Nicole Aimone, Editor-in-Chief
It’s finally here! Yes, I’m talking about “Wonder Woman 1984”, what else would it be?
I have been long awaiting this movie for so, so long, pretty much since I left the theater of the original movie in 2017. While I had been looking forward to this movie for quite sometime (its release had been rescheduled a few times due to COVID-19 this year), I went into my at-home showing with some reservations because I saw some lackluster reviews from friends and internet sources prior.
Let me just tell you, those disappointed reviewers had it all wrong. I’ll be 100% honest, this next installment isn’t anything groundbreaking, actually, far from it. It really is your typical superhero movie, while the plot is just interesting enough to keep you for the two and a half hour long movie, it’s a pretty flat, predictable plot, conflict, resolution format that most movies in this genre follow. Buuuut, if you’re a fan of Wonder Woman, or major character development, this movie is for you.
I think that this movie was really cool if you’re a true fan of the Wonder Woman character because it really hones in on some major characteristics of both Wonder Woman and her alter-ego, Diana Prince, all while proving a moral point and debuting Wonder Woman’s nemesis in this iteration of films.
Without giving too much away, this film really works to develop the character of Diana, establish more of her story after losing the love of her life, Steve Trevor at the end of the first movie in this reboot of her story. In my opinion, this movie does a really good job of showing the “normal” side of superheroes, the life they live when they aren’t fighting crime or saving the world, really, we saw Diana Prince more than Wonder Woman in this film.
I think one of the more interesting aspects of this movie is how they manage to humanize a fierce amazonian demigod, showing that she herself struggles to do what’s right and struggles with finding herself after love lost.
If you’re a Wonder Woman fan, (in case you couldn’t already tell, I am), one of your favorite things about this movie is the callouts to some of “classic” features we think are pretty cool about her.
In the first movie, we got to see some really cool shots of how her minimal armor works and how she can use it to dodge bullets and such. In the newest movie, we see a deeper dive into her lasso of truth, we are introduced to her bad-girl counterpart, Cheetah, along with getting see a major development in Wonder Woman’s powers.
Overall, the plot of the movie wasn’t what made it interesting, it was the characters and overall franchise development that kept me interested in. Many of the reviews I saw made complaints that the movie lacked an 80s motif, despite being based in the middle of the decade. I will say, I do sort of agree, the movie really didn’t feel overtly 80s themed, it really could have been set in any decade, which was a missed opportunity for the filmmakers.
I think they could have really leaned into the 80s theme, used more 80s music, pop culture and style to make the movie a bit more interesting or enticing to a larger audience. Overall, a 4/5.
“Wonder Woman 1984” is available for viewing in theaters and for at-home streaming via HBO Max.