Wonder Woman 1984

[Barry]

      Wonder Woman 1984

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Wonder Woman movie and wished for a second one. But be careful for what you wish for, you may get it. I just viewed Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max on my Amazon Firestick.

First the image was fine, but I found the audio to be troubling. It may be the firestick, but the dialogue was a bit hard to understand and the Dolby sound was not very good.

Wonder Woman, as with almost all DC heroes, was created during WW II. This was very convenient for writers because you always had Nazis as villains. They se the first movie during the first World War so the German were automatically enemies. I mention this because they work hard throughout the movie to create villains worth Wonder Woman’s time.

In the sequel we get much less of Wonder Woman and more of Diana.  I have to say I was a bit bored for the first 90 minutes. As in the first movie, the last half hour has to be a super-hero battle and this one was also. I found it not very interesting. The entire plot, reminiscent of the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw” involves a man who can magically grant wishes to everyone and attempts a take-over of the world. It had, for me, none of the magic or relevance of the first movie.

Silly gripes:
1. In comics and in movies, death mean nothing. Steve Trevor died in the first movie, what the hell is he doing here? This is so common in comics and comic book movies.
2. Diana does not want to date, but goes to a party dressed to kill. Why?
3. No one knew Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman, so he hides her identity throughout this movie.

The actors are good. For 1984 the special effects here are spectacular. For 2020 they are just okay.
Conclusion: If it is free watch it. Maybe 2 out of four stars.

[TRainH2O]

I was planning on watching it over the weekend but I will make an adjustment in my expectations. As always, thanks for the review and the historical background, Barry.

[tripplej]

Thanks Barry. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

I will watch it as well but with very low expectations.

[Barry]

Merry Christmas and a sage new year to you. To everyone, be safe!

[David Vaughn]

Thanks Barry. I'll wait until it comes out on disc, but like most DC movies, I'll go in with very low expectations. 

Merry Christmas!

[bmoney]

Not terrible. But not as good as the first by any means. Way too long. Terrible villains. 

Just meh. Picture was hit and miss. Some great shots some soft and muted. Sound was average. 

Not bad for free though. 

[Paul Heroy]

Agreed, this was a very underwhelming follow up to the fantastic first movie. The villains were very weak. The story felt messy and like it was trying to do a few things that didn't get developed thematically very well. 

There were a few laughs and entertaining moments. There is a mid credit scene that was a nice bit of fan service. And I was worried about the first 4K title to stream on HBOMax having issues but I didn't have any. Agreed that the sound was not great either, I had similar issues as Barry with dialog at times being very hard to understand. (This seems to be way more common that it should be these days. )

[AVSCraig]

Not terrible. But not as good as the first by any means. Way too long. Terrible villains.

Just meh. Picture was hit and miss. Some great shots some soft and muted. Sound was average.

Not bad for free though.

Not really free though, now is it ? HBO Max + Amazon Prime ( using my Firestick 4K ) = $ 287.76 a year. I'm wondering if the poor audio is a streaming issue ?  

[tripplej]

I saw this movie as part of a double feature. We also saw Disney Pixar "Soul" on Disney Plus.

1984 was ok, nothing to rave out.

But on the on the other hand, Definitely check out "Soul" on Disney Plus if you have that streaming channel. 10x better.

[Paul Heroy]

I had 2 other people tell me yesterday to watch Soul. Definitely looking to do so soon. 

I have HBOMax included “free” as part of my AT&T gigabit fiber service, and have a “in perpetuity” $40 discount on that. So WW84 did feel free for me, so got my money’s worth lol. 

[Barry]

I saw this movie as part of a double feature. We also saw Disney Pixar "Soul" on Disney Plus.

1984 was ok, nothing to rave out.

But on the on the other hand, Definitely check out "Soul" on Disney Plus if you have that streaming channel. 10x better.

Will do that today. Thanks

[Barry]

Just thought of this:

 I did not hate the movie, but I didn’t like it too much either. 

A point I haven’t seen brought up is that this is essentially a TIME TRAVELLING movie. Diana travels unchanged 70 years into the future. She is exactly the same person we last saw in 1917, both physically, intellectually and emotionally. Now she has lived through WW 2, The Viet Nam and Korean wars, the birth of Television, the Space Race, The Civil Rights movement, but this is the exact same Dian we left at the end of the first movie.

Apparently, she has not found love or companionship and only finds in a fictional representation of her old boyfriend.

Diana did not develop or move on. She is as beautiful as ever, but, in many ways, is less of a person not gaining knowledge or understanding of others…and herself. When I saw the first movie, I thought she would be the new “Christopher Reeve” of the DC universe. Not so much here.

[AVSCraig]

Just thought of this:

I did not hate the movie, but I didn’t like it too much either.

A point I haven’t seen brought up is that this is essentially a TIME TRAVELLING movie. Diana travels unchanged 70 years into the future. She is exactly the same person we last saw in 1917, both physically, intellectually and emotionally. Now she has lived through WW 2, The Viet Nam and Korean wars, the birth of Television, the Space Race, The Civil Rights movement, but this is the exact same Dian we left at the end of the first movie.

Apparently, she has not found love or companionship and only finds in a fictional representation of her old boyfriend.

Diana did not develop or move on. She is as beautiful as ever, but, in many ways, is less of a person not gaining knowledge or understanding of others…and herself. When I saw the first movie, I thought she would be the new “Christopher Reeve” of the DC universe. Not so much here.

Interesting thoughts. Seems that there are a few Gods or god like characters in the Marvel movies that are some what stunted emotionally too. You guys sure aren't making me want to run out and watch this.

[bmoney]

Def give it a watch. There are much worse movies out there. Just not up to the first films standard 

[Paul Heroy]

A point I haven’t seen brought up is that this is essentially a TIME TRAVELLING movie. Diana travels unchanged 70 years into the future. She is exactly the same person we last saw in 1917, both physically, intellectually and emotionally. Now she has lived through WW 2, The Viet Nam and Korean wars, the birth of Television, the Space Race, The Civil Rights movement, but this is the exact same Dian we left at the end of the first movie.

Apparently, she has not found love or companionship and only finds in a fictional representation of her old boyfriend.

Diana did not develop or move on. She is as beautiful as ever, but, in many ways, is less of a person not gaining knowledge or understanding of others…and herself. When I saw the first movie, I thought she would be the new “Christopher Reeve” of the DC universe. Not so much here.

I'm not sure I understand the first paragraph and then following ones. In your thesis, did she or did she not actually live through the nearly 70 years and experience those major events? When you say "lived through" do you mean did NOT live through them? 

I can see what you mean about potentially being the Superman / Reeve of DC, the first movie was great and I felt she really embued the character with a lot of warmth. They did give some development to that side with her taking time to use her powers for "common" crime not just super villains. 

At any rate, sure it's not the worst movie but there was a lot of room to be better. A LOT.