Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot reunite for a worthy sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman. Leaning on the 80’s nostalgia and cheese, Diana Prince finds herself confronting her biggest threat to date.
Rewind to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah.
What is your deepest desire? The one thing that if you had in your life, that would make you the happiest? Would you sacrifice a part of yourself in order to obtain this? This is what’s at the centre of WW84. Love was a large theme during Wonder Woman and this time around it’s truth. Being true not only to yourself, but the other people in your life. The most powerful weapon a person can possess, isn’t something you can wish for or something you have to obtain, it’s something you already have but just never truly realized it until now.
Times sure have changed, we aren’t in the nitty gritty of war anymore, and we have moved on to the craziness of the 80’s. Diana has been living on Earth for a long time now and she feels alone and isolated. The truth is, she hasn’t fully recovered from losing Steve Trevor and now she’s afraid to get close to anyone. Not letting anyone new into her life means she can’t possibly feel the pain of losing someone again. It isn’t until she stumbles upon a mysterious artifact and a new friend Barbara Minerva (Kristin Wiig), that she embraces her one wish, to bring back her one true love. Little does she know that when you get the one thing you want most in this world, it will come with a consequence. Enter Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), a down on his luck TV sales man who sees the promise with the “Dreamstone” and wants it all to himself. In fact, he wants to embody the stone itself, and start fulfilling wishes. He’s a con-man and starts wrecking havoc across the world, because he is hungry for power, but he also desires attention.
WW84 is very different from its previous outing. The tone has shifted just as much as the time. I think some people are going to be thrown off by the amount of campiness and cheese that is thrown into the mix and the over-the-top characters but even with all of that going on, it still has its core values at heart. Hope, truth, love and kindness lead this movie forward and once again, the chemistry between Diana and Steve Trevor propel this forward.
As much as Wiig and Pascal were refreshing with their villain takes, Wiig could also be completely removed from this movie and you wouldn’t even notice. She doesn’t really serve any real purpose in the plot and that was a let down because of how important the character of Cheetah is in the Wonder Woman mythos. She’s kind of just always in the background and I found it incredibly weird that she first wishes to be “just like Diana” and when Max Lord asks her if she wants “more” she becomes a cat. It didn’t really sit well but that was how she needed to become ultimately Cheetah. The action set pieces aren’t nearly as rewarding or fun to watch as Wonder Woman, but the movie does a great job at showcasing all the things Diana can do. Gal Gadot loves this character so much, she embodies everything that makes this hero, super. The 3rd act is when this movie really gets to shine and spread its wings. By far the strongest aspect of the film and really makes up for a weak first 2/3s.
Patty Jenkins wants to embrace what makes Wonder Woman special. Just something doesn’t fit at the end of the day. It could be the watered down action, but that’s not what this movie is about. They dive into what it means to be a true hero, which is letting go of things that hold you back and learning to live with your weaknesses. Using them as strengths and learning that the truth will indeed, set you free. Certain demographics are going to love it and others will not. Theres a fine line drawn in the sand, and we will be getting another dose of Wonder Woman in March with Zack Snyder’s Justice League. So everyone should be happy.
I just wish they used Cheetah more and developed that relationship a little bit more because Wiig actually surprised me with her portrayal and I know she can do so much more. I’m certain she will return in future movies and maybe even pop up in other DC flicks. But what saves this movie is Pine and Gadot working together. It’s emotional to see Steve Trevor return and they have honest to god top-notch chemistry. Which was never in doubt and I’m glad they were able to bring his character back without making things to difficult when explaining it to the audience.
At the end of the day, WW84 is a fun movie, with some entertaining moments, but it’s the performances that carry the film. From top to bottom, everyone brings it, and Maxwell Lord is one of the more intriguing DC villains we have seen so far. It’s full of hope and laughter and will make you smile and at the end of the day, sometimes that’s all that matters. There’s no propaganda or any nonsense like that going on, no political message, it’s just a movie that wants everyone to look deep within themselves and realize they are perfect just the way they are.
No surprise here, women can make incredible movies and it needs to happen more often. Wonder Woman is simply delightful.
(WARNER BROS.)
Well it only took 75 years, but the world finally got a Wonder Woman movie and boy it didn’t disappoint. Wonder Woman has so many things to be proud of. It’s the first superhero movie with a female lead in almost a decade (but we really shouldn’t count Catwoman), it’s the first ever superhero film directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins) who is a goddamn rock star, and it’s the first movie to gross over 100 million dollars in its first weekend with a female director! It took awhile, longer than it should have and this was a momentous and important weekend for woman and their role in the film industry. Along with the fact, it’s the first funny, and overall one of the best DCEU movie to date, with a staggering 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and universally loved by critics and fans alike – this movie was a grand slam for Warner Bros. The financial and critical success is wonderful, it’s exactly what the DCEU needed, but it shouldn’t over shadow the significant cultural impact this movie will have on the world. Wonder Woman has breathed new life into the superhero genre and certainly into the universe where she comes from. After last years Batman v Superman when the world got introduced to Gal Gadot and her portrayal of Diana Prince, I honestly knew then and there that this was a casting decision made in heaven. I had a blast watching this movie and when I left the theatre I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “why don’t more women get the opportunity to make great movies.”
First things first, THIS MOVIE IS COLOURFUL PEOPLE! Holy moly, I was blown away by the entire thing, but the DCEU is kind of known to be dark and very “doom and gloom.” This movie had that stuff in it, but so much more, and some of the colors, and visuals throughout WonderWoman are breathtaking. The movie opens up with a young Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) in Themyscira as she watches over the other Amazonian warriors train, and she is mimicking their movements, she is determined to be the greatest warrior ever. When her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) forbids her from becoming the warrior princess she wants to be so badly, it’s up to her Aunt Antiope the fiercest Amazonian ever (Robin Wright) to secretly train her. Themyscira looks stunning, it has a real Troy vibe to it, dealing with the Greek Mythology background. The set pieces and on set locations are terrific and the first action sequence takes place on a beach and it’s epic. Robin Wright steals the show during this scene, showing an acting side we’ve never seen before. She also has one of the coolest moments on the movie during this scene where she shoots three arrows at once, at three different German soldiers. Before this epic battle, we have our male hero, Colonel Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash land in the waters of Themyscira. Now this place was hidden from the outside world, but not anymore, and the Amazonian’s are in fear, that everything they love and protect could be in danger. When Steve Trevor tells them exactly what’s going on in the outside world, that the ‘war, to end all wars” is going on, Diana feels the need to help. I should mention that the reason why they have been hiding all this time is due to the God of War himself, Ares. Now with this war going on, they believe it’s Ares behind it, and he needs to be stopped. I just want to talk about Chris Pine for a second here, and just how good he was in this movie. Without a doubt, this has the best love interest/relationship I think I’ve seen in a superhero movie. The chemistry between Gal and Chris was incredible, and even though this was a war movie, it had a lot of rom-com feels to it, and they played off one another extremely well. There are a few scenes that feel like they are straight out of a rom-com and when I say that, I mean the best of what a rom-com has to offer. The last scene of the movie between these two characters was so well done, and so brilliant and just nothing seemed forced between these two. You know that they will fall in love, but it’s really special how they go about doing it. These movies always have a love interest who is always finding themselves getting into trouble and need to be saved or it’s just cheesy and doesn’t really make sense, but with Chris Pine’s character none of that happens, and he’s a big part of the movie, he’s almost the driving force for the whole thing. So shout out to Chris Pine, who just continues to give really good performances, and I hope he returns to the DCEU.
So when Diana decides she is the only one who can stop Ares, she leaves with Colonel Trevor and heads for jolly old London. This is where the movie really opens up, and we get to see the side of Diana that’s very naive and innocent. One of the things the movie does so well, and Patty Jenkins did such an amazing job, at capturing the spirit and essence of the character. Diana is such a strong, independent and passionate woman, but now that she’s in the real world, she quickly realizes just how little women are appreciated or respected. She just wants to explore the world, and she loves the simplest things. There are a few great moments, one involving a baby and she just falls in love immediately, and another is actually taken from one of the animated movies, where she eats ice cream for the first time and her reaction is priceless. It makes sense, imagine going your whole life without ice cream and just think of what your reaction would be. It was just little things, and little moments like this, that truly made this movie special. Gal Gadot was born to play this role, and I know she might not be the greatest actress working in Hollywood today, but she owned this role, and has come a long way in such a short period of time. Usually when people get casted as a superhero, you spend some of the movie thinking if someone else could do better or someone that is more suited to play the character. That never happened once for me, at times, I felt like Gadot was ripped straight from the pages of a Wonder Woman comic book. Zack Snyder has really casted the DCEU perfectly, when you think about it. She owned this movie, and I really hope that puts all the haters and doubters of Gal to sleep, because she really gave it her all and it showed in her performance.
Once they arrive in London, they meet Sir Patrick Morgan/Ares (Professor Lupin!), and three of Trevor’s running mates, Charlie (Ewen Brenner), Sameer (Said Taghamoui) and Chief (Eugene Brave Rock). We also get to meet Steve’s secretary, Etta Candy (Lucy Davis) who was really funny in her role. From the little screen time she had, she did the best with it. She makes a routine shopping trip, into one of the funniest scenes in the movie. All the side characters work in Wonder Woman, just another reason why this movie worked so well. Honestly they all had something to do, and they are given just enough background and development that you end up caring about them. So when all of them arrive at the front lines of the war, known, as “No Man’s Land” which I thought was clever and smart. Diana wants to stay and help, but Steve insists they keep going, and that no man has ever crossed these lines and made it back alive. She tells him that ‘she’s no man’ and we have the best moment of the movie. When she walks out of the trenches in her Wonder Woman outfit, I had some goose bumps. This is where the colors of her suit shine and it’s just a really beautiful moment. Which leads into one of the best action sequences, it’s Wonder Woman’s warehouse scene (from BvS). Not only that, but from this scene I got a little Saving Private Ryan vibe, and whenever you can compare a movie to that one, well you’re only singing praises at that point. The whole second action sequence is something I will want to watch over and over again, it’s perfectly done, and they really show off just what Diana can do in combat. I loved how the lasso of truth looked, and how she used it throughout the movie.
With every great hero comes a villain, and in Wonder Woman we get a few bad guys. Not the greatest of villains but they were okay. Danny Hutson plays Erich Ludendorff; he’s a German general who does not want to see the war end. I got a Red Skull comparison in mind from Captain America, and he was hopped up on some sort of gas the entire time, but his character felt a little stale to me. His sidekick was actually a side chick, a chemist, Doctor Poison (Elena Anaya) who is creating some horrible toxic gas, which looks to end the war and kill millions of people. I actually really liked this character, I just think they didn’t fully utilize her, and she had some layers to her, and I wish they had explored her just a little bit more. It’s really hard to have a great villain these days, but they all did the trick. Now for Ares. He was okay, but he comes at the end of the movie, and really my only problem with this entire thing was the ending. Wonder Woman was doing such a great job at not being like every other superhero movie, and then it becomes just like every other superhero movie in the end. You know, the big CGI-filled fight scene with the big bad guy at the end. They didn’t need to do that, I understand why they did, but they had something really special going on, and it just takes you out of the movie. I also just found the fight scene to be really dark, and I had a hard time figuring out what exactly was going on. Honestly though, that was really my only nitpick of the entire thing.
A lot of movies in the past few months have been very forgetful, and I don’t really think about them too much a few days after I have seen them. This isn’t the case for Wonder Woman. I’m just amazed how this thing turned out; obviously going into it I had my doubts. The DCEU hasn’t been on the best of tracks lately, and the last movie they released was Suicide Squad, and well I’m just not going to go there. Gal Gadot and Chris Pine did their thing, they were the stars of the movie, but Patty Jenkins needs to get a lot of credit for this. I really hope executives from movie studios take note, and start to let women direct bigger budget movies. I just felt happy the entire time watching it, there are so many laughs and great moments throughout the movie, and I’m just really happy for her, because this is a really big deal, and I hope people can understand that. This isn’t like a top 5-superhero movie, but it’s the second best DCEU movie, but I have a feeling I will end up liking this more than Man of Steel in the long run, but it’s just a really good/well made movie. Wonder Woman is such an incredible character with great morals, and values and I’m glad that we finally got to see all this on the big screen. I don’t know if she becomes the driving force of the DCEU going forward, or can be the Captain America for the Justice League. I know I’m much more excited for the Justice League movie now, I just hope they can continue with this great momentum they have built. All I’m going to say, is this movie is way above average.
Also I’m fan casting Sofia Boutella as Cheetah for Wonder Woman 2.
