I saw this film about a week after it came out, late enough to get a whiff of the discourse that’s cropped up surrounding it – I didn’t read any of it beforehand, but just knowing of its existence clued me in to some of the contentiousness at play here. Now, having seen the movie, I wouldn’t put myself among the contingent who are discarding the film, but I do admit to being disappointed in some of its choices and agree that the first one was quite a bit better (casting spoilers, but nothing that wasn’t already revealed in the trailer.)
Some 70 years after the events of Wonder Woman, Diana Prince has carved out a mostly-quiet, solitary life for herself in Man’s World. When she’s not moonlighting as a superhero on the D.L., she works at the Smithsonian, where she’s specifically cultivated a life without attachments. Her apartment is a testament to the past, with pictures of friends who grew old and left the immortal Diana behind, as well as mementos from Steve Trevor, who was killed just as something was starting between them. But things are about to change for Diana. A mysterious artifact has fallen into the hands of her new colleague Barbara, and where the artifact goes, people’s wishes begin to come true. As thrilled as Diana is to see her own greatest wish standing before her, there’s a sour edge to the proceedings, especially when would-be tycoon Max Lord gets his hands on the artifact.
The biggest bummer here is some seriously-reductive plotting. I’ve heard some argue that it’s because of the ‘80s setting and resulting homages to ‘80s movies, but to me, that doesn’t really cut it. The movie trafficks in such unpleasant tropes as “sexy clothes for women = confidence” with Barbara’s transformation and “dangerous Middle Easterners are dangerous” in a very sloppily-executed sideplot, as well as some truly-unfortunate implications surrounding Diana’s wish (returning Steve to life.) Yes, ‘80s movies have plenty of sexism, xenophobia, and dismissive handwaving about consent, but 1) none of these things deserve to be given an earnest send-up in 2020, especially not in a female-led superhero movie, and 2) the film doesn’t do anything interesting to deconstruct the tropes in a productive way. Also, for no reason that I can discern, the movie features a purportedly-Mayan character played by an Indian American actor. On the whole, the first film treats woman, people of color, and intimate relationships with far more respect than its successor, and as I said, that’s disappointing.
Without these problematic elements, this would be a decent if slightly-nonsensical mid-level superhero movie – in my own personal rankings, on par with lesser Marvel outings and above the likes of Batman vs. Superman or Justice League. Because apart from those aspects, the plot is just kind of slapdash and underwhelming. The story pulls in a few too many directions at once, leaving multiple plots thinly sketched out instead of exploring them fully. I can tell that there are the foundations of a good/entertaining movie in here, and with more focus and probably some paring down (along with excising the problematic stuff,) it could’ve been both a lot of fun and emotionally resonant.
Because there are some really great things in here, much of which I can’t quite love as much as I’d like to, due to other baggage or some surrounding iffiness. There’s a lot of fun and/or cool action, especially an awesome car chase/fight and a fight in the halls of the White House. Even though I dislike the specific method by which Steve is “brought back,” Chris Pine and Gal Gadot continue to have delightful chemistry together, I enjoy the role reversal of Diana now showing man-out-of-time Steve around modern society, and I still like the general thrust of their relationship (I maintain that the first Wonder Woman is a strong blueprint for writing superhero love interests of any gender.) Kristen Wiig is really excellent as Barbara. Although she’s not as well-served by the story as I’d like, she’s just great throughout. The same thing goes for Pedro Pascal as Max Lord, albeit in a different way – whereas Wiig’s performance is impressively subtle, Pascal has all the fun chewing the scenery in this broadly-written role. And while I wouldn’t say they fully stick the landing on it, I really like the tenor of the overall resolution.
In addition to the return of the Amazons in an opening flashback, the film features a few other familiar faces, mostly in small roles. Amr Waked (who I love as the dad on Ramy) is on the unfortunate receiving end of the anti-Arab side plot, and Natasha Rothwell (Kelli from Insecure) and Kelvin Yu (Brian from Master of None) appear as Diana and Barbara’s coworkers.
Warnings
Violence (including sexual violence,) sexual references/content, language, drinking, overlooked issues of consent, and “ambiguously-brown” casting of a particular character of color.
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