentality should have been a narrative deterrent for WW (making her choose between pursuing him or saving a kid on a high ledge, for instance), but it instead led to one decent car chase and a fight with schlubby guards at the White House.
- Barbara and Diana don’t have enough friendship or history to feel like foils. They are basically mild inconveniences to each other.
The WW/Cheetah relationship is where the movie could have been great. Wonder Woman gives up her divinity to feel more human (i.e., to bring back Steve). Barbara Minerva/Cheetah gives up her humanity to feel more divine (i.e., to be powerful, to be noticed). This mirroring should have been the focus of the film, but it is only sprinkled throughout.
Overall, the movie isn’t as bad as the gossip would lead you to believe, but it very much feels like a perfunctory sequel in a massive multiplatform corporate machine. You could do worse things with your time, but you can also do a lot better.
Without even changing apps, HBO Max has The Maltese Falcon, Wonder Woman, The Righteous Gemstones, Deadwood, Barry, Veep, and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.