Wonder Woman 1984

The sequel to 2017's most successful surprise is here and oh boy, is the result not as expected.

First of all, you could tell there's no cap on the budget and rightfully, we could see the money spent onscreen! The production design is through the roof, with instances such as the Amazonian stadium Olympics plus 80s flair and fashion being flamboyant! The latter could be fake-looking and/or exaggerated at times, but it's amazing regardless! Next up, most of the action sequences are exciting, particularly the mall robbery and Cairo road chase. The brawl between Cheetah and Wonder Woman, be it in the White House or the climax definitely has its moments. The team should have spared no expense on the visual effects as the end effect, while cinematic, is undeniably jarring at many parts. Invisible aircraft traveling past Fourth of July fireworks and the same beneath the night clouds, Wonder Woman riding a lightning and donning Asteria's armor are simply epic!

Wonder Woman 1984 revolves around an interesting concept. There's an artifact known as the Dreamstone and it grants one wish for anybody who asks for it. The catch? The Dreamstone takes away the person's most prized possession in return! This very sinister object affects the lives of the primary characters. Diana Prince gets her dead boyfriend Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back, but loses half of her powers as Wonder Woman. To see our protagonist superhero humanized as she bleed and hurt in a vulnerable state needing of help is truly devastating, and this is by far the plot's coolest idea! Barbara, a socially-awkward genius-nerd trope character is granted her wish to be just like Diana, but the price is her warmth, joy and humanity. While her gradual physical transformation into the Cheetah is nice, her exceptional humane qualities were never explored enough for the audiences to know exactly what she has become the opposite of. Lastly, Maxwell Lord the main antagonist trades the world's fate in exchange of becoming the largest and the very manifestation of his greed - the Dreamstone itself! In terms of character arc integrating with external journey, this storyline is fantastic because Lie, Need and Want directly collide with each other. The only way these characters can go back to their precious former self is by forgoing the other precious thing they've wished for. Do they do it or not is the question of the crux.

Where the plot falters is in its pacing and arrangement of scenes. It couldn't juggle the relationship subplot between Diana and Steve well with the ongoing principal events. A lot of times, the subplot and plot appear to be distractions to one another. Expositional information are provided randomly as the runtime's traveling in a direction. All of this could be summed up into a single technical word - pacing. Poor pacing made this feature look sloppy as a whole. Furthermore, what an odd choice to bring back Steve Trevor through the body of another man! Why this decision was made is unclear, but it's uncomfortable and weird on so many levels. There's little to no connection between the Olympics in the beginning and the current proceedings. Young Diana Prince (Lilly Aspell) is taught to not cheat or take the short path to success, but how does this help, pertain or apply to what she experiences in the film's main events? It's appreciated that the screenwriters have tried to flesh out the villains with backstories and character arcs, but we don't feel anything for Barbara and Max since the former's humane qualities were never explored as aforementioned and the latter has no chemistry with his son which is most probably due to them not looking alike at all. Also, what's with all the stereotypical catcalling on the streets and the most baffling of all, a WWII plane sitting in a museum having ready stock fuel to fly from the US to Cairo, Egypt!

The climax where Max uses the satellite technology to 'touch' people across the world is unfathomable, but the one sequence that will send chills down spines is the catastrophe involving every inhabitant on the planet wishing for what they want! The disaster is genuinely of epic proportion and it's successful in growing into something much larger than what the protagonist could handle! Of course, everyone renouncing their wishes at the end is Utopian, but it is what it is. Another excellent scene is when Wonder Woman says her final goodbye to Steve, renounces her wish as she runs away from him with her wounds gradually healing before she takes flight!

Performances are good, especially Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord. Kristen Wiig did her role well as Barbara and Cheetah, and very few casting choices come close to perfection like Gal Gadot for Wonder Woman and Diana Prince. Another major setback in Wonder Woman 1984 are the dialogues - it's uninspired, elementary, subtextless and cheesy. But thankfully, Hans Zimmer's score is splendid from start to finish!