1. To us, it's not a step down from 2017's original Wonder Woman... but it's not exactly a clear improvement, either.
2. We have never been fans of the curious insistence of superhero movies to cram multiple villains into a single movie. That splits the focus of the conflict, limits screen time for the characters, and adds unneeded narrative confusion. It's a terrible idea.
3. That said, the two villains here get pretty sympathetic, fleshed-out backstories. Even if it's still one too many.
4. The whole "monkey's paw," careful-what-you-wish-for premise felt fresh. It's the execution of that idea that didn't always pack a punch. The basic mechanics of the wish fulfillment, for example, weren't always clear, which seems like a pretty important thing to make clear.
5. While the shopping mall action bit that kicks things off was surprisingly dull, we did love the big truck chase sequence that called to mind Raiders of the Lost Ark. Honorable mention: the White House fight. The movie could have used a few more moments like those.
6. We don't see very much of the Wonder Woman costume. Diana Prince spends most of her screen time in civilian attire.
7. We suppose that's as good a way as any to bring back a character who clearly died in the previous movie.
8. There's some interesting things happening here with female objectification and how pretty women have completely different experiences than "regular" women. Unwanted male attention is a hassle for supermodel Gal Gadot but something Kristen Wiig's character ("homely" by Hollywood standards) craves.
9. If that was an attempt to put President Ronald Reagan into the movie as a minor character, they could have done a better job.
10. Gal Gadot may have limited range as an actress, but this does seem to be a role she was born to play.
11. Seems like the filmmakers could have done more with the 1980s timeframe. What was the point exactly?
12. With every comic book movie ending with huge CGI bombast, deafening sound design, laser light shows, and multiple climaxes, we appreciated how different this ending felt.
13. Our biggest complaint involves the villain. Max Lord gets what he wants pretty early on, but then inexplicably continues to take needless steps that plunge the world deeper and deeper into chaos. It's not enough to just shrug it off with "I want more power." His choices are what's creating the conflict, so the motivation needs to be airtight.
14. The prologue set at some kind of Olympics event in Themyscira was fun.
15. Much online has been made about implausibility issues with a plane flight from the U.S. to Africa. We don't want to spoil anything, but those online complaints are completely valid.
16. Seems like the golden lasso is a bigger deal this time around. Has Wonder Woman been practicing with it between movies?
17. As with most big-budget movies like this, it's about 20 minutes too long.
18. A fun movie for sure, but we wish it had been better.
A word about distribution. As you may know, Warner Bros. chose to release Wonder Woman 1984 simultaneously in theaters and also on the streaming platform HBOMax, which has apparently lagged far behind Disney+ in subscriber numbers. Warner Bros. has further decided to follow this same pattern for all of its 2021 releases. Those titles will get a theater release on the same day they also go onto HBOMax for 30 days. If streaming is indeed the future of Hollywood content, Warner Bros.' choices make business sense as a way to boost HBOMax's profile and get more subscriptions. The pandemic has inexorably changed society in every possible way: how we work, how we buy groceries, how we eat out, and - the point here - how we consume entertainment. The theatrical moviegoing experience as we knew it "before times" in 2019 will likely never return. We understand this fact, but we certainly don't have to like it.
Streaming has been growing for years. Way before anyone heard of COVID, Amazon Prime and Netflix (and Disney+ which debuted last fall) were changing the paradigm. But 2020 accelerated those trends. Exhibitors like Cinemark have had next to zero business since March. Many theaters may close for good. And as people grow more and more comfortable watching movies at home, and with studios like Warner Bros. understandably leaning into that trend (and admittedly, some Hollywood mavericks have long pushed the idea of releasing new movies in theaters and homes on the same day), they may resist going back to the theater once the pandemic ends. (For the record, Disney's Mulan and Universal's Trolls World Tour led the charge in moving from an intended theatrical release to a streaming launch.) Habits can be hard to break. People may buy tickets and popcorn for big movie spectacles, but what about comedies and smaller dramas and thrillers that were already getting squeezed in a world of sequels and remakes and superheroes? Is Hollywood unwisely cannibalizing itself? Can a streaming subscriber base paying a reliable $15 a month take the place of a few $500 million-grossing movies each year? Time will tell, of course, but we lament the possible end of an in-person, theatrical moviegoing culture that has been such an important part of our lives.
