Ryan Shoots First: Wonder Woman 1984

No matter what your thoughts on the process, Wonder Woman 1984 ushers in a new era of the movie experience. This new world we are all adjusting to has accelerated what many thought was a dying theatre experience. While nothing beats seeing a big budget film in the theatre it seems to just not be the go to experience for the majority of the public. Warner Brothers shook up the industry, and pissed off Christopher Nolan, when they announced starting with Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas day their entire slate of films in 2021 will be premiering for free on HBO Max the same day as theaters. Films like Godzilla vs. Kong and Suicide Squad that would anchor their summer season will now bolster a pretty loaded HBO Max platform. 

So that brings us back to Wonder Woman 84, that for better or worse will go down as a defining moment in cinema for sure. For all of the criticism DC has taken for it’s cinematic Snyder Era Wonder Woman has arguably been the thing they have handled the best. I noted back when the original came out that it was a better Superman story than the Superman story they told. Wonder Woman 1984 feels like a love letter to the early Donner Superman film. The opulence of the 80’s and the Golden Age  feel all remind me of a different kind of Super Hero film than what we have come to expect and especially what Warner Bros. has given us in this DC-verse. Gal Gadot once again reprises her role as Diana and again while her story is still developing, set before we saw her debut in Batman v Superman, she still is the most confident and sure of herself than many of her male counterparts in the universe. She is finding her place in this human world but helping those who need it and use of her abilities is not in question. She is joined by Pedro Pascal as the Oil Tycoon/80’s “You can dream it you can achieve it” TV personality Maxwell Lord, Comedian turned human Cheetah, Kristin Wiig playing Barbara Minerva and back from the dead, Chris Pine as Steve Trevor. That’s right, due to some ancient relic that can grant wishes not only is Trevor back in Diana’s life but a certain Mandalorian is abusing that power for his own gain. 

One thing comic fans always point to as DC having the edge over Marvel is in the villain department but not many of those iconic villains belong exclusively to Wonder Woman. The film takes the Batman Returns approach of introducing a few in the same film and the freedom that somewhat obscurity gives Wiig and Pascal allows them to do some pretty great things with their characters. Both are down on their luck people who long to be more and the circumstances of the film give them that. They are somewhat sympathetic figures Wiig a little more than Pascal but it’s not hard to see their motivations and how desperation can lead people down some pretty dark paths. 

The film starts with two pretty great set pieces with a young Diana competing in a trial of sorts on Themascura, seeing a young child compete and best many of the most badass warrior women on the planet was fun to see. We follow that up with a sequence in the mall that was 80’s to the max. Diana stops a heist and saves multiple innocent bystanders. It made sense to fill the first 20 minutes of the film with action because after that we settle in for a lot of story, setting up the villains, reintroducing Trevor and putting everyone where they need to be. The movie doesn’t grind to a halt and the “fish out of water” stuff with Pine was funny but I couldn’t help but notice not much was happening with our main character Diana. I don’t have a screen time count but it seems Pascal is ahead of Gadot. The whole “wishes” thing gets a little weird but no more so than the first movie did with the whole “war is in humanity’s heart” thing. Director Patty Jenkins seems to enjoy using this character and her platform to make statements about humanity, our vulnerabilities and our flaws mirrored in a selfless hero like Diania who shows us the best of what we can be. 

Wonder Woman 1984 is enjoyable and again stands out from the other DCEU films in the slate, it feels Donner-esque but I can see where some will find it a tad hokey. It’s colorful, bright and thoughtful… some people aint about that but no worries The Batman will be here soon to grim everything up again.