Wonder Woman 1984

Almost a year on from its originally scheduled release, director Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman 1984, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2017 hit, arrives in shimmering technicolour. WW84 has every intention of knocking viewers out with liberally applied, deafeningly loud colours, full-throttle action and heady nostalgia, which is easily discerned from the vibrant promo. 

Decades on from the First World War-set events of her last adventure, Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, has settled into her day job as an archaeologist at the Smithsonian museum, only occasionally donning the superhero outfit for crime-stopping purposes. Things escalate, however, when one of these clean-up operations uncovers a mysterious magical stone. The stone finds itself in the hands of nefarious businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), via Diana’s innocently naive colleague Barbara (Kristen Wiig). From there all manner of hell breaks loose.

Messy CGI action punctures the film in increasingly longer bouts, as Wiig and Pascal’s respective characters unravel. The supporting cast is extremely strong, as is pretty much customary for superhero films nowadays, and there’s even a reprisal of Chris Pine’s role as Diana’s beau Steve.

There are essentially three character arcs at play: Diana’s, Barbara’s and Max’s. While Diana’s is a straight line with the mandatory superhero bump in the road, Barbara and Max develop in confused squiggles; their stories, ambitions and essence become muddied as the film stretches beyond the hour-and-a-half mark. Wiig’s performance as the shy, awkward Barbara (who transforms into the apex predator Cheetah), is in many aspects superlative, but her brilliance would have been better served had her character been fleshed out, affording the actress time and space to explore the role thoroughly. Instead, both antagonists are lured into the clutches of evil and wrongdoing easily enough – perhaps fittingly in an era of frenzied avarice and self-interest. The customary Hans Zimmer soundtrack follows Diana and the trusty weltanschauung that allows her to see past self-indulgence as she battles to save humanity from its excesses all over again.

Wonder Woman 1984‘s efforts to uplift and warmly entertain are inhibited by its slightly chaotic plot and frigid script, dovetailing into a messy finale.

Jake Cudsi

Wonder Woman 1984 is released nationwide on 16^th December 2020.

Watch the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 here: