[Review] Wonder Woman 1984 (5.5/10)

 

Title - Wonder Woman 1984
Studio - Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring - Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielson, Robin Wright
Writer - Geof Johns, Dave Callaham, Patty Jenkins
Director - Patty Jenkins
Release - 16 December 2020

One thing I'll start with is that Patty Jenkins is consistent. She's consistent with her inconsistencies. 

Three years after the first movie, and if you watch it today, perhaps you will notice there were a lot of small bits thrown in there in terms of dialogue that were left unexplained. Particularly everything that happened in the first act of the movie when in Themyscira. 

Now with the sequel finally being released (had Warner Bros. released this when they were supposed to in the very first place they may have even hit USD 1 billion worldwide, but no they wanted the sequel to share the same release period as the first one), the inconsistencies were actually magnified and all over the place. 

And this is a dangerous thing that Jenkins was flirting with here. It felt like just because this was a comic book movie, then a lot of reality and logic can be suspended. In this post-Marvel-Cinematic-Universe age, that has become difficult to accept from an audience point of view. And moving backwards will only set back what this genre has done so much to achieve.

But still, with a lot of wrong, Jenkins had a lot of right to almost balance it out. Almost, just not nearly enough.

The concept of bringing back Chris Pine as Chris Trevor was a nice trick, and it was definitely great to see Trevor again. Pine brought so much charm that you can't help but follow his wide-eyed discoveries.

And most of the scenes that Diana and Steve shared together were golden. Gal Gadot has improved as an actress because in that one crying scene she was quite powerful indeed. 

But this aforementioned trick was never fully fleshed out in terms of concept. After watching it, I do wonder how Diana would have worded her wish resulting in Trevor coming back in this particular form. It's a little silly if you think about it. As silly as how Wonder Woman paused to retrieve her new suit (which was useless), and also as silly as how the jet suddenly became invisible... to radar!?

And in the final act, where did all that wind come from? Pedro Pascal's range in performance in this should nab him an Oscar nomination, what with the limited number of movies released this year. But again, it's the concept of the subject matter that has left me with more questions. His son wishing for him to appear by his side never happened, why? What was that blue light he was standing in? Why was Diana able to make the broadcast? So many conceptual questions that has made understanding this movie unenjoyable.

There was also not enough of Kristen Wiig's interaction with Gadot. More scenes should have been written in here because Diana and Steve really did not need to go to Cairo. That whole sequence and set could have been cut, investors' money would have been saved and the story would not have suffered for it.

In a year of few blockbusters, this has followed suit in letting down my expectations. And hopefully that trend will end with the year and this movie.