What has the marketing on Wonder Woman 1984 led you to believe? For me personally, I perceived that this would be a new story for Diana Prince set in an era with distinct fashion, music, and style. I'd argue the [very cool] poster above suggests something similar - a sequel with color and style that builds upon the original.
As is the case with most films in 2020, the road here hasn't been easy. In a way, WW84 is the sacrificial lamb of the pandemic, in a different way than Tenet was back in August. It's the first big blockbuster that's having a theatrical and streaming release (on HBO Max) at the same time. At least in the United States, for a lot of areas that means you only have HBO Max. It's an interesting approach that could have lasting future implications. Especially given that this is the highly anticipated sequel to what I'd consider probably one of the best "origin" stories (or first film of a particular superhero) this side of Iron Man. The original Wonder Woman had just that: wonder. Almost everything about the film clicked and even the 3rd act CGI battle wasn't as detrimental as many claim. Anticipation was high to see the sequel that kept Gadot in the role, Patty Jenkins in the director chair, advanced the film to a fun time period, and added stars like Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig.
So why then was I so disappointed with the end result? Why is Wonder Woman 1984 such a big step down from its iconic predecessor? Well, my dear reader, the answer has many specifics.
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| I'm guessing he won't be back, so the third film will miss Pine |
The first issue I had with WW84 was that my aforementioned question about the marketing seemed to have indicated one expectation while we got the opposite. Aside from a handful of scenes and general fashion, there's almost nothing 80s about Wonder Woman 1984. What's even more shocking is that this almost feels intentional - for some crazy reason - and I found even the original film had more of an accurate "vibe" of the time period than this one where the time period is right there in the title. A major factor in this is the original score that is almost completely void of 80's music where you'd expect synthesizer's etc. (look to Stranger Things for a perfect example). And - I cannot believe I'm saying this as it feels sacrilegious - it even feels like Hans Zimmer phones it in, aside from a few key moments. Combine this with the fact that there's not a single 80s song in the entire soundtrack and you have what feels like a massive missed opportunity. It's one of those missed opportunities that kind of blows my mind actually because it feels like such an obvious choice and the thought of having an 80s-based score or a 80s-hit-during-a-fight-scene is one that we don't get here. 
I'd let Gal Gadot kick my a**.
Don't even care!
There's also a lot of issues I have with the plot as it quickly devolves into a convoluted mess about people making wishes for our main villain, him granting them, then taking things from them...it's all overly complicated from what's originally introduced. The script doesn't help matters here because it's a bunch of generic "bad guy" take-over-the-world talk with very little time actually being spent describing the rules of this wish-granting plot. That begins to really hurt the film later as it just feels like new rules are being created left and right. I'll avoid specific examples in favor of not having spoilers, but suffice it say I have at least 3-4 big ones. This is a particularly egregious error because A) it makes the film feel really dumb and B) at 2.5 hours long, it had plenty of time to do so.
Perhaps I'm holding the original film in too high regard, but I don't believe so as it was genuinely incredible and I've learned to forgive it more for the CGI-fest at the end. In that regard - and even disconnected from the first film - WW84 seems like a miss. There's enough to enjoy here, especially after a year barren of major blockbusters, but it's a hollow experience. The main plot is pretty dumb and can't keep track of its own rules and despite the "1984" being in the title, there's very little about this film that feels distinctly "80s" when the opportunity was there to double down on that style. Sadly, Wonder Woman 1984 is yet another disappointment in 2020.
CONS
- The setting in the 80s is barely taken advantage of, particularly with the music. Shockingly, this feels phoned in by Zimmer and...do we ever actually hear the Wonder Woman theme? Maybe one time?
- A plot about making wishes through a particular person gets overly complicated from how its originally introduced and the rules just continue to change left and right
- No "wow" action pieces. There's nothing close to the original's "No Man's Land" scene in here
- Some fake-looking special effects which seems unacceptable when your first film makes $1B
- Overly long. I couldn't really tell you why it's 2.5 hours long
- Gadot is still an iconic Wonder Woman and she's the best hero the DCEU has right now
- Pine's return is fun and adds comedic relief as he's the "fish out of water" this time
- Pascal and Wiig are interesting characters and they put a lot into their performances, despite whatever script issues there are
- Moments of Zimmer's original score sing
- Gadot and Pine's romance feels frustratingly unexplored, but yet the strongest component of this series. There's something about it that is highly compelling to me and it leads to one of the film's best scenes in 84
- Some of the action is still great and features cool stunts
- Fun, big sequel that misses a lot of marks, but still offers a good time
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