Wonder Woman 1984 Goes for the Gold

Wonder Woman 1984 ups the ante from the first Wonder Woman movie. The super powered team of director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot have reunited for the sequel and have a lot to prove. Will lightning strike twice for the amazon hero or will she hit a sophomore slump? In this case, there's a little of both. 

Our adventure begins on the island of Themyscira as a very young Diana competes against older amazons for prestige and glory. The opening scene will remind viewers why the film was pushed back and meant to be seen on the big screen. It's beautifully shot and obviously a large amount of money was spent creating it.

One surprise was that instead of the Cheetah character being introduced during this contest as she was in the comic books, we meet her later at the Smithsonian Institute where Diana works. Barabara Ann Minerva is played by Kristin Wiig, who brings her dry wit to the complicated misfit introvert.  

We really get to see a softer and kinder side to Diana as she treats Minerva as a human being instead of a mortal enemy. It's quite refreshing to see the Cheetah not as a typical movie super villian. The other antagonist for Wonder Woman is a businessman named Maxwell Lord played by Chilean actor Pedro Pascal. Fresh from a successful gig as The Mandalorian, Pascal plays an unusual character that also doesn't fit the bad guy norm that's usually depicted in comic films. Geoff Johns comes from a background of writing comics and it shows as he smartly adds in parts of the story that will please fans, such as an invisibly jet, Wonder Woman's classic skirt and Lord's gross bloody noses when using his powers. 

Gadot is once again beautiful and magnetic as the princess and the lasso is almost a character on its own. There are some breathtaking visuals such as the first scene already mentioned and flying in the jet later in the film. 

The movie is too long though and could have easily been cut down. Do we really need her love interest to return? Why does it take all that time see Cheetah bare her claws? Is the next movie in the franchise going to be set in 1994? 

While we don't know the answers to these questions, we do know that Wonder Woman 1984 will most likely break at home viewing records over the holiday season. 

People are looking for an escape right now and many had a family tradition of going to the movie theater after Christmas dinner. Warner Bros is pulling out all the stops for this to be the movie to see on Christmas Day, even at a home theater. Wonder Woman 1984 will certainly please many longtime fans and younger kids at the same time. I expect to see drag queens dressing in gold outfits similar to Diana for many years to come after watching this. 

Diana goes for the gold, but doesn't quite win the competition. Wonder Woman 1984 could have been more, but it's not bad for a second film with a third film already in the works, she at least earns a silver star.  

WW84 is available 12/25 in some theaters and on HBO Max.