Finally! WW84 is coming to theaters (and HBO Max) after multiple delays and other hold ups. Funny enough, WW84 originally was slated for a December 2019 release, until it got pushed back to November 2019, in order to not compete with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Warner Bros. then decided to push film to June of 2020 considering that the first Wonder Woman was a smash hit in the summer of 2017. Come to the Spring of 2020, the entire movie industry is massively affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and WW84 had a handful of delays until the final straw was to set for a prime Christmas release for 2020. We were all led to believe that the movie would delayed in the summer of 2021 when it was announced that Jurassic World: Dominion got delayed all the way into the summer of 2022. Although, with the announcement of Warner Bros. delaying Dune to October of 2021, WW84 was to have the month of December all to itself, despite movie theaters being in a sticky situation. WW84 was also the first movie to be released both in theaters and on HBO MAX the same day, and it’s interesting to see how that plans out for the studio next year. With WW84 finally getting release to the public, it should also be worth pointing that it’s great to see Patty Jenkins back at the directors chair once more. Before the release of the first Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins hadn’t had a gig at directing anything for 14 years, until she finally got to helm one of the most culturally significant movies over the last 10 years. Where Wonder Woman was a captivating origin story in the body of an epic war movie, WW84 a straight up 80s movie, in the best way possible. WW84 is a grand, colorful, charming and action packed comic book thrill ride. Gal Gadot is improving as a lead and her chemistry with Chris Pine is once again heartwarming. Pedro Pascal & Kristen Wig are scene stealers and Patty Jenkins delivers another satisfying adventure. It does feel a bit messy, formulaic and a bit contrived, but it’s got everything you want.
Set after the events of the first Wonder Woman but also acting as a soft reboot for the character, WW84 sees Diana Prince living her life as quietly as possible in the decade of the 1980s — a decade known for its extreme fashions, such as “big hair”, new wave, punk rock, funk, or preppies. Diana maintains her image and powers by working a museum studying ancient artifacts and only performing heroic duties in incognito. Things start to change drastically for Diana when charismatic businessman, Maxwell Lord, threatens the existence of humanity. Diana must muster all of her strength, wisdom and heroism to square off against Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah, a villainess who possesses superhuman strength and agility.
First things first, WW84 isn’t as good as its predecessor. We like to live in a world where the we like inherently compare movies to other movies before judging the movie on its own terms, however, WW84 isn’t at the quality of the first one. Nevertheless, WW84 has a lot of great things going for it. Starting with the lead actress herself, Gal Gadot. When it was first announced of the casting, it was an odd and very unusual choice because Gadot was never really known from anything other than her role from the Fast & Furious movies, which were never known for their quality of acting. She mad a great impression with people in her small role in Batman v Superman, and the world fell in love with her in her first solo movie. In WW84, Gal Gadot is not only improving as Wonder Woman, but more as a lead. She displays more range of emotion, vulnerability and optimism in this sequel and she also dominates in the spectacular action set pieces. She physically commands the screen but she also commands it through her solid performance.
The action and stunt work in this movie is also a massive improvement. From the epic and towering opening sequence in Themyscira to the action sequences in the White House or Cairo, WW84 features spectacular and visceral action sequences that have emotion and high stakes. If you can see this movie in theater, the experience you will have will be more memorable due to the awe-inspiring scale that this has to offer. And what makes each action scene even better (even the quieter moments) is Hans Zimmer’s bombastic and enriching score. It’s sort of a shift from what Zimmer is normally known for, yet it still has the essence of a score by Hans Zimmer. His music is reminiscent to scores from Gladiator and something like Avatar, but with an 1980s spin on it. It’s a wonderful addition to his resume that’ll surely make fans of his supper happy.
Having Chris Pine back as the rogue WWI pilot left us with a question mark because of how impactful his death was in the first film. That said, his chemistry he has with Gal Gadot is one of the bright spots of both flicks. The relationship they have is sweet and full of heart and it’s easily one of the best parts of the sequel. While his role in the movie felt a bit extended and had to much of a focus on the other things that may have needed more development, Chris Pine crafts out another solid performance and shares an electrifying duo with Gal Gadot once more.
New comers Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wig have good things to offer but it’s where the issues start to come into play. Pedro Pascal has been impressing us with his role on The Mandalorian, among other roles outside of that franchise, and it seems like he’s having the time of his life playing a slimy businessman, and his performance is quite exciting and entertaining. His overall plan, narratively speaking, felt weak and very familiar and that’s something that the comic-book movie genre is trying move away from. Kristen Wig as the Cheetah, who’s maybe the best villain in Wonder Woman’s catalog, is also something that made us question such an odd casting. That’s not saying Kristen Wig isn’t talented because she certainly has great work under her belt. Her as the Cheetah is something that we never thought was something had the fit for due to her being more of a comedic actress. Wig gives a solid performance as the secondary villain and she pulls off the action scenes very well, it’s the focus of her development of her character felt almost like a after thought because of how much screen time Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have in a 2 and half hour run time. WW84 kind of overstays it’s welcome with its excessive runtime, which could have been trimmed down a lot. It almost seemed that movie was jumbling around an overload of things at once, that do end up making it bit messy.
With all the criticisms being engraved, WW84 is everything you want it to be. It’s action and stunt work is great, the music from Hans Zimmer is epic as usual and it’s full of emotion and heart, despite using familiarity. If you can watch it at home, go right head. But if you want to immersive yourself, go out to a theater immediately.
My grade for WW84: B+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 