Official
Australian release date: 26/12/20. Viewed: 27/12/20.
Director:
Patty Jenkins
Actors: Gal
Gadot, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine
Genre: Action /
Sci-Fi
Rating: M
‘Wonder Woman 1984’/‘WW84’ is, like most sequels, fine without
being exceptional. It is noteworthy for being my first time at the cinema in
four months, and only the 11th time this year, well down from the 33/year
average! The film starts with an excellent Olympics-style challenge on Themyscira,
with a pre-teen Diana against other Amazonian warriors. It’s exciting and fun
and segues nicely into “modern day” Diana (Gadot) in action in a very-80s
shopping centre.
We’re introduced to Barbara Minerva (Wiig) and Max Lord (Pascal), who are both
solid supports and bring their own charms. While I admire the attempt to have no
“big baddie” by having misguided/sort-of-well-intentioned characters instead,
sometimes an outright villain is useful. Some of Pascal’s over-the-top-ness is
fun to watch. The action scene is Cairo is good, as is how Wonder Woman gets there.
I guess the main issues are the length (2.5 hours), with plenty of slow scenes, the whole concept of Steve (Pine) coming back to life from essentially a magic lamp and the sometimes overbearing score. Gadot is good again, but it didn’t seem like she actually had that much to do for large parts of the film. Satisfactory ending and I hope they give her another solo film set before ‘Justice League’.
Overall: OK second outing, but nothing extraordinary.
Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.
