Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Directed by Patty Jenkins
A botched store robbery places Wonder Woman in a global battle against a powerful and mysterious ancient force that puts her powers in jeopardy.
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Barbara’s slow transformation to a more confident and unexpectedly powerful woman will get compared to Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns — and certainly Wiig’s endearingly insecure performance owes itself to that performance — but it’s actually closer to a traditional superhero transformation sequence, akin to something out of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man .
If Jenkins’ touchstone has always been Richard Donner’s Superman, an immensely entertaining mall robbery conjures an unashamedly comic-booky kinetic flair akin to Raimi’s Spider-Man films, while a later clash rivals X2 for super-powered, White House-based showdowns.
Wonder Woman 1984 recalls the kind of warm but welcomingly hokey nature of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films when they were at their best.
Three years after the visionary director Patty Jenkins and the perfect-for-the-part Gal Gadot teamed up for the beautifully rendered, surprisingly deep mega-hit “Wonder Woman,” the oft-delayed sequel will be released in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max on Dec. 25 — and it’s a Christmas gift equal parts thrilling, comedic, romantic and action-packed, with a tone reminiscent of the Richard Donner “Superman” movies and the 2000s “Spider-Man” films.
Scenes like the one in which Diana lassoes lightning bolts to fling herself through the sky exudes the unadulterated joy rarely seen in a superhero flick since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man way back in 2002.
Because sometimes it’s handy to have, if I were to compare 1984 to any other superhero story, it would be a mix of Batman Returns (1992) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).
She also evokes the sub-par effects and Kumbaya tone of “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.”
Recycling the formula which seemed to work for Gal Gadot’s 2017 introduction to Diana Prince, for all the subtexts and emotional resonance conveyed the first time around, her return is as empty an spectacle as the beaten down baubles of other franchise properties delivered in the decade in which it’s set (the disappointment is something akin to the cut corner of 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace , a dismissed Sidney J. Furie property)—though this was likely not the aim of its creators, who many have already hailed as the heroic, escapist salve needed at the tail end of one of the planet’s bleakest years in, at least, the digital age.
It's like watching the unfortunate "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" trade-in its action bonafides for a strident ideological dirge.
Speaking of Luthor, Wonder Woman 1984 evokes the era of its title with forced, groan-worthy references (“Those are called breakdancers…”) and a corny tone that’s more reminiscent of the gee-whizziness of 1978’s Superman than the regal nobility of its predecessor.
They’re all distinctive parts in a smooth-running narrative engine that channels the buoyancy and big-hearted spectacle of the Richard Donner “Superman” movies, with a few period-appropriate nods to body-swap comedies for good measure.
One of the two villains appears to have been modeled at least in part after Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor and the concept of the main character losing her powers references Superman II.
This opening scene is everything you want from a “Wonder Woman” film and harkens back to the original; it’s thrilling, it soars, it gives you all the awe-inspiring feels, and makes the viewer realize Richard Donner and his original “Superman” movie is going to be the touchstone point here.
It heavily invokes Richard Donner’s “Superman” films, with Hans Zimmer’s score for the opening 1984 scene even mirroring John Williams’ work for the 1978 film.
Wiig is winningly funny as the pre-transformation Minerva, bringing to the role some of the same sort of humor one might remember from the first Christopher Reeve “Superman” movie (as Lord’s secretary, Gabriella Wilde also brings a goofy vibe that could make you think of Valerie Perrine’s Miss Teschmacher from that picture).
And one of the best action set pieces is a straight steal from the desert highway chase of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — although the golden metal suit Wonder Woman sports on the poster and in the film is an homage to the sexy sci-fi robot of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.”
Fans of movie history will recall this is a riff on Raiders of the Lost Ark , minus Spielberg’s shrewd editing or Harrison Ford’s everyman antics.
When Wonder Woman and Steve chase down Maxwell in Egypt, how Wonder Woman works her way through the armored convoy is reminiscent of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark —but with superpowers.
The most expensive “Be careful what you wish for” fantasy ever made has nods to runaway greed (avarice) and consumerism, a few jokes about ugly ’80s fashions and trends, a backhanded bitchslap at Ronald Reagan and guns and a lot of story beat tips of the hat to “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
It had much in common with classics like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in its cheer, color and romance.
Where things go from there is a ramshackle meander including something of a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” takedown of a military caravan, a #MeToo kick in which Diana and an enhanced Barbara give the same lech his due, and then there’s Maxwell Lord (“Game of Thrones” standout Pedro Pascal, who actually played in a 2011 “Wonder Woman” TV film that no one saw) as a TV personality and something of a Washington manipulator who gets his hands on the stone and becomes the arch villain.
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And while Wonder Woman 1984 ’s message is partially a warning about greed—a suitable theme for a movie set in the Wall Street decade—it also argues that the masses don’t know what’s best for them, and if you give the people what they want, the world will descend into chaos.
Sin embargo, el potencial de este concepto se acaba desperdiciando, salvo en el uso obvio de la filosofía de Gordon Gekko de que "la codicia es algo bueno" - a quien se le escape la referencia, recomiendo el descubrimiento de Wall Street, película de 1987 realizada por Oliver Stone - y el marco geopolítico superficial de la Guerra Fría que parece más interesado en comentar las ansiedades y preocupaciones de la realidad actual que en socavar el contexto de la época.
Because sometimes it’s handy to have, if I were to compare 1984 to any other superhero story, it would be a mix of Batman Returns (1992) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).
Barbara’s slow transformation to a more confident and unexpectedly powerful woman will get compared to Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns — and certainly Wiig’s endearingly insecure performance owes itself to that performance — but it’s actually closer to a traditional superhero transformation sequence, akin to something out of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man .
Too much of Wiig’s bumbling-and-mumbling act practically Xeroxes Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman origin from Batman Returns, removing the tribal warrior bite that her archenemy should be.
Loading up on villains can work, of course, but only under specific conditions: Tim Burton's 1992 film Batman Returns famously recruited both Catwoman and the Penguin to great effect — but both of those characters had already established significant cultural footprints: beloved by Nerds, recognizable by Normals.
There’s no Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns-level stuff here, but Cheetah is ferocious in her own way.
First up is Wiig’s Barbara Minerva, a geeky and frazzled archaeologist/amateur cryptozoologist whose journey to becoming the supervillain Cheetah feels an awful lot like the misadventures of Batman Returns’ Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
The resurrection of Chris Pine within the body of another recalls, of course, the Patrick Swayze/Whoopi Goldberg dilemma in Ghost (1990), in which, for audience comfort, we’re invited into the disillusionment of the protagonist for optics.
By taking a page from 1990’s “Ghost,” co-writer/director Patty Jenkins manages to bring Steve back into the narrative.
If Lord and Minerva are meant to be the dead-eyed artifacts created by the Age of Excess, the capitalist aliens of Carpenter’s They Live , for instance, Jenkins and her scribes fail to make this as blunt as the adolescent minded themes on truth and consequences.
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And one of the best action set pieces is a straight steal from the desert highway chase of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — although the golden metal suit Wonder Woman sports on the poster and in the film is an homage to the sexy sci-fi robot of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.”
Wonder Woman 1984 doesn’t deserve comparisons to The Dark Knight; it deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Spider-Man 3.
En palabras de Gordon en The Dark Knight (escrito por Christopher y Jonathan Nolan), Mujer Maravilla 1984 no es la película que nos merecemos, pero sí la que necesitamos ahora mismo.