Like many, I think that Wonder Woman (2017) was and is by far one of the best superhero movies that have come out in the past decade. It had everything one could want — a badass superhero, the triumph of good over evil, a little romance, and an origin story that, regardless of how fantastical the world was, we as the audience could still be on board with it. Leading into the second movie, I had so many questions following the release of the trailer. How does Steve fit into this story (seeing as he died in the first one)? Why is this one set in 1984? Did Diana ever go back to Themyscira? With so many questions going into this sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 had a lot riding on it, but one question remained at the top of my list — could it surpass what the first one accomplished?
I can answer the big question right now — No, it could not. This sequel follows Diana Prince working at a museum, where she meets Barbara Minerva, played by Kristin Wiig, who is a quiet and quirky young woman brought in to curate mysterious artifacts brought in by the FBI. It’s when she comes across an ancient stone, which is said to grant wishes to anyone who gets their hands on it, that everything goes wrong. It’s when the stone gets into the hands of Maxwell Lord, played by (my favorite), Pedro Pascal, that we discover what this stone actually does and how it can hurt people. With a running time of two and a half hours, eighty percent of this film is filled with cliches and a “villain” that only serves to express the drilled-in message of what greed can do to a person rather than concentrating on being a worthy opponent to Diana. Instead, they leave that to Barbara, a.k.a., Cheetah, which sadly results in what feels like a two-minute fight between both women before Diana moves on to something else. The only exciting thing to come out of this film was the surprise cameo at the end of the film — a character named Asteria. If you know, you know…
Unfortunately, everything that I liked about Wonder Woman was gone with 1984. The first film found Diana thriving among Amazonian warriors on the hidden island of Themyscira, with no men in sight, and better yet, absolutely no need for them. Hell, even when she meets Steve Trevor, it’s not until they begin to work together as a team that there is even a hint of romance between them. However, in a reverse turn of events, 1984 finds Diana mourning for her lost love some fifty years later. She’s almost a shell of herself — hiding in a museum, no friends, and no interest in actually having a life. This is not the Diana we fell in love with. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with missing a loved one, but when you put your whole life on hold for fifty years because you don’t know how to be happy without him, you’re crossing the line into pathetic and annoying. That brings me to how Steve “shows up” in 1984. Get ready for it — Diana wished for it. Yup, that’s the grand reason. A magic rock…
As much as I am against the reason behind Steve “showing up” in this film, I was happy to see him. Both Gadot and Pine have great on-screen chemistry together, which is partly what made the first film so great, and probably why Jenkins knew she needed him back for this sequel. Nevertheless, the reasoning behind Steve “coming back,” was so trivial and annoying that it was almost as if the writers gave no thought as to how cheesy it was going to come across, as long as he was there — even though it made no sense whatsoever. Of course, Steve doesn’t just come back — he inhabits the body of a man we never learn the name of but is played by Kristoffer Polaha who, for all my Hallmarkies, you may recognize from films such as A Rocky Mountain Christmas or Double Holiday. So while we as the audience and Diana can see him as Steve, everyone else only sees him as this other guy. Anyone else’s head hurt yet?
1984 had so many obvious messages that I was beginning to think this was more of a classroom lecture than it was a movie. I think part of what makes a great movie is its subtly with its messages. Take the first movie; one of my favorite things about Wonder Woman was that it wasn’t preachy. It was undoubtedly a feminist piece— one that will go down in cinematic history — without being too forthcoming, or in-your-face, about it. It was unapologetic in terms of how this was not about a woman becoming a superhero as much as it was about a warrior who realizes she has a greater purpose in life. To this day, the scene in which Diana runs into No Man’s Land by herself, against the warning of every man in the trenches, empowering them to take action, will never not make me emotional. In that one scene, it did what most movies fail to do — make a statement without having to actually say it. It told us everything we needed to know about our heroine — Diana is strong, caring, and inspiring. The three things a good leader, and superhero, needs to be. It just so happens to be a woman inspiring a group of soldiers to be brave without having to explicitly state that she’s a woman. Best of all, there’s no cringe “girl power” scene (*hint, hint* — I’m looking at you Endgame) that tries to sell you on how strong she is. Sadly, there was no scene that even came close to pulling that same emotion out of me in 1984. The only one I can think of that some people may suggest is when Diana learns to fly after heartbreakingly saying goodbye to Steve forever (which was sad), but even that didn’t hold the same reverence that the “No Man’s Land” scene does.
In terms of the actual messages in 1984, it has a lot. The main one focuses on greed — greed for money, popularity, and love. As humans, it’s in our nature to always want things we don’t have, which is made painfully obvious in this movie. As Maxwell Lord turns himself into the wishing stone, he finds that in order to maintain its powers, he needs others to keep making wishes or his body will slowly deteriorate — a side effect of his “wish”. I don’t want to spend too long on this storyline, even though it’s the prominent one in the film, because it’s too annoying. With too much time spent on Maxwell and not enough on Diana, Steve, or even Barbara, it became the biggest misstep of the entire film. The whole “wishing stone,” thing felt so weirdly misplaced. The fact that they only have half a back story on where this stone actually came from and who created it makes me think that the writers didn’t want to spend too much time on it, which is weird considering it’s the MAIN FOCAL POINT to the entire story. But okay, we’ll go with the information they gave us — it was made by one of the many “bad gods” (who apparently has no name, he’s just a bad god) and dates back centuries, causing chaos whenever it is used. That’s all you really need to know, I guess. Moving on…
I think what made me most upset was the fact that this movie has so many talented actors, as well as a great director, and they wasted it with this story. From Pedro Pascal’s storyline to Kristin Wiig’s to Chris Pine’s and even Gadot herself, each one does their best with a less than stellar story. Gadot especially gives such a spectacular performance in this, which is not a shock, but it left me annoyed that this was what they gave her as a follow-up. 1984’s Diana Prince feels like a watered-down version of who we got in Wonder Woman and I hope we never have to witness it again. All in all, I miss the Diana we were given in the first film. Yes, there was action and she kicked some ass in 1984, but it just wasn’t the same, and I for one do not appreciate that.
If you couldn’t tell by now, I’m super disappointed with what 1984 came out to be. Not only do I not have the answers to many of my aforementioned questions above, but now I'm stuck with so many more. To break it down in simplest terms, Wonder Woman 1984 was 10% romantic, 10% badass, 80% unnecessary, and 100% a major let down. While this won’t stop me from going to see the recently announced third film in the franchise, with Gadot and Jenkins at the helm, it might make me think twice about buying this on DVD when it's released. With expectations high, and an almost impossible mission to try and top its first film, you would think it would have some merit to it. Unfortunately, it falls to the waste-side as yet another DC Film that just isn’t up to par with the superhero films Marvel has been cranking out for the past ten years. Here’s hoping that Wonder Woman 3 makes up for this…
What did you think of this film? Let me know in the comments below!
***I do not own this photo.
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