Will 'WW84' Get the Eighties Right?

The crown jewel of the Amazon is set to return to the silver screen, and I can't wait.

The trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 - aka WW84 - dropped at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil a few days ago, and according to YouTube, has already notched 14 million views, and deservedly so. From the thumping beat of New Order's "Blue Monday" to the flashes of neon and the then-cool fashions, anyone who was a teen or preteen in the 1980s will feel wave after wave of nostalgia.

It's not just the flashbacks to my own misspent youth that leaves me anticipating the new Wonder Woman flick. Perhaps it's something of a girl crush, but I think Gal Gadot is absolutely awesome. Hers is a Wonder Woman whose strength comes through in the way she walks and talks, and for goodness' sake, she doesn't need to twirl to transform, as Lynda Carter did four decades ago. Don't get me wrong, Gadot is stunningly beautiful, as an Amazonian princess should be. However, her beauty comes secondary to her convictions and her willingness to fight for those who can't fight for themselves. Really, she's an idealized being, a version of ourselves that in many ways we should all strive for: willing to fight for those who have no voice, treating others with kindness and compassion, and willing to stand up for what's right.

One of the biggest surprises is that we are treated to Chris Pine's return as Steve Trevor, and director Patty Jenkins said at CCXP that his return is no gimmick. In all honesty, I did not expect to see him until the second trailer, but given Pine's popularity, I'm not entirely shocked that the decision was made to have him make an appearance in this trailer. The fact that he's wearing a fanny pack - something that most of us '80s kids owned at one point or another - left a big grin on my face. I can only hope that Diana is not so soon separated from her love, as it felt like she was in the first Wonder Woman film.

What intrigued me is what appeared to be a flashback to Diana's youth, probably through a training simulation. Given Robin Wright, according to imdB.com, is set to reprise her role as Antiope, one could only hope we will see the fierce general doing what she does best - fighting, or training her Amazonian warriors to fight. While we were treated to flashes of Diana's youth on Themyscira in the original Wonder Woman film, we might very well get a glimpse of Diana as a young child, going through more in depth training than we ever saw in the original film.

Finally, there's Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva, or Cheetah. Wiig has been best known for her comic roles, so the prospect of her taking on the role of a villain is kind of exciting. Plus, Jenkins has said that she did the best she could to keep the CGI to a minimum, in keeping with the way that many films were done in the 1980s. As such, according to Deadline, rather than doing CGI for Wiig's makeup as Cheetah, the filmmaker said that they tried to use mostly makeup in bringing Cheetah to life. Such efforts will definitely make for an interesting result when we ultimately see cinema's first version of Cheetah in June of next year.

What's always present, though, is impressive action sequences. The few short glimpses audiences received of the action to come in the movie certainly hinted that the action was going to be just as intense as it was in the first Wonder Woman film. From moments when Wonder Woman is literally riding a bolt of lightning to moments when she is deflecting bullets with her bracelets, there is no shortage of intense, rollicking action sequences.

Wonder Woman 1984 hits theaters June 5, 2020. It's going to be a wild ride.