DC: Wonder Woman 1984 had so much more to offer

When we hear Wonderwoman, what comes to mind is Diana, in all her glory and strength, swinging her ropes of persuasion or using her bracelets for bullet deflection, but that wasn’t the case in WonderWoman 1984.

Slow Opening

The movie was off to a slow start as the movie opening lasted for almost twenty minutes.

The opening had these main scenes,

The first scene where we see ten-year-old Diana, played by (Lily Aspell) participate in the amazon games, this was a good backstory reveal for people who haven’t seen Wonderwoman (2017)

We see little Diana hop on dangerous poles, ride a horse through the wild, sliding through tunnels and other amazon game stuff, which is thrilling to watch. First, it shows us how much strength and potential Diana had been growing on from a young age and then it gives her these endless possibilities in the hero world. We see her fighting a bunch of petty thieves at a mall. Fast forward to the present day. I was like, what?!

First of all, with her prowess, Diana should be facing off more scary opponents than a gang of petty thieves robbing a mall. Secondly, it felt as if the scene was forced, as it had no relevance to the storyline or the character’s journey; it was as if the production team was like, “Hey, let us shoot a scene just to fill in the opening”. Thirdly, the mall scene was a poor follow-up from the first amazon games scene they made us watch.

Also, anybody else here noticed the resemblance of the mall scene with Netflix’s Stranger Things season 2 Episode 8 (Battle of Starcourt); maybe that’s to reflect they were indeed in the ’80s.

The rising action introduces Maxwell lord (Pedro Pascal) as the main villain (cheetah) (Kristen wig) and finally a familiar face, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). Due to Diana’s wish on a wish stone, Steve returns, a significant catalyst for the Wonder Woman 1984 plot. Plot twist! Maxwell lord seeks to wield this stone to change the world in his way, which in reality is a dumb reason, but it is justified by his pledge to make his little son proud, which is supposed to ignite empathy from a bored audience.

WonderWoman

Shallow Character Arcs

Maxwell Lord’s character is crafted to stand out from regular villains who are evil for no reason but poorly executed. However, once again, I see another similarity, this time with Lex Luthor, as both men seek to attain and control powers beyond their position.

On the other hand, Barbara evolved from this sweet colleague to Wonder Woman arch-nemesis ‘Cheetah’ due to misogyny and the frustration of women abuse. And for Steve, his sole existence in Wonder Woman 1984 served as a plot complication for Diana. And this made it impossible for him to be seen as a unique character in his own right.

Good Humor

Another story element infused in the movie was humor. The scene where Steve tries many outfits and when Maxwell lord finally renounced his wish due to Diana's convincing speech gave out effortless laughter.

Guns are no match for Wonder Woman.

There were also good moments in the movie, like when gun violence was condemned by Diana once again fighting rogue armed men, Or when she and Steve travelled to stop Maxwell lord from using the wish power on random people, The fight scene and how Diana dealt with those armored trucks single-handedly reminded us how strong Diana really is.

Nevertheless, there was still a washout in one scene where she had to save two kids from the road from the moving cars. No one gets pulled up into the air by a giantess and doesn’t scream. Even after she fell with the kids, they were still quiet. That’s unconvincing.

Another highlight in WW1984 is Diana’s battle with her comic rival, ‘cheetah’. Diana wore the armor gear that belonged to a fallen amazon warrior. However, with the post-credits, it is revealed this Amazonian hero is still alive, performing valiant deeds.

Diana won the battle, the same as the entire storyline, as she saved the world by convincing Maxwell to stop his evil plans. This was an unusual approach that left a disappointing taste on some fans. Perhaps DC intends to preach violence isn’t the only resolution to hero-villain conflicts, that even the stubborn heart can be penetrated with love.

Inconclusive Plot, Possible Sequel?

The movie ends as we see Diana swing her ropes through the clouds, which is grand to view, but quite the opposite of most of the events contained in this 2 hour, 30 minutes comic adaptation. Or the closing hints that more extensive adventures in the franchise are coming genuinely worthy of being titled wonder-woman.

Paying attention to the close-up photography shots and color grading, Wonder Woman 1984 appears to be a tribute to superhero movies made in the ’80s. Perhaps Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns intended to take us back to a memorable time away from the moras of 2020 in which the film was released.

Similar to the original Wonder Woman (2017), 1984 ends with a lot of unanswered questions. As of now, it is not sure if everyone renounced their not so pure wishes. The particle accelerator explosion in the Arrowverse was the inciting incident for a lot of character arcs. Could the ending of Wonder Woman 1984 be the foundation of countless DC heroes and villains character arcs? In Wonder Woman 3, we’ll find out. Hopefully, it outperforms this.

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Israel Olorunnisola is a freelance creative. When he is not writing about Film, Music, TV or Pop culture he is telling stories on Wattpad.

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