It’s a huge change of pace for the comedian, and she rises to the occasion both physically and emotionally. But watching her stretch and develop into a villainous figure as the film progresses has its own joys. The role allows Wiig to deliver her lines with the sly, self-deprecating deadpan that’s her trademark it seems effortless but actually requires pinpoint precision. The chemistry she and Gadot share when they meet for drinks at happy hour, the Washington Monument gleaming behind them in the distance, made me wish they were starring in a mismatched buddy comedy instead. Kristen Wiig is subtly hilarious in these early scenes as the sweetly goofy, warmhearted researcher. But the two soon hit it off, because Barbara is also a misfit in her own way.
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Barbara Minerva arrives and meekly asks if she’d like to have lunch, Diana doesn’t quite know how to respond because she doesn’t really have friends. It’s the film’s most quietly moving moment.
(Costume designer Lindy Hemming plays off Gadot’s height and her character’s heritage by placing her in regal, drapey outfits that emphasize her length.) We see Diana sitting alone at a table at an outdoor cafe, smiling at passers-by, yearning to make a connection. Being ageless makes her a glamorous and elegant but lonely figure. (at The Watergate, amusingly) and working as an archaeologist at the Smithsonian, using her expertise and language skills to study ancient artifacts. Diana Prince is now living in Washington D.C. It is the film’s high point nothing else will match it in terms of visual cohesion or emotional impact.įlash forward to 1984. The memory also efficiently establishes Diana’s fearlessness and ability as well as the important lesson she learns about the nature of truth that will become relevant down the road. This whole section soars-the camerawork and editing put us right in the middle of the action, and Hans Zimmer’s score sweeps us along. As a girl on the magical island of Themiscyra (played once again by the poised and perfectly cast Lilly Aspell), she competes in an arduous challenge of strength and skill against women twice her age and height.
It’s a banal notion along the lines of “ Weird Science” and “Zapped!,” a cautionary tale in which fantasy fulfillment ultimately doesn’t deliver the satisfaction its characters expect.įar more compelling is the film’s opening sequence, a flashback to a pivotal moment in the life of young Diana, years before she’d become Wonder Woman. Its plot-driving device would be right at home in a high-concept comedy: an ancient stone that immediately grants you whatever you wish for, resulting in both wacky hijinks and massive catastrophes.
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(Also: breakdancing! What is that all about?) We’ll get to Steve in minute, and to the potentially intriguing idea his return represents.īut what’s also disappointing about the “WW84” screenplay is that it feels like it belongs to a movie that actually came out in the ‘80s. There’s even the obligatory trying-on-clothes montage to allow Chris Pine’s resurrected World War I pilot to marvel at the ridiculousness of parachute pants. Dalton Bookseller at the brightly-lit, triple-decker mall. Too often, though, the instinct in evoking that period is to wallow in obvious nostalgia-popped collars on pastel Polo shirts, a Centipede game at the arcade, a B. The story takes place at the height of Reagan-era conspicuous consumption, hence the title, but the point “WW84” is making about the destructive nature of avarice is certainly relevant today. And yet, the foundation of the script Jenkins co-wrote with Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham, based on William Moulton Marston’s original characters, is a pretty simple one: It’s an indictment of greed, of our entitled desire to have what we want and have it now. In the process, though, the quality that made the original film such a delight has been squashed almost entirely. Maybe that was inevitable, the urge in crafting a sequel to make everything wilder and brasher, more sprawling and complicated.
Gadot remains a winning and winsome figure in “Wonder Woman 1984,” and she retains her authentic connection with the audience, but the machinery around her has grown larger and unwieldy.
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