Can ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Rescue Us From 2020’s Superhero Void?
To say that 2020 has been a weird year is a pretty big understatement. With all the turmoil and misery around us, it’s easy to want to escape into a big, loud, colorful movie. For the past several years, Marvel has provided that happy escapism for us with gigantic MCU mega-blockbusters that have us packing IMAX screens to be immersed in a world where good guys win and things work out in the end. But as the fate of cinemas is clouded in uncertainty, many of the bigger movies have been pushed back until next year. With Marvel holding Black Widow and New Mutants fizzling out during its pandemic release, our only hope for big, giant, comic book movie goodness in 2020 rests on the shoulders of DC’s Wonder Woman 1984, which is being released on HBO Max simultaneously with its big screen debut.
Picking up several decades after 2017’s Wonder Woman, we find Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) living in Washington, D.C. and working at the Smithsonian. She’s still trying to deal with the loss of her boyfriend, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and has devoted herself to fighting crime while trying to keep her existence a secret. Side note: I always forget that DC is still going with the secret identities for their cinematic heroes.
Diana is joined in cataloguing and restoring antiquities by a new employee, Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), who is meek and nebbish, but possesses a good heart underneath. She idolizes Diana and wants to be just like her. She gets her chance when a magic gem comes across her desk at the Smithsonian and she discovers that it grants wishes.
Of course, lots of people would want to grab such a gem and soon it falls into the hands of Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a failed oil tycoon who, in the true spirit of the 1980s, just wants to be rich and powerful, no matter the cost. Lord taps into the gem’s powers and soon starts becoming too powerful for his own good, leading to the possible destruction of humanity. You know, super villain stuff. Thankfully Diana and her wish-resurrected boyfriend Steve are on the case and set out to stop him before all hell breaks loose.
As far as superhero stories go, Wonder Woman 1984 isn’t breaking any new ground. The plot is really just a vehicle for big action set pieces and Gadot rocking stunning outfits. Even the CGI in the fight scenes feels a little more like that rubbery final battle in Black Panther than the cleaner, more photorealistic effects we’re used to seeing on the big screen. There are character moments that don’t quite land like you’d hope they would and story beats that feel like they were rushed in an effort to get to more action. We also get our fair share of “power of love” moments that can feel like a less elegant version of the corny hopefulness we get out of some of the weaker Marvel entries. This film knows what a superhero movie is supposed to do, so it does that, but not a whole lot more. But since the bar is set rather low for DC movies, that’s totally acceptable. We don’t necessarily need to reinvent the wheel, we can just keep the train of superhero cinema chugging along.
Like Wonder Woman 2017, this film also suffers from story bloat. At 151 minutes it makes you start to wonder if they’re trying to give you the most movie for your money rather than the best movie, but those stretched out runtimes have become kind of the trend in superhero cinema. Also similar to 2017’s entry, some of the CG in the big battle can feel like an old video game cutscene and not quite up to snuff, but it’s loud and big and that will be enough for most people, especially if you have a good sound system at home.
Where the movie succeeds most is in the performances. Wiig’s character is a little one-note, but she does bring her trademark awkward charm to the role and you empathize with her when she starts to go down a darker path. Still, the standout has to be Pascal, who looks like he’s having the time of his life villaining out as Lord. He’s giving us charming bullshitter, desperate dad, greedy businessman, unhinged psycho and everything in between. He’s a true highlight in every scene and I couldn’t help but wish some of the Diana and Steve moments were swapped with scenes of Lord just running around like a coked-up Wall Street dude and demanding that people tell him their wishes.
As I said up top, this has been a weird year for movies. Those old, reliable comic book blockbusters aren’t around to be a unifying cinematic experience for us and it’s left a weird void that can’t always be filled by Animal Crossing and The Mandalorian. In normal times, we might be a lot harsher to a movie like Wonder Woman 1984 because we’d be demanding the premium comic book movie experience we’re used to when we pack into a big, expensive theater, but at home, it’s easier to kick back, relax and enjoy the show. Even a run-of-the-mill superhero story can be fun when you get to watch it from the comfort of your couch. So don’t set your expectations too high and go have a good time watching Wonder Woman 1984 to enjoy a little of that escapism we’ve all been missing in this hellish year.
