[Movie] Wonder Woman 1984

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JCC
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Re: [Movie] Wonder Woman 1984

Post by JCC »

Fantastic. It's like they read my mind! LOL
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"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they don't alter their views to fit the facts; they alter the facts to fit their views." - The 4th Doctor
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Blackhawk
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Re: [Movie] Wonder Woman 1984

Post by Blackhawk »

We just finished it. I liked it, but it was far from my favorite DECU film. It had a few issues in my book:
Spoiler:

~They brought back Steve Trevor, had a few 'future is cool' scenes, and then did absolutely nothing with him.
~Continuity issues with the first film. Diana's mother was kept in the dark about her being trained until she was older. Where did the Amazon Olympics fit in?
~(Niggle) Max Lord takes control of broadcasts everywhere for his speech, broadcasting his face onto TVs all over. And also on computers not capable of receiving any sort of broadcast, displayed in full color on green monochrome monitors.
But most of all:
~Max Lord just didn't work. I think we were supposed to empathize with him, but it didn't happen. He was just an obnoxious dipshit. And his powers - the entire basis of the movie - were just confusing. The actual threat of what was going on was just out there, and the solution - getting millions of people to give up their fondest wishes - was totally unbelievable.
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Jaymann
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Re: [Movie] Wonder Woman 1984

Post by Jaymann »

It's funny to think I know more about the plot of this movie that I'm never going to watch, than many movies I have actually watched.
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Sudy
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Re: [Movie] Wonder Woman 1984

Post by Sudy »

I can't decide if I liked this or not.

- The setting, pacing, and character relationships feel fairly unique. It doesn't follow a template or easily compare to other DC or superhero films.
- I'm not sure why this needed to be set in 1984, other than to distance it from other DC films. It's actually rather understated, other than when it occasionally draws attention to it. I like it; it just doesn't feel like an important choice.
- The opening scene, while visually spectacular, confuses me. I'm not sure that I understand the "lesson" as it applies to the later film? Also, I realize this is fantasy and Diana was special, but it seems unrealistic that a pre-adolescent could challenge more mature competitors in such physical tasks where reach, etc. is so important.
Spoiler:
- Pedro Pascal is fantastic. In retrospect, he's still playing an archetype. But he feels extremely fresh as a superhero film villain. Even though things get pretty nuts in the end, he's much more grounded. Perhaps the most grounded villain since Zemo in Civil War, or Christopher Nolan's villains? Kristen Wiig is also great, though her arc is even more predictable. And I know her eventual character has its origin in the comics, but when she goes full-Cheetah for the final battle it gets a little ridiculous. Magical wishes or no, that was not grounded.
- I don't have a problem with Steve coming back, but the specific mechanism of the whole "wish" thing is never well explained. (And others have gone into better detail as why the whole body-swapping thing seems unnecessary, problematic, and under-explored by the characters themselves.) As well, to paraphrase one review, it seems kind of silly Diana is so hung up on this one person she only knew for a couple weeks who died 70 years earlier. Though I get that emotions do work that way sometimes, especially as her experiences in the first film were linked to her first leaving her sheltered existence.
- I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the god behind the creation of the stone that they allude to, but I understand that would have diverted attention from Pascal and Wiig as the antagonists.
- Also, um, it's a little phallic, right? And the whole thing with Lord talking about needing to touch people?
- I may have missed some key elements at the end because I was starting to fall asleep, but this wasn't the movie's fault lol. Maybe best that this occurred during the Cheetah fight.
- I'd seen a couple headlines that dismissed this as a neoliberal and/or white saviour horror, basically being attacked on all sides. I'm pleased to find that while you could definitely level some criticism at its politics, these are exaggerations. It does seem to be trying to be a film that women and little girls wants to see, and that's a good thing. But I feel that it sometimes tries so hard as to be obnoxious.

Summary: It has some problems, but it's different enough to be interesting.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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