Wonder Woman Review
The second installment of the Wonder Woman movie titled “Wonder Women 1984” dropped exclusively on HBO Max on December 25th. This movie followed Diana’s life into 1984 where she has her full powers and lives with humans working in the archeology department of the Smithsonian. When cataloging a new find, an ancient stone, Diana meets a new employee named Barbara, who is jealous of Diana’s beauty and confidence. The plotline follows this ancient stone which it turns out to have magical powers and the ability to grant wishes. This magic transforms businessman Max Lord into the main villain and Barbara into a second foe. The movie would not be complete without Diana’s true love Steve Trevor. The magic of the stone allows him to return and then he has to learn how to live in a world that is 40 years in the future from when he died. Diana and Steve unite in their love and in an attempt to stop Max and Barbara. Additional complexity is added by Diana being challenged to make a hard decision that will determine the fate of the world.
The pre-buzz on this superhero installment was strong. The first movie was popular, the trailers for “1984” were compelling, and despite being finished and ready to launch, the movie was delayed repeatedly due to the pandemic. Despite positive anticipation, reviews were mixed and most reviews reported a flat experience. In the positive camp, people loved Gal Gadot’s performance as Wonder Woman and felt the villains were compelling. Others liked the plot line and thought it was a refreshing end to the disappointing movie year of 2020. Despite the optimism of a few, more people thought the movie fell flat and was not as good as they anticipated it to be. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 60% and IMDb gave the movie a 5.5 out of 10. One reviewer expressed “If you like the smell of fresh dog poop, this movie is for you...” Other reviewers that gave the movie bad reviews thought Gal Gadot was the only actor who delivered a strong performance and the storyline was unappealing. Further, they expressed that the main villain was not thought out well, the script was bad, the running time inflated, and it desperately needed editing. Overall, this movie fell flat from hitting the mark and disappointed the audience.