Wonder Woman 1984 is Totally Rad – Review

Wonder Woman 1984 is Totally Rad and for sure 10 times better than the original theatrical release in 2017!

You have seen the trailer and don’t need me to rehash the story of Wonder Woman 1984, but I will do my best to give you a spoiler free totally fanboyed out review.

Wonder Woman 1984 is Totally Rad and better than the original! Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are the rightful heirs to Themyscira and remind us why it truly is, “Paradise Island.”

I mean, I’ve been wrong about DC Films casting before, especially Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, but I was even more wrong about Kristen Wiig (who I admire as an amazing comedic actress) as Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984. I didn’t think she could play a character like this because I’ve only seen her as the, “funny lady,” and that was my own fault, even after having met her on two occasions. Add in Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord and there are two people who blew me away in their performances, especially Pascal who humanizes Lord like he has never truly been in the comics.

How as for Cheetah, was her story arc extremely similar to Michelle Pfeffer’s version of Selina Kyle in Batman Returns? Absolutely. Do I care? Nope. You actually sympathize with Barbara for most of the picture until where confidence crosses the line into vengefulness and you see where she took that wrong turn.

As for the overall movie, where the original 2017 Wonder Woman was 45 minutes too long and faced an incredibly dark people in human history, especially neglecting the Christian Genocide of 1915 where 3.5 million Armenians, Assyrians and Levant Greeks were lost (quite of my family are included in those numbers) and really not a moment I like to frequently revisit, Wonder Woman 1984, was bright, colorful and had just the right amount of humor and levity William Moulton Marston intended for the character.

Pair up Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns and we have a superheroine story we can all enjoy. Johns has an incredible talent for writing individual superhero characters and thanks to him, Green Lantern and The Flash were revitalized in the comics. Let’s hope The Flash has healthy balance of the same characteristics that made Wonder Woman 1984 that incredible.

There are a couple of instances of fan service in the film, that will make people giddy with delight, but the only one I will mention is that one of the moments captured as Gal Gadot leaps across the sky and holds a striding position is identical to the early Marston poses from 80 years ago.

One particular cameo I wished had happened is that would have been amazing is if Kathy Lee Crosby and Lynda Carter were Hera and Gaia, to tie everything in with the first two women ever to hold the title of Wonder Woman in a live action version being recognized as Greek goddesses. However, the moments that we get through out the film more than make up for my fanboy fan-fiction.

Overall Wonder Woman 1984 is 5 out of 5 stars. It surpasses every expectation I ever had for the film and is now officially in my top three DC Films of all time, following 1978’s Superman: The Movie and Batman from 1989. Finally the DC Trinity makes good on all three characters.

Wonder Woman 1984 comes to HBO Max and Theaters on Christmas Day, 2020.