My Review of "Wonder Woman 1984"

Wonder Woman 1984 was one of the big box office movies that was supposed to come out in theatres in 2020 but was delayed and eventually released via video on demand. There's a big controversy with its release because it marks a change in the direction of how Hollywood would release their titles during the pandemic.

There was also a lot of controversy with the movie with a huge group of people telling me it wasn't a good movie. I liked the movie and couldn't imagine it being that bad. After I saw it, I didn't have the same opinion as they did.

The movie starts off obviously in 1984. A lot of fun is had in the atmosphere of the set. We have the 80's fashions and trends all over the place and this movie tends to have fun with a lot of it. Not only that they satirize a lot of the attitude of the era. Those that lived during the 80's will remember a time of gluttony. It was a more innocent time when people didn't understand concepts that we hold so dear today. Things like recycling, the environment and equal rights were present back in the day but not to the level they are today.

We see a small time jewelry heist at a local mall. It looks like a general jewelry heist but in the back they have some priceless artifacts. One can ask why there's such a black market organization in a public mall but with movies like this you have to throw logic out the window sometimes.

Of course the bumbling thieves get found out but things escalate quickly when one of the henchmen freaks out about getting caught again. He takes a child hostage and that's when Wonder Woman (Diana Prince) comes in for the rescue. She takes out the criminals with ease while protecting everyone from getting hurt (even the criminals themselves).

This is the catalyst that starts off the movie because one of the items that the thieves tried to steal was a wishing stone. Barbara Minerva an employee at the museum Diana works at is responsible for analyzing it for the FBI. We learn that Barbara is often overlooked and ignored by everyone. She wishes to become Diana while Diana wishes to have her only love, Steve Trevor back. Both get their wishes unknowingly from the stone but when they find out it's too late.

A villain by the name of Max Lord has taken the stone and wished for himself to have the ability of the stone making him incredibly powerful. As with anything, something that seems too good to be true might actually be correct. We start to see the dire circumstances of their wishes and things go from zero to a hundred real quick.

I thought that the 80's setting of the movie was actually perfect because it's a time stereotypically linked to greed and gluttony. That's not to say it wouldn't have worked in today's timeline but for Diana it makes more sense. If we used today's setting it would have conflicted with the Snyder universe depiction of Wonder Woman.

In the 80s, Diana is still somewhat doe eyed to what's going on in the world. She sees the good in things and the only loss that she's ever had was Steve so you can understand her motivations in bringing him back. Well it's a stretch because I don't think she knew him for that long. Still it makes a little more sense than it would have if the events took place after the Justice League movie.

Barbara and Max Lord's stories make sense as well. The two have motivations that make sense and are somewhat relatable. Back in the 80's there wasn't really as much of a perception that people were faking their success as we are aware today. Max simply wanted this sort of lifestyle and lost his way in obtaining it. The same sort of goes with Barbara and she really liked her lifestyle after her wish.

It's human nature to want more pleasure and less pain. This movie is an exploration of the circumstances of what we actually want in life. What are the circumstances in the grand scheme of things when we strive for our successes? We have a "grass is greener on the other side" mentality when we think of our dreams and wishes. Sometimes we have to reflect to realize that we're in the right place at the right time right now.

The special effects are over the top and for the most part they look great. It is after all a pretty big budget movie that was meant for the theatres. This definitely shows with a lot of realistic looking CGI and action sequences.

There is a big of questioning behind Diana's powers at certain points. They technically didn't have to feature these things in this movie to cut the run time of the movie shorter. It is a pretty long movie at two and a half hours. In this movie she gains a number of new powers that as an audience member have never seen before. Some of the powers I understand are based on her comic book but they sort of make things a little ridiculous.

There's one power in particular that she explores in this movie that I don't know why they added. If she had this specific power back in 1984 then why the heck did she not use these powers in the movies that she starred in based on today's timeline? It would have been very useful for her to use too! I can see why some people would have griped about this.

Overall, I had a good time watching this movie. I don't see what the hate is for this movie other than maybe the new powers she gains. Even then the DC universe is all based in different dimensions so really they can write it out later on. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It is a bit long but overall it was a fun time that can uplift your mood.