WW84 was an enjoyable and (mostly) bright distraction albeit one that ran just a tad too long and was also not very well written or structured. You would think that at 151 minutes, director and co-writer Patty Jenkins would have given Diana Prince more layers, but instead the film was mostly filled with unnecessary padding and lazy narrative storytelling that lacked finesse or nuance. Logic be damned! Although granted, the padding did at least made the supporting characters a bit more interesting. Which, unfortunately for Gal Gadot, meant that the trifecta of Chris Pine, Kristen Wigg and a scene-stealing, utterly hammy and campy, Mando...ummm...Pedro Pascal stole the show from Gadot.
And...do not get me started on the shockingly bad CGI, unexciting action sequences (where are all the hand-to-hand combat? Somebody please ban the lasso of contrivance from any more future appearances. Also, get Zack Synder away from enforcing his aesthetics into the franchise!), and Hans Zimmer terribly on the nose musical cues (Jenkins got to share the blame on this blatant emotional manipulation, i.e. here is how you should be feeling).
Most egregiously, just like in the first film, for all their supposedly feminist leanings, Jenkins and Gadot yet again failed to fully embrace and present feminism, resulting in a film, and a superhero, that was clearly catered to the biggest audience group, i.e. the 12 to 50 year old males. Again, Wonder Woman - and Diana Prince - was defined by a man, Steve Trevor, and again he had to be the one that "allowed" her to save the world. Please let it be Jenkin's co-writers' and the studio's fault, but then again, even so, where were hers or Gadot's voice in sounding out against such writing/plotting.
There were some good moments throughout the film. Some genuine moments of real emotion but those were mainly during the smaller and more intimate scenes which Jenkins' excelled in. However, when it came to the action sequences, Jenkins' direction lacked the visceral excitement and palpable adrenaline to drive these scenes. It definitely did not help that the big climatic fight between Wonder Woman and Cheetah was obviously Synder-fied. All dark and shadowy, heavy on the contrast and the CGI. Flashbacks to all those horrendous Man of Steel and Superman v Batman sequences.
The 80s aesthetics was a hoot and even the cinematography reflected that. It was heavily featured in the beginning but was not consistent throughout the film which was a shame. That could have been so much fun.
The writing itself was also no shining star but it was very likely that the so-so writing was saved by the actors. Wigg nailed her lines and Pascal just absolutely went with all the hamminess that his character deserved. And Pine had great physical comedy and aced his reaction shots. There were some glimmers of humour sprinkled around but nothing that elicited genuine laugh out loud moments. On the other hand, there were a couple of cringeworthy scenes that nobody could really save.
Gadot remained a great casting choice. She has the poise of Diana Prince and the physicality of an Amazonian. However, her acting has not improved much and it was sadly apparent when her co-stars constantly steal the show from her.
Wigg was a delight from the moment she showed up and her transformation was interesting to observe. Although her final form was a let down - and again I blame Synder. They should have reimagined her away from the original source material.
Pascal's overacting was what saved his character from being just another villain. He gamely embraced all the campiness and just hammed it up. Even as cliched as his "redemption" was, Pascal still tried his darnest to sell his character.
Pine's character should have stayed dead. Although his revival did make sense and his chemistry with Gadot was still present and at least we got a good time travelling, fish-out-of-the-water acting from Pine.
WW84 was a better film than Tenet to try to reinvigorate the theatre-going experience. It was a good summer (now winter) popcorn blockbuster that did not aim high and so easily delivered the expected results. IMAX as usual was fun to watch but not really necessary. Stay for the mid-credits scene which may or may not be relevant to the inevitable next chapter (will it be staged before of after Justice League?).
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