Sequels to comic book films are often proven to be either hit-or-miss efforts with only a handful living up to the legacy of their predecessors, while the rest either pale in comparison or flat out misfire with their intentions. These above average superhero sequels range anywhere from being Superman ll to X2: X-Men United, Spiderman 2, and The Dark Knight with Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman 1984 hoping to be added to the list. Released in 2017, the original Wonder Woman film also directed by Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot, ended up becoming the biggest film of the summer it was released as well as garnering critical acclaim from both critics and audiences. Three years later and a total of five delayed releases, the much anticipated sequel to the original smash hit finally see's its release split with it both premiering on HBO Max as well as being released in theaters with the split decision being made due to the recent surge of Covid-19 cases. Reuniting Gadot and Jenkins with Chris Pine returning as Steve Trevor from the original (Fans have to see the film to understand his characters return, though they'll still be scratching their heads afterwards), the trio continue the story they left off with the newest sequel now spawning a 1984 timeline with newer villains played by 2016's Ghostbusters Kristen Wiig and Star Wars: Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal. The sequel looks and feels bigger than the original film in terms of scope with the overall experience feeling like an overloaded effort despite being extremely fun and entertaining to watch. Wonder Woman 1984 isn't as strong of a film as its predecessor nor comes close to beating it, but it has many things going for it which make it a decent effort and certainly not worthy of the extreme divisive reception that the film has received since it's Christmas Day premiere.
Picking up where the first film left off with the story now taking place in the 1980's era, the plot for Wonder Woman 1984 focuses on the superpowered Amazonian warrior Diana (Played once again by Gal Gadot) now finding herself facing off against two enemies: The first being a manipulative and greedy conman named Maxwell Lord (Played by Pedro Pascal), whose determined to rule the world by manipulating an ancient relic which grants wishes to people with the second being a timid geologist (Played by Kristen Wiig), who desires to be a strong, sexy, and powerful woman with her wish ultimately coming true. The plot for Wonder Woman 1984 aims to separate itself from the original film in order to do its own thing, while remaining loosely connected to it. Both films feel different in tone with the first Wonder Woman taking a more serious approach with its World War l setting, while incorporating moments of humor. The first worked so well because of how it introduced its main character to audiences, along with doing a solid job of bringing Wonder Woman's origin story to the big screen in a fashion that felt thrilling with Gadot's charismatic performance adding something special to the film. It's arguably one of the best comic book origin stories ever brought to the screen in a vein similar to Superman: The Movie, Batman Begins, and the first Iron Man with its quality still holding up three years later. With Wonder Woman, Jenkins put her full craftsmanship as a filmmaker on display with her also managing to give the story a tremendous amount of heart, that made audiences connect with it. Her efforts once again shine in the sequel with it maintaining much of the heart that made the first film such a welcomed surprise for audiences, but ultimately feels as if it desires to have too much all at once. Despite offering enough escapism and solid popcorn entertainment, the newest film doesn't feel as straight-forward nor focused as the first in terms of both narrative and story-structure with the sequel feeling like a step back for the dynamic female acting and directing pair. Despite the films issues, 1984 still manages to provide audiences with a heroine that remains unquestionably inspiring, as well as being one that's desperately needed currently. The character of Wonder Woman nor Gadot's performance never becomes a primary issue with the film, it's the story itself as well as the creative choices regarding the villains that ultimately make it a less satisfying experience in comparison to its predecessor, but still proves to be a worthy follow-up to its 2017 predecessor.
One of the films key aspects that make it work are the strong charismatic performances of its main cast with Gal Gadot once again giving her all in a role she was born to play. She demonstrates herself to be a fantastic choice for the part of Diana with her bringing a great deal of energy to her role. Gadot embodies many of Wonder Woman's traits, which makes her performance compelling to watch with her conveying a great deal of emotion this time around. Her performance is key to both films working as well as they do as she helps to give the store, as well as the film both its heart and soul. Regardless of how one feels about the film as a whole, it can be said that Gadot's performance here is one of the films greatest strengths, as well as serving as the glue that holds it together. Chris Pine once again delivers both a fun and likable performance as Steve Trevor with him continuing to share phenomenal chemistry with Gadot. The two are truly a great match up for both films with their chemistry once again being right on the money. Whereas Gadot and Pine are reliable with their performances, it's the newcomers that end up stealing the show this time around with Kristen Wiig giving an impressive performance as gemologist Barbara Minerva/Cheetah, who befriends Diana before receiving mystical abilities which ultimately transform her into Cheetah. Wiig is stunning here and draws comparisons to both Michelle Pfeiffer's role as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Batman Returns, as well as Jamie Foxx as Elektro in The Amazing Spiderman 2 (Though her characters transformation is more convincing and believable). She does well with making her character come across as appearing envious of Diana's strength and elegance as a female, along with her character being both sympathetic and ultimately misguided when she makes the inevitable switch to becoming Cheetah. Pedro Pascal also delivers a strong performance as Maxwell Lord, the films main antagonist whose a struggling yet charismatic businessman who acquires the mythical Dreamstone and uses it for both personal gain and power with him absorbing its abilities after wishing to become the stones living form. Pascal's performance here is extremely effective despite often falling within the category of being campy. He gets the misleading and greedy businessman role nailed down with him delivering the right amount of charisma the character requires in order to be convincing. Pascal's villain draws instant comparisons to Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor in Richard Donor's Superman along with teaspoons of Michael Douglas Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone's Wall Street and Donald J. Trump added to the mix. Regardless of how audiences feel about Maxwell Lord's character arc in the film, Pascal delivers with his performance as a villain who gives audiences glimpses of his potential to be both a dangerous and scary individual with him stealing every scene he's in along with Wiig. The rest of the films supporting cast give noteworthy performances with returning faces from the original such as Robin Wright Penn and Connie Nielsen shining once again as Diana's aunt and general of the Amazonian army Antiope, and Nielsen as Diana's mother and the queen of Themyscira Hippolyta. Like the first Wonder Woman film, the sequel thrives in the acting department with the main cast delivering fantastic performances. The returning faces from the original once again shine with them not appearing to miss a beat with playing their parts with the new additions to the cast delivering scene-stealing performances. The acting remains one of the most important elements of the Wonder Woman franchise with everyone appearing to take their roles seriously, along with appearing to have a great dose of energy and excitement playing them. Gadot once again manages to immerse herself into the role of playing the Amazonian warrior, while showing that literally no one else (With the exception of Lynda Carter) can play the part and do it the utmost justice. Her performance is key to the films working as well as they do with everyone else building off that level of enthusiasm and commitment.
Retaining the directors chair once again after her surprise work on the first film is Patty Jenkins. She continues the story of Diana from where the first film leaves off with the timeline once again rewinding to the 1980's era. What made Jenkins directing so impressive with the first Wonder Woman was how epic she managed to make Diana's origin story feel. It was a feeling that was similar to the one that both Richard Donnor gave with Superman: The Movie and Christopher Nolan with Batman Begins. With watching the first Wonder Woman, one felt that they were experiencing the birth of a hero/heroine with the end leaving them both enthusiastic, as well as excited about the inevitable sequel. With 1984, Jenkins appears to have a larger budget to work off as both the scope and production values of the sequel look and feel bigger than the original. The cinematography remains breathtaking to watch once again even if the action sequences appear to have an over reliance on CGI, giving audiences the impression that Zack Snyder stepped in to direct a few sequences himself. Both the films costume and set designs help to give audience the illusion that they're in 1984 with these characters, while providing them with moments of nostalgia regarding the era. The score by Hans Zimmer however, serves as being a mixed bag with him once again delivering work that's appealing but lacks the impact of the first films score such as the audience hearing Wonder Woman's theme kick in during the iconic No Mans Land sequence. His work here isn't bad by any means, it just doesn't standout like the score for the first film, although there's plenty of nice emotional moments that Zimmer helps drive with his work. Whereas Wonder Woman 1984 looks stunning visually, it's main technical problems lie within its over reliance of CGI, as well as its pacing issues. The latter makes the film feels as if it takes far too long for both the story and action to finally get off the ground with the editing making the overall film feel too steadily paced for it to retain ones excitement throughout its excessive 151 minute running time. The films use of visual effects also doesn't feel as impressive nor as restrained as the first with much of that films realism being thrown out the window here as Wonder Woman is shown to do both leaps and sequences of flying, which make it feel closer to Snyder's work on Man Of Steel and Batman V Superman moreso than the first Wonder Woman despite the latter's third act (Which even Jenkins to this day claims the studio forced her to upgrade the climax from being a small-scale finale to a big finish). It also doesn't help that both Cheetah's makeup and CGI effects don't come across as being fully convincing. Patty Jenkins work here isn't bad and comes across as being a fairly strong effort overall, but it also doesn't appear to be as skillfully nor carefully crafted as her work on the original. She still appears to be very much excited about telling Diana's story, but it doesn't feel as if the same amount of effort that went into the original is present here. One can clearly tell that she's a strong filmmaker in regards to storytelling with her ability to direct some of the films key emotional sequences regarding Diana reuniting with Steve Trevor, as well as other pivotal moments with both Maxwell and Cheetah. The films opening sequence is well-executed despite it feeling overlong, though the mall sequence afterwards feels a bit excessive in regards to both lighting and CGI. One hopes that Jenkins puts alittle more time and effort into making both the story and visuals feel more natural for Wonder Woman 3 as one still wants her to return and finish off the story both her and Gadot introduced to audience three years prior.
Whereas Wonder Woman 1984 carried a few glaring issues in regards to its technical side, the films biggest problems lie with its screenplay which often feels overstuffed with issues that come across as being problematic. Co-written by Jenkins with Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham from a story by Johns and Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 feels like a completely different film than it's predecessor despite having many connections to it. Some of the themes that the sequel explores are ones that pertain to greed, popularity, and deception as evidenced by the character of Maxwell Lord, courage which Diana demonstrates continuously without hesitation in helping others, love, lust and loneliness with her attempting to move on from the loss of her great love Steve Trevor, both jealously and envy with Barbara's character wanting to be as strong, dynamic, and desirable as Diana, and ultimately sacrifice as Diana must give up her one wish in order to save the world even if it means not being able to have Steve in her life. The message that the script for Wonder Woman 1984 aspires to drive home to audiences is one which says that nothing good is born from lies, and that people should be careful what they wish for because everything comes with a price. The screenplay for 1984 has many concepts and themes that make for an interesting story, the problem that the film runs into is its desire to have everything with the overall story-structure and narrative feeling less focused than the first in comparison. Some of the scripts glaring issues are how much emphasis the story places on Steve Trevor with Wonder Woman's character spending a great deal of time grieving and being emotional over Steve with both getting to the point of being overkill for the audience. Another main problem with the script is how Steve Trevor's character returns with him essentially inheriting the body of another person with Diana ending up both falling in love with and becoming connected with Steve again through that person with the audience not knowing anything of that character again until the end. The films opening scene, despite being thrilling to watch, feels a bit pointless in regards to the rest of the film with its only main connection to the rest of the story being a moral lesson that young Diana receives in regards to cheating during her game, which serves as being a foreshadowing of both Wiig's arc as well as Lords. While the sequence itself isn't bad and serves as being a strong opening for the story, it carries no real purpose other than showing audiences the Amazon again outside of that bit. The script makes an interesting choice to humanize the main villains, but the problem lies that it takes far too long for both Maxwell and Barbara to switch into their respective roles in the story. The switch that Barbara's character experiences in switching over to Cheetah is effective though happens so late in the story, that audiences don't get to see a whole lot of her in her new form. Diana's screen time as Wonder Woman also suffers due to her subplot with Steve with her only suiting up for a total of ten minutes max in the film. It's fair to say that the films script has a Steve Trevor problem that often feels as if it holds Diana's character back, despite it being nice to see the two together on the big screen again with Trevor helping Wonder Woman fight Maxwell Lord. The latter is given an arc that makes his character appear rather confusing to the audience in regards to whether the film wants him to be an official villain, or a greedy and misguided businessman who wants to have unlimited power but is made humane again through the love his son constantly shows him throughout the film. One can see the writers efforts to go full on Killmonger from Black Panther with the main antagonists wanting the audience to understand their perspectives, as well as step into their shoes but it doesn't work quite as well here. The script for Wonder Woman 1984 is a culmination of thoughtful and interesting ideas such as what would the world look like if everyone got their greatest wish with the obvious answer being that it would be chaotic as some would want peace, while others would want more power and greed. The films moral play on people choosing good over evil is an interesting one that goes in line with what these characters are experiencing and both fighting for and against. The problem with the script which ends up being its single greatest issue, is the film isn't quite sure what it wants to be in regards to whether it desires to be looked at with a serious lense or fun-spirited camp with a noteworthy and heartfelt message.
A lot has been said about the newest entry in the popular Wonder Woman series with many calling it a massive disappointment in comparison to the first film, and rating it as the worst DCEU film on IMDB. In all honesty, it's not that bad of a film nor even comes close to being the worst film in the DC universe. Wonder Woman 1984 is flawed but still manages to be both a solid effort and a worthy sequel to its far superior original ultimately. While it misses the mark of being the rare superhero sequel that outdoes the original, there's still much about the film that works as being extremely entertaining despite its faults. Gadot's performance as Diana is a true delight to watch with her managing to embody the same kind of humanity and spirit that Christopher Reeves brought to the role of Superman or Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther. Where Wonder Woman 1984 succeeds at and does so very effectively, is giving audiences a heroine that's much desired in 2020, as well as a symbol of hope that things can and will get better. Perhaps the film didn't need a rewind back to the 1980's timeline and could've been told in a more contemporary setting, which might've made it feel less campy and more serious like the first. Maybe bringing back Steve Trevor once again in an awkward fashion, was an unnecessary move that claimed too much time with the story and kept Diana from doing more as Wonder Woman, along with slowing both Barbara's and Maxwell's transformations into the figures comic book fans know them as. While these may very much be the key issues that keep the sequel from being on the same level as its predecessor, they don't make the film a failure and still provide the film with enough charm and heart to make it a worthwhile experience that serves as being solid popcorn entertainment. Hopefully the next installment in the Wonder Woman series brings the story to a more modern setting along with playing off its shockingly amazing end credits scene, that'll unquestionably excite and thrill audiences who were letdown by the film prior. Wonder Woman 1984 doesn't fully reclaim the glory of its predecessor in regards to overall quality, but it still manages to be an honorable effort with its heart in the right place. It just needed a little more clarity on what exactly it was aspiring to be.
Final Verdict: Fans of Wonder Woman as well as comic book fans in general will be split on their feelings towards the newest sequel, but there's more positives within it to behold compared to negatives.
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