WW84!

I absolutely loved the first Wonder Woman movie. My girls and I were enthralled with it in the theater in its original run in 2017, and we were muchly entertained when we screened it at home just before diving into the new one. I will confess the early glimpses had shaken my confidence and sadly I must agree with the majority that this is not nearly as good a movie as its predecessor. Mostly it seems to substitute sentiment for true cathartic pathos and frankly much of the film, especially early on confused the crap out of me. More after some spoiler cautions. 

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. 

It took me longer than it should've to figure out that Pedro Pascal's frenetic Max Lord in this story was a parody of Donald Trump, but when I finally did, I began to get a grip on what was being put forth in the film, at least in terms of theme. The wish stone which is the focus of all the action is miserably explained and its connection to longtime Wonder Woman foe the Duke of Deception was all but incoherent. This movie falls in a place no story should, in that its expository set up utterly fails and that makes the rest of the tale, no matter how filled with kinetic hijinks just plain activity and not storytelling. 

I was much better pleased by the Cheetah than I expected. I thought the comedic actress Kristen Wiig cast in the role looked too goofy in the bits I'd seen before the movie to have the gravitas to give WW a suitable contest. That's taken care of as the Cheetah's slow steady transformation is interesting to follow, if as confusing at times as much of the rest of the film. I was much reminded of Michelle  Pfieffer's turn as Catwoman in Batman Returns. And while I'm at it, I didn't mind Chris Pine's return, though after the fashion jokes there wasn't much for him to do really. As I mentioned to my daughters, the resurrection of Steve Trevor is a Wonder Woman staple. 

I enjoyed the appearance of the invisible plane and it was curious to see Wonder Woman learn to fly. This time the sequences reminded me of the vintage Christopher Reeve Superman sequences in which he and Lois kite around. Since this movie was set in 1984 these references to the earlier franchises might well have been intentional, but they affected the tone of the movie to its detriment. 

And along those lines, the image of Paradise Island reminded me more of Hogwarts than a remote isle filled with the tenacious warrior women we'd met in earlier films. The Amazons in the stands watching the competition (which it should be noted most of which they could not see) looked more like giddy college girls than deadly dames of daring and do. And the costumes the contestants wore were fuck awful, leftover remnants from those teen dystopias like Hunger Games. 

And what is up with Wonder Woman's lasso. She's been in four movies now and this is the first one in which the lasso operated more like Spider-Man's webbing than an actual rope of a certain length. She seemed able to make it twitch and jump at her command and it reached out as long as necessary to do what needed doing to make that particular scene work. 

On the upside, Gal Gadot was just as ravishing as Wonder Woman as she has been in every appearance so far. Only the aforementioned Chris Reeve captured the totality of his character as effectively, at least in terms of pure looks. She is a stunning woman to watch and if they just made a movie of her walking around in those slinky gowns and whatnot, I'dl likely buy a ticket. But then I'd know not to expect a coherent story with that. 

HERE ENDETH THE SPOILERS.

 

All in all Wonder Woman 84 is a big glossy colorful disappointment. I wish it were more coherent as a story. But truth is it ain't. Maybe they'll get it right the next time. 

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