Wonder Woman 1984 is the latest film from the DCEU, The most peculiar franchise of modern times. don't get me wrong folks I'm actually a huge DC fan huge fan of the comics big huge fan of their animated movies as a matter of fact I think their animated universe would actually out beat the MCU any day of the week but when it comes to their live-action things get a little weird. mostly everyone enjoyed the very first Wonder Woman movie even myself but then again, it's easy to enjoy something that is just a carbon copy of something else.
Salty truth time folks we like the first Wonder Woman movie because we also like Captain America the first Avenger give me a moment to explain. both movies are told in the past tense both of them take place in a war that involves Germany, both have our main character surrounded by a ragtag group of soldiers and their love interest, both films have two antagonists one being an evil doctor the other one being a tyrannical dictator with mystical power and the coup de grace both movies have a character named Steve played by a guy named Chris that sacrifices himself in a plane.
But hey, it's all good!
Wonder Woman 84 gives the chance to do something original and I was here for it even though this film takes place in 1984 so we know that the world isn't in trouble or will Diana make it out we already know that because we've seen her in 2016 but it doesn't mean a good time can't be had. Now my first time watching this film maybe it's been the sourness of 2020 that had me scolding it profusely so I called myself down and gave another watch it's OK at best and it's horrible at worst but let's talk about Wonder Woman 84.
I'd like to start off with actually one of the stronger points about the film the cast. one of our antagonists is Maxwell Lord played by Pedro Pascal. Pascal who is currently crushing it Entertainment wise he's the Mandalorian also has a kids film on Netflix and my first time seeing him was about two years ago when another piece on Netflix called Narcos but the guys having a stellar year and in this film is Maxwell Lord he plays an 80s Ponzi scheme executive who ends up finding his way into the possession of a mystical stone that grants people wishes and he wished for the powers of the stone so that he's the one granting wishes while at the same time taking something from each person who grants a wish.
His performance is spot-on in the beginning of course, he comes off as a silver-tongued televangelist this performance is really top notch I have no issues. the second antagonist is cheetah play by Saturday Night Live alumni Kristen Wiig our character begins in the film as a nerdy undesirable woman who eventually wishes that she was more like her coworker Diana who we all know was Wonder Woman and as she gains wonder woman's powers she Begins to lose her humanity her kindness her sweetness. I'm not going to lie I was actually blown away by her performance actually I knew she could act but everything just really worked well with her.
Chris Pine return to Steve Trevor he's actually wished back to life through Diana and Chris Pine is a great actor he does a good job not really much to say there. but then there comes the main star Gal Gadot I think we all need to come to terms with this Gal Gadot cannot act. Now visually she has got Wonder Woman down no doubt no arguments. But when it comes to her acting I think she's horrible and to check myself I searched the media to look at other performances. Which are far apart and even in the fast and furious franchise her character was more relied on for looks than actually talking and I actually re-watched the episode of Saturday Night Live where she was the host and participated in you know the sketches it's just as bad as when they have athletes on there only problem is athletes aren't good actors. unless you're watching the World Cup but that's a story for a different day. Then to add There hasn't been a large demand for her to work outside of her recent acceptance of playing Cleopatra which is another issue. but if you look at the rest of the actors in and around the Justice League you see everyone still doing work Jason Momoa had about four or five projects, Henry Cavill currently got about 3 projects, Ezra Miller has been on several projects and we're still waiting for a Flash movie, Ben Affleck has been fired and rehired twice since then. Seriously she brings down every scene she can't really express emotions I honestly think that she needs to be recasted I'm sure there is someone out there that can do this job.
Also, the writing is very inconsistent. in this film the powers are supposed to be you make a wish it's granted and something is taken from you, that's the deal. but when it came to Wonder Woman's wish it got very strange she wished for Steve to come back from the dead. and he does but with a very odd stipulation when he looked in the mirror he was actually the face of some other guy apparently he took over the guys body the rest of the world sees that guy but Wonder Woman only sees Steve which raises a lot of concerns what happened to the guy whose body that is why is she perfectly OK with that why does the wish work like that. because later in the film Max Lord is in another country and this guy wishes for a large wall to divide the countries (hint hint) And boom a large wall appears no explanation, not a fake illusion it just seems like her wish was done half assed. ( It's also kind of weird that she lays down and has sex with what's remotely an actual complete stranger but with the mind of her ex-boyfriend)
The one thing that I can say that was absolutely beautiful about this film was the opening sequence the opening sequences of flashbacks up to when Diana was 11 years old or something as she was competing in this big Ninja warrior like obstacle course on the island. an in this 11-minute sequence young Diana tries to take a shortcut and is pulled from winning the match and is taught not to cheat do the work which is the overall theme of the movie. I can say with confidence that was conveyed They gave that overall end of the episode lesson that I can only assume was from Geoff Johns writing since he is one of the collaborators on this film. Being that the movie takes place in 1984 there’s an overall 80s era cheese to it. It's not an immersive experience like watching stranger things it feels more like you and your family are sitting down and watching Wonder Woman on television and I believe that's the vibe they were going for.
Speaking of vibes This film also took a very different toll in the direction of Wonder Woman in all other mediums she's miss independent doesn't really need a man, In this case, we have a woman who has been mourning a man for 70 years never dated again barely socializes and when she actually gets her love back she loses her powers. Eventually she remembers her lesson from when she was a child realized that cheating is wrong with her cheating with life so she renounce her wish and gets her powers back and Steve goes bye-bye I'm not going to bring up Steve too much here because just like most of his scenes it just eats up a lot of time that can be put towards something better.
I think all the action sequences were really great. I think the mall scene was actually really funny for good and bad reasons but I believe I can chalk it all up to that 80s cheesiness they were going for. the chase scene in the desert was actually really cool beautiful, beautiful, beautiful CGI work is done even the raising of the CGI wall was actually really cool. The fight scene in the White House so we actually got Kristen Wiig going toe to toe with Gal Gadot was kind of cool I really liked it especially with the way they were slowly building up cheetahs reveal. but then cheetah actually revealed herself at the end and it was a letdown. I can't really tell you how disappointing it was because they really don't let you see it they made sure the scene takes place at night so you don't really get a great look at cheetah but what you do see looks like ***t. Their fight scene was a CGI Merry-go-round on this lasso that maybe lasts two minutes.
Also, Wonder Woman uses the lasso of truth to like web-slinging in the sky catching lightning bolts, and swinging with it which is some very new **** to me I don't know if it's new the all that's what the comment section is for let me know. but the one thing that really was weird she never learned how to fly until talking to Trevor about it. There's also a sequence where they steal a jet from a museum and she randomly has this ability to turn stuff invisible and that's how we got the invisible jet also this jet was a close to modern-day jet for the 80s that somehow Steve was able to pilot despite the last time him flying in the air was in World War One. Some of this stuff could be 80s cheese but The other half is either poor writing or poor execution or a combination of both perhaps just Johns and Patty Jenkins are both competent in their own right and Geoff Johns has worked on almost every DC property there's ever been for at least the last 15 years. Is this a hit or a miss for DC? I think just by the skin of their teeth it's a hit in my opinion but doesn't matter what I think the studios have already greenlit a third Wonder Woman movie with Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot at the helm with any luck this one is going to take place in the mid 90s and Wonder Woman tries to save biggie smalls from getting shot or they could try and tell a modern story and hope for the best.
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