Wonder Woman 1984 is finally out on HBO Max, is it worth signing up for the streaming service?, answer: yes, because there is also a wealth of content on HBO Max. It is of course a follow up to the first Wonder Woman (2017) film, is it a worthy sequel to the brilliant movie?, answer: kinda. Patty Jenkins returns to direct this film. It is co-written by Jenkins along with Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham on the screenplay. Callaham was one of the co-writers of Zombieland: Double Tap (2019). I sense Johns is responsible for much of the story. He worked on the story for Aquaman (2018), he also wrote the Aquaman comic book, but he did not write the Wonder Woman comic book. I would hope a future Wonder Woman film brings in Gail Simone who actually wrote the comic and also the Wonder Woman (2009) animated film. The previous film had a screenplay by Allan Heinberg who did write the Wonder Woman comic book. The Wonder Woman film was interesting since it put a spin on Richard Donner’s Superman (1978), this film seems to follow Superman II (1980), an ok sequel.
The opening has some moody music by Hans Zimmer, an incredible composer, he created the Wonder Woman theme in 2016’s Beavis. He gives a jaunty score to the opening, but I didn’t sense too many additions to the rest of the score. Gal Gadot returns as Wonder Woman, also producer, and she contributes to the opening narration. She explains her childhood, Young Diana is played by Lilly Aspell, who reprises her part here. She races through a forest in her golden armor. It moves from a waterfall to the mountains of Themyscira, out to the beach, and finally to the cliffside arena. It is filled with cheering Amazons. This is not identified so new audiences might need to catch up. We see an Amazon contestant use her lasso to whip across the arena. Another whirls the lasso in a circle before using its tip to strike a target. This are all actions that we see later by Wonder Woman. What is confusing is that Wonder Woman’s mission in the comics and the last movie was to bring the ideals of the Amazons of peace to the outside world. It seems that this has been sidetracked.
Her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) watches from her platform. Diana's aunt, General Antiope (Robin Wright) in black armor, goes to talk to Diana next to the line-up of other contestants, I did recognize Venelia (Doutzen Kroes) from the first movie. The gong is struck and the contestants start their run, Diana scrambles up a ladder as the others run, it rotates and she flips up to the top platform. It is great to see Aspell in a physical part, though her height might give the others advantage though. The Contest is also a large part of the Wonder Woman mythos since her first appearance in All Star Comics #8 (1942). It was Diana competing as an adult to prove she is worthy to return Steve Trevor. Diana leaps into the sea followed closely by the Amazons swimming. She reaches a black horse at the beach and this of course has Aspell showing her equestrian skills. Diana reaches over to grab a bow and looses an arrow at a target sending up a blue smoke signal to lower her flag. She is incredible at archery and horse riding, but gets distracted and gets knocked off her horse! Diana slides down a ditch to get to her horse. Somehow, she passes the three other riders who already passed the last target, and she just has to throw a javelin across the arena. Still, she is taken down by Antiope and loses. Antiope says she took a short cut and cheated so lost, only the truth is important. This doesn't connect to the rest of the movie.
Diana is consoled by her Hippolyta who points out the golden armored statue of Asteria and says that she should be patient. There was an Asteria in Elseworld’s Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998), but she didn't seem to be an Amazon. A later flashback scene has a special cameo and also a mid-credit scene, don't miss it! The other Amazons congratulate the winners of the Contest. This shifts to Washington, D.C. with a jogger in multi-colored 80’s wear passes by several tv screens. They show a commercial by Maxwell Lord played by Pedro Pascal. He of course just finished season two of The Mandalorian. The character was introduced in Justice League #1 (1987), I think this is a misuse of the character since he has no connection with the comics. Lord plays the get-rich commercial pitch man which would be wealthy from the commercials alone. We do have the addition of his son, Alistair (Lucian Perez) which again separates the character from the comics, why not a new character instead? A red Corvette races on the street and then we get the jogger. A red boot kicks the car from the jogger and it is sent spinning. Lord speaks about a people backed oil company, Black Oil Cooperative, instead of Lord Technologies. Some teen girls run off with stolen sunglass so the 80’s were a selfish time. The girls knock over a bridge taking a wedding photo on a bridge. A golden lasso swings her to the ground. No capture of the thieving teens or the reckless drivers.
At a mall, ladies are jazzercising with men leering at them, strange promotion for exercise. Some men walk into a jewelry store and one shows his gun at his waist. There are two others watching outside. The song for Lord's commercial is playing so we don’t get any 80’s tunes in the mall. The leader of the thieves, Buzz Cut (Lyon Beckwith) wants the black market operation the jewelry store is running in the back room. If there is black market goods, I don’t think a mall is a safe place. One of the stolen goods is a mysterious gem-like object. This is the McGuffin of the movie. It becomes an almost Bruce Almighty (2003) situation. There is no apparent connection with the thieves to Lord which is unusual that they had special knowledge of the black market goods. The thieves walk out casually, but one drops his gun starting a panic. The mall cops tell them to freeze, but they are about as effective as Paul Blart. One of the thieves takes a girl hostage and threatens to drop her, but she is taken by Wonder Woman and dropped at a rocking horse. Wonder Woman uses her tiara to knock out the security cameras. The flying tiara technique is from the Wonder Woman tv show. A little girl, Courtney (Rey Rey Terry) is stunned at Wonder Woman’s heroism and thrown into a giant teddy bear to protect her. She defeats the thieves and gives a wink to Courtney. The thieves wrapped in a banner are dropped on the top of a police car.
The news reports similar reports of a female “savior” as we get the dark apartment of Diana. There are photographs, it looks like Diana attended the wedding of one of her former friends and soldiers. This movie sorely needs similar characters for comic relief and drama. We also of course get photos of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) whom sacrificed himself in Wonder Woman. Pine was recently in the I Am the Night mini-series which had some episodes directed by Jenkins. His return is reversed with Steve awkward in the 80's, but this is just one scene. She dines alone at a cafe. It’s been 66 years! Diana seems lonely, hasn’t picked up new friends, or a companion just to be company. Also, she is disconnected from the Amazons who are still around. I think important to the character she should at least return to Themyiscra to speak with her mother. In the morning, jogging to work, is mousy Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig). She of course is known for Bridesmaids (2011). Wiig plays the timid, awkward character to a tee. Her villainous turn is a bit like Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992). The character first appeared in Wonder Woman #7 (1942), the Minerva version was in Wonder Woman #7 (1987), a classic villain for Wonder Woman. There is also Wonder Woman's gold armor which was in Kingdom Come #3 (1996). Wonder Woman is ok, most of the concepts are predictable and don't tie in well with the comic books, but the cast is good and the action is strong!
Three Lassos of Hestia out of Five!
#WonderWoman1984, #PattyJenkins, #GalGadot, #ChrisPine, #KristenWiig, #PedroPascal
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