In Wonder Over Wonder Woman 1984

“Truth, Love, and Wonder.” The biggest ideals of the newest addition to the DCEU.  Debuting three years after Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 takes place 40 years after the events of the first installment.  My expectations were definitely lower than what I experienced because of it being a sequel.

Wonder Woman premiered with fanfare in 2017.  It was a highly anticipated addition to the DCEU and superhero movies everywhere as it gave girls a hero that they could look up to.  Wonder Woman surpassed its budget of $149,000,000 eight times over with $822,303,505 in 2017 ($1,032,0490554.85 with inflation).  It was even rated 93% fresh on Rotten tomatoes by the critics and 84% fresh by the audience.  It earned a sequel.  Three years later, Warner Bros, finally gifted us with a sequel despite Covid-19 related delays.

Wonder Woman 1984 was wonderful and definitely work the three year wait and covid-19 delays.  Originally slated to release in early 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 was finally released to the public both on HBOMax (to encourage social distancing) and in theaters on Christmas Day.

Reprising her role as Diana Prince, Princess of the Amazons, Gal Gadot shined in this sequel.  She brought power to a role that for years remained in the dark.  She gives hope to girls that want a hero to look up to.  Growing up girls just want their own hero and there is a large amount of male superheros.  Diana (Gadot) shows strength when she’s down and powerless.

Strength when all she knew is unreachable because she is separated from her family.
Strength when she has lost her love and has to say “goodbye” for a second time.

She shows that a woman can be powerful and successful.  I absolutely loved seeing her coming even more into her own. So far, both Wonder Woman additions to the DCEU are set before the events of Justice League.

Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord photo courtesy of Heroic Hollywood

Pedro Pascal, Din Djarin on Disney+’s The Mandalorian, took a break from a galaxy far, far away to be a power-hungry businessman. He can definitely portray a great villain. The laugh when he thought he had won was the perfect part of his villain persona. The blindness to what they already have for what they desire most was also a great addition to Pascal’s villainous Maxwell Lord.  He was dashing and smooth talking.  He was willing to destroy himself and the world to achieve what he thought he desired. Dressed most of the movie in the classic 80s business suit, you would feel the actor would fit in the 1980s really well.

Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters) added a little comedy constantly tripping to a villain’s bodyguard post making her wish while also showing that you can be beautiful and smart at the same time. I felt the costumes, pre cat, were spot on for the 80s.  However, her cat costume did remind me of the cat leotards from 2019’s Cats movie.  Just as blah, but at least her face actually looked like a cat and not a human in cat face makeup.

Now to compare to the 2017 Wonder Woman.  In comparison to 2017, Rotten Tomatoes rated 1984 a 60% fresh by the critic and 74% with the audience.  Despite premiering during the pandemic, Wonder Woman 1984 has reached $118,200,000 so far in the box office.  Given most are going to HBOMax versus the theaters and that some theaters are still closed the numbers are looking good so far.

Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielson), Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), & Antiope (Robin Wright)

The biggest scene in Wonder Woman was when she was exiting the Bunker in No Man’s Land.  Deflecting bullets in slow motion.  While there wasn’t a scene as big as this in 1984, in my opinion, we did get to see a few decent fight scenes with our favorite Amazon.  The final battle between Wonder Woman and Wiig’s Cheetah was pretty great.

Jumping around in the golden clad eagle suit going against Wiig’s cheetah, I saw that she returned to the powerful hero that we knew she was.  She showed that you can be strong when you don’t let the past control you as she let Steve go finally in order to save the world.  My favorite scene was the nod to Wonder Woman’s invisible jet when she and Steve were rushing to save the world and she turned the jet “invisible” using her daughter of Zeus powers.

Of course this has me curious where the jet went in the over 20 years? Kind of a plot hole I’d love to see solved in the next movie.

The biggest question, and my personal upset, was: How was Steve Trevor alive?  Well long story short – he wasn’t. His soul if you will just was there and only Diana saw him for who he truly was.  Her wish come true – the love of her life back.  Only upset – she had to give him up to save the world.  It was a little cliché.  I still loved it…but cliché.

She wishes for him back  and gets him back, loses her powers as a result because the stone she wished on takes something in return, give up her love, get powers back.  I have seen something similar done in various ways throughout movies through the years. Even Marvel had a similar concept when Captain America gave up his chance to be with Peggy by downing the jet in the ice to save the world.  I know he didn’t give up his powers but he still gave up something to save the world.

I would give Wonder Woman 1984 a A-. Comment below your thoughts on this Wonder Woman addition.