Wonder Woman 1984 (UHD Blu-ray) review

[David Vaughn]

Studio: Warner
Release Date: March 30, 2021
Rating: PG-13
Film: 2/5
 
Plot
The fate of the world is once more on the line, and only Wonder Woman can save it. This new chapter in the Wonder Woman story finds Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) living 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, curating ancient artifacts and only performing her superheroic acts incognito. But now, Diana will have to step directly into the spotlight and muster all her wisdom, strength and courage in order to save mankind from a world of its own making.
 
My Thoughts
I was never a comic book reader growing up so my exposure to the DC Universe has come through cartoons, TV shows and movies. From those different mediums, I have generally enjoyed the characters—particularly Batman (yes, even the original campy TV show) and Superman, and I do admit to watching the Wonder Woman TV show. Although I was too young to realize it at the time, Linda Carter was smokin’ hot, and I would have definitely watched the show as a teenager just because of her! Regardless, while I wouldn’t say I’m a die-hard fan, I do enjoy it.
 
I came into this movie with extremely low expectations due to some feedback from friends and even with the low bar set it didn’t come close to meeting my expectations. In fact, this movie is a complete dud. The script is bloated and somewhat lazy, the dialog is literally cringe-inducing, and neither of the two villains are remotely scary or particularly deep and evil. Furthermore, entire segments of the script could have been eliminated to improve the pacing. Finally, the CGI work was laughably bad, especially in 4K. Whoever approved of these never took a physics class because many of the digital stunts look completely fake and literally made me laugh on multiple occasions.
 
As much as I disliked the actual movie, at least the 4K transfer looks pretty good. Colors are vibrant and bold and the black levels are quite good and feature revealing shadows. The same can’t be said about the Dolby Atmos track, which is  a major disappointment. First and foremost, the overhead channels are rarely put to use. In fact, my amp powering my overhead speakers went into sleep mode because it didn’t receive any information for so long! That has literally never happened to me before. My other complain is with the LFE, which is at best tepid. I went in and boosted the LFE channel by 2dB, which helped, but that isn’t something that should be needed in an action movie.
 
Video 9/10
 
Audio 7/10 (Dolby Atmos)
 
Special Features:
 

• The Making of Wonder Woman 1984: Expanding the Wonder
• Gal & Kristen: Friends Forever
• Small But Mighty
• Scene Study: The Open Road
• Scene Study: The Mall
• Gal & Krissy Having Fun
• Meet the Amazons
• Black Gold Infomercial
• Gag Reel
• Wonder Woman 1984 Retro Remix
• UHD + Blu-ray + Movies Anywhere Digital Copy

 

 
 
Conclusion
The original Wonder Woman was one of the best superhero movies of all-time, but the same can’t be said of this sequel. It is literally a failure on all fronts. The script is weak, the acting a bit wooden and uninspired, poor special effects, and sadly, a less than stellar Atmos track. Granted, the 4K looks good, but it can hardly make up for all of its failings.
 
 
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 88” 16x9 Fixed Screen
Anthem AVM60 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-980
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
SVS PC-Ultra Cylinder Subwoofer
HSU VTF-15H MK2 Subwoofer
SVS SB-3000 Subwoofer
JL Audio Dominion D110 Subwoofer x 2 (configured as tandem mid bass modules)
Mini DSP controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling

PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[Paul Heroy]

Condolences on the time you lost doing that David. 

WW84 is going to be one of the top entries in the "worst sequel/followup movies" lists for decades. Such a disappointment b/c I loved the first one, and very much like Gal Gadot as WW. 

[David Vaughn]

Condolences on the time you lost doing that David.

WW84 is going to be one of the top entries in the "worst sequel/followup movies" lists for decades. Such a disappointment b/c I loved the first one, and very much like Gal Gadot as WW.

Couldn't agree more Paul. Very disappointing indeed. Like you, I loved the first one as well and is one of the best Superhero movies ever. 

[bmoney]

Big ole dud

[TRainH2O]

I have HBO Max for free right now and didn't feel the need to watch it while it was on the platform. I had heard too many truly dismal reviews to spend the time on it.

It's truly sad as I really liked the first one. Thanks for the review, David.

[claw]

I own 23 Marvel UHD discs.  This will not be number 24.   

[David Vaughn]

I own 23 Marvel UHD discs.  This will not be number 24.

This isn't Marvel, it's DC. Regardless, save your money Claw! 

[bmoney]

if it were like 1hour 50 minutes.  i could handle it being bad. but not wasting 2.5 hours on this again

[Ralph P.]

Greetings,

We are on the same page across the board here Dave. Unfortunately for me, I sat through it twice. Once via streaming back in December and for the review of the disc. I can usually be a bit forgiving when it comes to fantasy but, there was no getting past how abysmal this was.


Regards, 

[David Vaughn]

Greetings,

We are on the same page across the board here Dave. Unfortunately for me, I sat through it twice. Once via streaming back in December and for the review of the disc. I can usually be a bit forgiving when it comes to fantasy but, there was no getting past how abysmal this was.


Regards,

You did try to warn me

[claw]

This isn't Marvel, it's DC. Regardless, save your money Claw!

Oops.

I watched it on HBO Max.   I had such a high opinion of the director after the first film.   I can't imagine what she was thinking.

[David Vaughn]

Oops.

I watched it on HBO Max.  I had such a high opinion of the director after the first film.  I can't imagine what she was thinking.

The entire Egypt plotline could have been removed from the movie--it literally had no point except to introduce the invisible plane (which was silly in its implementation). Also, having two villains was unnecessary and distracting. The concept of "getting something in exchange for something" had great potential and could have been fleshed out with better writers.  

[Barry]

I very much agree with you about the movie. The only good thing is if you watch this movie you will have to spend two hours less in Purgatory. I did review it for us when it first came out athttps://discuss.avscience.com/index.php?topic=2750.msg19392#msg19392

By the way I think they knew it was a bad movie and that is why they so quickly put it onto HBO streaming rather than saving for the movie theatre.

[bmoney]

I very much agree with you about the movie. The only good thing is if you watch this movie you will have to spend two hours less in Purgatory. I did review it for us when it first came out athttps://discuss.avscience.com/index.php?topic=2750.msg19392#msg19392

By the way I think they knew it was a bad movie and that is why they so quickly put it onto HBO streaming rather than saving for the movie theatre.

What do you mean? It was released on n the movie theaters the same day as HBO max. That’s how all their releases are including yesterday’s GvK