Gal Gadot squeezes into Diana Prince's iconic Amazonian armour once again for a bombastic sequel starring the likes of Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal.
With director Patty Jenkins at the helm once again (and serving as cowriter alongside Geoff Johns), Wonder Woman 1984 (or WW84 as the title card reveals) skips forward 70 years and catches up with Diana Prince in Reagan-era America.Living in Washington DC and working at the Smithsonian Museum, Diana has spent decades fighting evil as Wonder Woman and quietly keeping to herself to herself, while mourning the loss of her love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine).
After an opening action sequence set in a monument to 1980s excess – a glossy, multi-storey mall – we're introduced to Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a meek geologist who idolises Diana, and Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a struggling yet charismatic oil baron. Plus, much to Diana's surprise, her beloved beau Steve has returned from beyond the grave – so she sets out to find out why and how.
That's a rough sketch of WW84's plot, because let me tell you – it's a complicated one. After that initial skirmish at the mall, the action is largely sidelined while Diana and Steve reacquaint themselves, investigate Maxwell Lord and discover the sinister origins of a magical gemstone with the power to grant wishes. It's a detour into detective work that sees Wonder Woman absent from the film for a good 45 minutes in the second act; your mileage may vary on whether that's a good thing or not.
For me, it was a mixed bag. On the one hand, Gadot and Pine share palpable onscreen chemistry that can be found in any and every scene they share. This elongated second act takes the time to explore this relationship in new and interesting ways – even if a couple of the plot machinations that have made Pine's reappearance possible left me scratching my head.
On the other hand, the lack of action means the pacing suffers. At two-and-a-half hours, WW84 can feel like a slog – and that's before we arrive at the embarrassingly bad third act smackdown with Wiig's fearsome Jellicle Cheetah glimpsed in the trailers. With terrible CGI that conjures memories of Tom Hooper's Cats (and choppy editing used to hide it), this climactic fight is one of the worst in recent blockbuster memory.
The Verdict: 5/10
Sadly, Wonder Woman 1984 fails to live up to the hype. A complicated story, lethargic runtime and some incoherent action means this misfiring sequel lacks the energy or excitement of its predecessor.
Wonder Woman 1984 is in cinemas across Australia now.
Our views are pretty similar on this one. Gadot and Pine are good together, but most everything else is a chore to watch.
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