The follow-up chapter to Wonder Woman and the ninth instalment in the DC Extended Universe, Wonder Woman 1984 is devoid of everything that was refreshing about the original. Poorly envisioned, shoddily scripted & lazily directed, the film neither has the heart nor the honesty of its predecessor, and is a bland, banal & bloated mess that's further marred by its soulless drama, insipid action, cartoonish effects & lame performances.
Co-written & directed by Patty Jenkins, there are far too many cracks in the script that the writers never bother to remedy, and the sloppy execution on screen only results in a nightmare that's all over the place. Despite the plot being set in the 1980s, the era's vibrant spirit is nowhere to be found in the final print and the gleefully fun vibe & escapist qualities that the trailers promised is sorely missing as well. Jenkins does aim for it but her attempts simply fall flat.
Its 151 mins runtime is strongly felt and is in no way justified. The new characters are thinly sketched, have no meat on their arcs, and are never for once convincing. Gal Gadot utters her lines as if reading from the script for the first time and while that helped add to Diana's cluelessness in the first film, it only exposes Gadot's limited range in this sequel. Kristen Wiig however tries to make something of her sidelined role while Pedro Pascal just decides to have fun in return for an easy payday.
Overall, Wonder Woman 1984 is vastly inferior to the first film and is undeniably amongst the weakest entries in the DCEU. Just about nothing works in this latest addition to the franchise, for the plot is dull & derivative, the direction is sluggish, the action is uninspiring, the CGI is cringeworthy, the pacing is tedious, the acting is forgettable, and even Hans Zimmer fails to deliver the goods. In short, Wonder Woman 1984 is a Suicide Squad-level offering wrapped in bright colours. One of the dullest films of 2020.
