Wonder Woman 1984 (Movie Review)

Wonder Woman 1984 is the sequel to the first Wonder Woman movie from 2017. It stars Gal Gadot reprising her role as Diana Prince. Others returning to their roles are Chris Pine as Steve Trevor and Patty Jenkins as director of the film. This time, Jenkins also wrote the screenplay together with Geoff Johns, former DC Chief Creative Officer, as well as Dave Callaham, who co-wrote the screenplay for Zombieland: Double Tap. The story takes place in 1984 Washington D.C. when Prince was working with the Smithsonian.

The return of Steve Trevor brought some comedic element to the movie, something which was minimal from the previous film. He also brought significant development to the Wonder Woman character which earlier made me have to rethink whether he should be in the movie or not. On the other hand, there are two main villains: Max Lord, played by Pedro Pascal (Mandalorian's Din Djarin), and Cheetah, played by Kristen Wiig (you might know her from 2016's Ghostbusters). Both of these characters are great in their own right and portrayed nicely by their respective performers. DC stories are always made better by the villains.

Personally, I think that the movie could work without Cheetah in the mix. Having two prominent villains made the the movie felt a bit rushed and lost some focus. The movie seems to try put too much Wonder Woman lore into one story. The golden Amazonian warrior armor of Asteria is an example. While it does seem that this armor plays an important role in the final showdown, why the armor is so important to Prince that she just happened to have it as part of her artifact collection seems like convenient plots which did not tie nicely to the main story. This is also true for another 'thing' in the movie revealed when Prince and Trevor was trying to get to Egypt. I seem to remember the same happened to another item from the first movie. But then again, if we really think about it, Batman didn't need reasons for all his Bat stuff.

Nevertheless, Wonder Woman 1984 is, in my opinion, a more enjoyable movie than its predecessor. The action sequences are ... well ... 'demi'-godlike. Most of the plots make sense and there are very strong characters in it. But it could have been better. I feel like the movie was enjoyable with the great performance of the cast, especially the villains and probably the excellent work of the director but I can't shake the feeling that the movie feels like it was written like a comic book.