Wonder Woman / Wonder Woman 1984
WONDER WOMAN (12)
D: Patty Jenkins
Warner Bros/Ratpac-Dune/DC (Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder & Richard Suckle)
US 2017
141 mins
Fantasy/Action/Adventure
W: Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder & Jason Fuchs
DP: Matthew Jensen
Ed: Martin Walsh
Mus: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Gal Gadot (Diana, Princess of Themyscira / Wonder Woman), Chris Pine (Steve Trevor), Robin Wright (Antiope), Danny Huston (Gen. Erich Ludendorff), David Thewlis (Sir Patrick Morgan), Connie Nielsen (Hippolyta), Elena Anaya (Isabel Maru / Doctor Poison), Lucy Davis (Etta Candy)
Gal Gadot's portrayal of Wonder Woman in 2016's Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice (qv), was arguably the best part of a very dull movie.
Her own origin story doesn't fail to entertain either, meaning there is hope for DC comics to have their own movie universe to rival Marvel.
Wonder Woman's story starts on Themyscira, a secret island populated with Amazonian women, of which Diana, the young princess is kept in the dark that she's actually an immortal goddess who possesses great strength.
The idyllic paradise soon comes under attack from an attempted Nazi invasion when an American spy crashes into the surrounding sea, prompting Diana into leaving the island on a quest to find the God of War, who she believes is the force behind World War II.
Gal Gadot is excellent in the lead, bring beauty and brawn to present a strong superhero who still remains incredibly feminine, there's also a love interest in the shape of Chris Pine to satisfy a romance angle and the comic relief is reasonably well-written.
All the visual effects and technical work is of the high quality you'd expect from a Hollywood blockbuster and it sets up the next film in the DC series (Justice League) nicely.
7/10
D: Patty Jenkins
Warner Bros / DC / Atlas / The Stone Quarry (Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot & Stephen Jones)
US 🇺🇸 2020
151 mins
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Adventure
W: Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns & Dave Callahan [based on characters created by DC comics]
DP: Matthew Jensen
Ed: Richard Pearson
Mus: Hans Zimmer
Gal Gadot (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Chris Pine (Steve Trevor), Kristen Wiig (Barbara Minerva / Cheetah), Pedro Pascal (Max Lord), Robin Wright (Antiope), Connie Nielsen (Hippolyta)
It’s fair to say that Marvel studios output of superhero movies from 2008 onwards have been head and shoulders above the competition from rivals DC studios, with Batman vs Superman, Justice League and the 2017 film Wonder Woman all being released in quick succession, the latter of which being viewed as the most critically successful of the trio.
Unfortunately, this very weak sequel followed, with a paint-by-numbers storyline, hackneyed characters and some incredibly questionable plot points.
It’s a shame, since the film starts interestingly enough, with a young Wonder Woman participating in an athletic event on her home island of Themyscira against the older Amazons, where she learns a valuable life lesson which is bound to play a part later in the movie.
The narrative then hits a lull when it does fast forward to 1984, soon after the eponymous heroine thwarts a robbery at a mall, as way too much time is dedicated to introducing the nerdy museum geologist, Barbara Minerva, who is a copy-paste job of previous comic book villains.
The McGuffin here is an ancient stone capable of granting wishes, which is stolen by megalomaniac bad guy, Max Lord, who wishes to embody the stones powers in a quest for world domination, whilst Minerva uses her wish to be more like Diana Prince not knowing her secret alter ego, and Diana wishes to be reunited with her late ex-flame, Steve Trevor, who bafflingly comes to her in another man’s body for reasons only the filmmakers know.
The film doesn’t really break any new ground here, and just feels like a standard cash-grab sequel, with a plot that was heavily borrowed from a Wishmaster horror movie, where the entire metaphor of “be careful what you wish for” is done with a little more subtlety.
It isn’t anywhere near as bad as some of the early reviews which broke online, which I feel were more a disappointment that viewers had to pay cinema prices to watch the film at home due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s more a lazy sequel than a poor one.
5/10
