I enjoy a good superhero movie when I’m watching the film and I feel like I’m reading a comic book. These types of movies, like most superhero comics, are plausible but a little bit on the fantastical side. A slight suspension of disbelief is needed in order to belief the fantastical story. You tell me that a man in tights with a big red “S” on his chest can fly and gets his powers from a yellow sun or that a radioactive spider bites a human giving him the powers of a spider, that is a little fantastical. Lots of action happens in a comic book with the artist giving us many different angles, that is needed in a comic book movie. And, as with any episode, movie, book, game or comic, a decent story that shows drama and growth is very much needed for an entertaining story. If you don’t have a good story written, all of the master thespians or big-budge special effects won’t save the movie.
First a disclaimer: While I’m not one of those fans that think that if you like one franchise, you can’t like another. I enjoy both Star Trek and Star Wars for example. I have enjoyed Marvel comics, shows and movies. But when I walk through the DC Comics section at my local comic book store, my heart skips a beat. I’ve always looked to DC first when it comes to scratching my superhero itch. That being said, if I feel “Meh” or “Ugh” about a movie, I’ll call it out. I turned off the Green Lantern movie a few years ago just to go do dishes, and I never had a desire to turn it back on. A feeling I believed others had as well.
I also loved the WW84 trailer with the upbeat mix of New Order’s “Blue Monday”. Any movie that can pull of good classic alternative music gets a thumbs up in my book. This really made me want to go see the movie. I also found an hour-long YouTube video with the upbeat mix to use while working out. The movie also had other classic alternative hits playing at the right times.
Wonder Woman 1984 has a good action oriented opening chapter. Something I understand Shakespeare used in some of his plays to keep the audience entertained before getting to some of the character development parts of the play. WW84 felt the same way. After this action opening, the movie went into introducing and developing some of the characters for the film. Unfortunately the movie did tend to drag during the second section. I don’t need action all the time, but I felt myself getting distracted. I think on a second watching, knowing that my patience will be rewarded at the end of the film, I’ll probably catch a few things that I missed.
Gal Gadot continues to knock it out of the park playing the part of Wonder Woman. When she played the part of a hurt Wonder Woman, I felt the hurt. When she was conflicted, I felt the conflict. And the accent used was just enough to give it that “you’re not from around here” edge. Seeing Chris Pine as Steve Trevor was very interesting. After the character’s demise in the first film, I really wondered how they were going to bring him back? I will admit, seeing Pine made me wish for a fourth Star Trek film. But we won’t know if that will happen until all of the Tribbles are lined up. The scenes where Pine was try on all of the different outfits was a bit silly, but it also reminded me of The Doctor trying on different outfits just after regenerating. Pedro Pascal (who we just watched in The Mandalorian) plays a villain who is flawed and broken instead of just being evil for evil’s sake. The character of Max Lord is also a single dad in the film and that pulled a little on my heart strings having been one in the past. How do you know you’re doing the right job as a dad when it seems like you always seem to make mistakes. Kristen Wiig’s character confused me. She played the part of Cheetah very well, but did she still have her powers at the end? She already had her wish, why was she asking for more? I didn’t hear her renounce her wish. I also don’t recall seeing her final fate so… could she return in a future film? And yes I do hope they make a third film.
There were some predictable moments in the plot and Chekhov’s gun makes an appearance. Apparently the golden lasso also has the power to conduct mind melds. I don’t know if that was ever seen in the comics. The way the jet became invisible made me groan a little bit. But when our heroes finally flew to the Middle East to chase the bad guy, I started paying attention more because the film felt like a comic film. One of the growth factors for Wonder Woman is her learning to fly. I really thought that a new love interest was going to develop at the end, but I’m glad they didn’t do that. Dianna loved Trevor. Having seen him again, you just wouldn’t get over it that fast. But I think the best part of the movie was the faith in humanity message at the end. In this day and age where I have to wonder about humanity (and I tend to look both ways before crossing a one-way street) it was good to see that message in there.
There is a mid-credits scene that was the perfect frosting on the cake. This I will not spoil for you, but it made both my wife and I declare “that was kewl!” No hints on a possible third movie. I like it when superhero movies put in drops liek that.
In my discussion about DVDs and Blu-rays before, I talked about if I liked a movie, I would buy the movie on physical media when it was released. I plan to buy this movie when it comes out. I still need to come up with a rating system for my reviews. But to end this review, go see this movie. I plan to watch it again.