Remember how Wonder Woman (2017) turned the tables for the DC Universe? The film was a breath of fresh air in the otherwise dark, brooding, and beleaguered DC universe. It brought in the fun element and had an aura around it, which superhero movies from the Marvel universe usually have. However, Wonder Woman 1984 misses out from that mark by a huge margin. One of the major things that hurt this film is the title, which remains unexplained throughout.
Kristen Wiig, who plays Dr Barbara Minerva, is fantastic in bits and spurts but the writing of the film fails in taking entire advantage of the actress’ potential. Her awkward crazy character in the beginning of the movie seemed well-written but as the plot progresses, her villainy comes across as half-baked. The writing of the film proves to be the soft spot again.
While Patty Jenkins should have toyed with two powerful female characters alone, she decides to introduce another half-cooked villain in Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord, better known for his stint on Game of Thrones, Narcos, and The Mandalorian. Pedro’s character is written to portray him as having attained god-like powers, but when the character actually uses the powers, it sort of seems juvenile!
Another major flaw in the movie is that it wastes its first 60-70 minutes trying to establish these two new characters. Their origin story is sluggish and the screenplay drags a lot leaving you waiting for Wonder Woman to come out and kick some ass. The editing of the film by Richard Pearson could have been much crisper and the initial hour could have been cut short to about 20 minutes.
Gal Gadot, as Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman, is back with her sleek hourglass figure and her body-tight superhero costumes. But, has her character graph grown since the last time? It hasn’t. Her character comes out quite monotone in nature, unlike how she was presented in Zack Snyder’s Justice League a few months back. Also, bringing the turquoise blue-eyed Chris Pine back from the dead was totally unnecessary to the flow of the story.
Lastly, Hans Zimmer’s background score and music, which was hyped so much, is pretty flat. Baring the opening Themyscira theme there’s nothing worth remembering.
Wonder Woman 1984 is a half-baked half-cooked script that looks forced to just ride on the success of its predecessor. If the theatres were on, it would have been a total waste of money, but thankfully on Amazon Prime, you can have a ONE-TIME WATCH. I am going with 2 stars.
Title: Wonder Woman 1984
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen
Director: Patty Jenkins
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 2 stars
