Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Chris Pine
Intro:
...a bloated film without any plot foundation.
Wonder Woman 1984 is set to the backdrop of a sleek, hyper-stylised 1980s, where businesses are driven by consumerist obsession. Directed by Patty Jenkins, it takes places almost 70 years after the events of Wonder Woman, in which Diana, and her alter ego, has remained reclusive other than preventing the odd petty crime.
As Reaganite economics looms large, new enemies emerge through Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) – a huckster businessman emblematic of the greed in that time period. He initially appears as a snake oil salesman on television advertisements promoting positive thinking. In reality, his business ventures, as well as the relationship with his own son, is in tatters.
The plot is further entangled with Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a socially awkward archaeologist who struggles to make friends. Wiig imbues a clumsiness early on, as she drops her briefcase and papers fly everywhere, to being ignored at her workplace, that effectively work to garner sympathy. She stumbles into Diana’s sphere and provides a warmth and friendship to her that feels like a genuine growth for both characters.
Barbara shapes as being the central figure in the film’s first half, only to be usurped by a bombastic and thinly fleshed-out Max Lord. These two competing character arcs tenuously intersect in a way that muddles the film’s core message regarding greed.
Jenkins, who wrote the script as well as directed, injects fantasy through a magical stone that grants any wish to function as a kind of metaphor for excessive greed and capitalism. However, it derails any semblance of a point as Barbara uses her wish to be like Diana. However, her latent envy of Diana’s beauty and strength unwittingly morphs her into an “apex predator”, otherwise known as Cheetah. Her sudden jolt to becoming Wonder Woman’s enemy results in a literal catfight which not only confuses the social commentary on avarice, but also seems to retract the feminist launchpad the first film prided itself on.
By contrast, Max Lord contains Trumpian hues in his quest to be “number one”, with expensive double-breasted suits and a dyed blonde quaff hairstyle. Pascal’s exaggerated expressions almost appear as if the actor is trying desperately to conjure some passion into a character that is simply hollow. Furthermore, his inexplicable side quests to Middle Eastern countries to strike oil deals with no consequence on Diana/Wonder Woman’s arc feels indicative of a bloated film without any plot foundation.
