Into the DC Murderverse: "Wonder Woman 1984"

 "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020)

The first "Wonder Woman" is the best Murderverse film that has been released, so I had high expectations for the follow-up. Unfortunately, "Wonder Woman 1984" was scheduled for release in 2020 and we all know how that turned out. After multiple delays, it was announced that along with a theatrical release, the movie would premiere on HBO Max. Due to being released in the midst of the pandemic, pre-vaccine, "Wonder Woman 1984" did well enough to earn a sequel, that will hopefully be set in the present day.

Principal photography on "Wonder Woman 1984" began in June2018 and wrapped in December 2018 with additional filming taking place in July 2019. The film stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva/The Cheetah, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord, Robin Wright as Antiope and Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta. The film was written by Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham. It was directed by Patty Jenkins. "Wonder Woman 1984" was released on December 25, 2020.

Wonder Woman runs like Tom Cruise.

I need to start off by saying that just based on the content, "Wonder Woman 1984" should be one of, if not my favorite of the DCEU movies. Wonder Woman is my favorite DC character. The first "Wonder Woman" movie is my favorite DC movie. I am a sucker for anything '80's. That could be why I was probably a lot easier on this movie when it first came out than I was when I re-watched it. I remember when I watched it, I liked it? But, it was 2020, there had been no Marvel movies. I hadn't been to a theater since March of 2020. I was desperate. I would have liked anything. I probably would have liked "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" had it been released during the pandemic. No, that's a lie. I still would have hated that movie. Watching it again, almost 2 years later, the movies glaring deficiencies are super clear.

One of the biggest problems with "Wonder Woman 1984" is the time period that it is set in. The movie is filled with cliches that were prevalent in film and tv at the time. This wouldn't be a problem if Jenkins and her co-writers took these cliches and subverted them somehow. Turned them on their head. Brought them into the modern world. But they don't do any of that. They are just there. And the movie writes the characters so they behave in ways that they wouldn't usually. It's not great.

That armor is dope.

It's probably best that we tackle the most problematic portion of the movie head on. When the wishing stone comes into play, Diana wishes that Steve Trevor, her dead lover, would return to her. And he does. He could have returned in any way possible. He could have just appeared. This is a superhero movie. They could have literally done anything. Instead they have Steve take over the body of a man who doesn't even get a name. In the credits, he's billed just as "Handsome Man." He basically has zero control over what he does and Diana ends up sleeping with him. So, Wonder Woman basically sexually assaults someone. It's pretty awful. Patty Jenkins explained that this plot device was a take on the body switching trope that a log of 80's movies employed. I mean, that's all fine and good, but there is no body swap here. It's unclear where "Handsome Man" goes when he's being possessed by Steve. I think had they not shown Diana and Steve post coitus it would have been a little more palatable. Still icky but way less rape-y. Diana tries to explain it away by saying that when she looks at Handsome Man, all she sees is Steve, but that doesn't make it any better.

The '80's "hits" keep on coming when Kristen Wiig's, Barbara Minerva, is introduced. In the comics, Minerva is a friend of Diana's who also envies her. She ends up making a deal with a plant deity called Urzkartaga, who grants her the power of the Cheetah. Well, that origin doesn't really fit with Patty Jenkins 1980's fever dream fantasy. Minerva is the typical '80's nerdy woman. She's portrayed as being frumpy and dowdy and unattractive because she wears glasses and her clothes are baggy. As soon as she makes her wish to become more like Diana, she loses the glasses, buys a tight dress and OH MY GOD can you believe it?! She's gorgeous. Again, this could have been subverted into something entertaining but that's really all it is. Minerva morphing into the Cheetah is kind of inconsequential too. When she makes her wish to become an apex predator and unlike anyone else it feels like she becomes the Cheetah because she happened to be wearing a lot of cheetah print at the time.

The entire plot of the movie is basically an '80's cliche. In the '80's there were a lot of wish fulfillment movie. A lot of times they included a monkey's paw or some other sort of mystical object. Maxwell Lord gets ahold of the Maguffin, wishes it inside him and chaos ensues. It's just a cheap, lazy plot device and it certainly doesn't justify the film's two and a half hour running time.

These are modern effects...

I could forgive a lot of this if the character work is on point, but these characters are almost unrecognizable from the original movie. One of the best things about the original "Wonder Woman" was how firm a grasp that Jenkins had on Diana. But it feels like all of that was thrown out the window so she could write a "romantic" movie where Diana simps for a man that died 40 years ago to the point where she's willing to give up her powers and let the world burn as long as he doesn't die again. Even though he's in the body of an unwilling man. This is so far from who Diana is. Yes, she believes in love and would grieve her loss of Steve, but would she shelter herself away from everyone? Avoid connecting with anyone? Absolutely not. It's the complete antithesis of her character. Diana is all about connecting and learning and assimilating into Man's World. She wouldn't allow the world to go to shit. She wouldn't give up the powers that she worked so hard for. The entire point of the prologue on Themyscira was to show that there are no shortcuts in life, but apparently Diana didn't learn that? 

Wonder Woman doesn't start acting like herself until she renounces her wish and Steve heads back to wherever he was before he came back from the dead. The part of the movie that I enjoyed the most was the end. Rather than knocking Maxwell Lord around, Diana did something very Wonder Woman. She basically talked Lord down. She used her compassion to convince Lord to renounce everything to save the world. It was probably the most in character that Diana acted throughout the entire film. 

Another thing that could have made this movie a little bit more enjoyable would be if the action scenes were a little better. Wonder Woman doesn't make a ton of appearances in this movie and when she does the action scenes are a lackluster. There are a few things I enjoyed. I liked that they used the Lasso of Truth more. I enjoyed Wonder Woman using her her tiara as a boomerang to take out the security cameras in the mall. But man, the other two big action setpieces in Cairo and then the fight against Cheetah are super lame. For the Cairo scenes and the White House, it doesn't help matters that Diana is losing her powers and so isn't able to be as impressive as she should be in a movie she's headlining. The fight with the Cheetah is super short and is hindered by the shoddy CG work on Cheetah. 

Wow. What a dog.

I honestly really hate dogging this movie out. I really wanted to love it and was really hopeful it would be good. I think I'll end this talking about the prologue which I really enjoyed. It takes place on Themyscira with Young Diana taking part in a contest of champions filled with Amazon warriors much older than she is. The actress who plays Young Diana is amazing and it was great seeing her back along with Hippolyta and Antiope. This was definitely unnecessary and was just an excuse to have some Amazon action but I'll forgive it because it was really thrilling and was so gorgeously shot.

I'm really glad that enough people streamed and saw "Wonder Woman 1984" to warrant there being a third film. Gadot has been vocal about wanting the next movie to be set in the present and I think it's a great idea. This is not what anyone wants the last "Wonder Woman" film to be.

Next up, James Gunn returns to Earth to take over "The Suicide Squad."

What do you all think? Anything you loved that I'm missing? Anything you disliked I didn't mention? Let me know in the comments.