Movie Night: Wonder Woman 1984

 We loved the first Wonder Woman movie and liked this follow up, Wonder Woman 1984.  Gal Gadot plays Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman and as the last film ends at the end of World War I with Steve Trevor's death (Wonder Woman's love interest), this film picks up over 50 years later. For those who don't know, Diana is an Amazon, and they don't age (that was explained). In today's review you'll read about our thoughts (all good) on character development, plot, pacing, villains, and the bottom line). Read on! >>>

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT - Unlike last week's abysmal film (Nomadland), Wonder Woman 1984 does show you how the character grew up on the Grecian Paradise Island (Themscyria) in a race of Amazon women (no men). It explains how the fled barbaric men, and taught themselves how to be warriors- which is where Wonder Woman learned her skills. (I will say that the first 30 minutes could have been cut to 15 - covering Amazon olympic games with Diana as a girl). The director also made you really like Barbara - even after bad stuff. In addition, they put Diana Prince in a job as an archaeologist for the Smithsonian museum, complementing her background living around Greek gods and goddesses. 

THE VILLAINS - The writers used a "gift" from a twisted Greek God but there was a cost to those who used it. It was a clever way to bring the Steve Trevor character back. The villains were straight out of the comic books, Power-mad Maxwell Lord (who was a nobody until he stole the gift); and Wonder Woman's classic villain, the Cheetah. Yes, we even cared about the villains!

PACING - The Amazon opening scene went on too long, and some of Max Lord's ramblings were too much. But, it was great to see Steve Trevor trying to understand 1984 - coming from 1918. That was very, very well done. Of course, so were the Wonder Woman fighting scenes. We LOVED the shopping mall scene...

BONUS: They gave a great take on Wonder Woman's Invisible robot plane. Glad to see that worked in there!  

BOTTOM LINE: It was a good movie. We paid attention (I didn't read my book, or turn off the movie); We enjoyed the action, cared about the characters (and Max Lord was convincingly annoying - just as he was in the comics). Definitely a B to B+ movie. 

ABOUT THE MOVIE: Diana Prince lives quietly among mortals in the vibrant, sleek 1980s -- an era of excess driven by the pursuit of having it all. Though she's come into her full powers, she maintains a low profile by curating ancient artifacts, and only performing heroic acts incognito. But soon, Diana will have to muster all of her strength, wisdom and courage as she finds herself squaring off against Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah, a villainess who possesses superhuman strength and agility.

VIDEO TRAILER: https://youtu.be/sfM7_JLk-84