This is gonna be a long one... here we go...
First, I'd like to dissect every character one by one, starting with Diana. I'll get right to it: she's boring. Seriously, she's awful. Gal Gadot makes a great Wonder Woman visually, but her performance lacks a lot. She's just not fun to watch. She has cool scenes and stunts, but she doesn't look like she's having fun. While the film has its serious moments, it does have the sort of wild epic-ness that warrants a more excited heroine. Even when the script tries to make her "have fun," she just can't. I understand that Wonder Woman is supposed to be a more elegant character in general, but something about Gadot's acting just makes everything fall flat. I don't enjoy seeing her be awesome, because she's not enjoying it either. She's going through the motions of being cool, and just comes off like a depressed and generic good guy. Aside from her personality, the position they've put Diana in doesn't make sense. I refuse to believe that Diana hasn't changed her name in 60+ years. Wonder Woman is perhaps the most invaluable superhero; she is quite literally a "god killer." One can only imagine that there are many other gods, goddesses, and immortal beings who would want her dead. I was honestly expecting us to find Diana living off the grid in a low-rent apartment, moving around and working odd jobs to make ends meet (when she wasn't stopping petty crime, of course). But no, we get a rich, high society Diana who works at a museum, flaunting her inhuman knowledge and qualities - basically a sitting duck for her enemies. But enough about her.
Next, we have Steve... oh Steve... you're just the worst. Now, Steve doesn't do anything wrong - he's simply dull as a blank wall. He adds nothing to the story - well, his presence does, but not him as a character. He's expendable; you could swap him out with anyone else and the effect would be the same. Also, Chris Pine has absolutely no chemistry with Gadot; he was clearly only cast because he's considered eye candy for the ladies.
Now for the villains... this is where it gets interesting... the bad guys are way better than the heroes. As I said above, Steve and Diana are painfully boring and blank. However, this movie has some of the best villains I've seen in a recent superhero film.
Max Lord, played by Pedro Pascal, absorbs the power of an artifact called the Dreamstone, which gives him the ability to grant wishes. However, he also takes something from whoever had their desire granted. Obviously, this goes horribly wrong, and eventually the world descends into chaos. Max (who is loosely inspired by J.R. Ewing from Dallas; change my mind) is a surprisingly engaging character. The actor did a good job portraying him; I know he sounds boring but he stole the show every time he was on screen.
Finally, we have Barbara, aka Cheetah. Her story starts a bit slowly, even invoking the age-old trope of a stereotypically dorky girl who becomes confident. But Kristen Wiig actually gives the character enough charisma that she is more likable than Diana. This is what I talked about earlier. Once Barbara becomes Cheetah, she is the kind of character Diana should've been. She's cool and fun to watch, she looks like she's enjoying the battle, she has spirit - even though she was supposed to be evil, I actually enjoyed seeing her beat up Diana! Yeah, I know that sounds awful, but this brings me to my final point: what I liked most about this movie was the film's biggest flaw.
If I'm rooting for the villains, that means the heroes sucked (which they did). Don't get me wrong, bad guys need to be interesting in a story, but the heroes also need to be charismatic and awesome. I wanted to see Barbara succeed, and once she did, she seemingly surpassed Diana's level. Therefore, it was easier to dislike Diana.
Now, onto my final complaint: why on earth was this set in the 80's? Both the title and the marketing for this movie made it seem like it was no mistake that it took place in 1984. Clearly it was for nostalgic purposes, but that's just it... there's no nostalgia. This could've been set in literally any other decade and been the same. Now, I'm not saying it needed to be heavy-handed, playing cliche and overused songs every five seconds, but there is absolutely nothing in this movie that utilizes its setting. There is one opening scene that takes place in a mall, but it's entirely pointless and could be cut out of the movie. There were just so many opportunities to make Wonder Woman even cooler with this, like playing rock/synth music while she fights or having her duke it out with Cheetah in a theater while 'The Terminator' is on the screen. But there is nothing of the sort. Now, this wouldn't be so much of a problem if the year 1984 wasn't such a big part of the plug. If it was just called 'Wonder Woman II' in regular font, who cares. But when you call it 'WONDER WOMAN: 1984' with retro colors and title style, the audience expects more clever nods to the decade.
I suppose I've went on and griped enough; in short it's an okay movie but it could've been a lot better. I like some of what they did, but the rest certainly isn't what I would've done with it.
First, I'd like to dissect every character one by one, starting with Diana. I'll get right to it: she's boring. Seriously, she's awful. Gal Gadot makes a great Wonder Woman visually, but her performance lacks a lot. She's just not fun to watch. She has cool scenes and stunts, but she doesn't look like she's having fun. While the film has its serious moments, it does have the sort of wild epic-ness that warrants a more excited heroine. Even when the script tries to make her "have fun," she just can't. I understand that Wonder Woman is supposed to be a more elegant character in general, but something about Gadot's acting just makes everything fall flat. I don't enjoy seeing her be awesome, because she's not enjoying it either. She's going through the motions of being cool, and just comes off like a depressed and generic good guy. Aside from her personality, the position they've put Diana in doesn't make sense. I refuse to believe that Diana hasn't changed her name in 60+ years. Wonder Woman is perhaps the most invaluable superhero; she is quite literally a "god killer." One can only imagine that there are many other gods, goddesses, and immortal beings who would want her dead. I was honestly expecting us to find Diana living off the grid in a low-rent apartment, moving around and working odd jobs to make ends meet (when she wasn't stopping petty crime, of course). But no, we get a rich, high society Diana who works at a museum, flaunting her inhuman knowledge and qualities - basically a sitting duck for her enemies. But enough about her.
Next, we have Steve... oh Steve... you're just the worst. Now, Steve doesn't do anything wrong - he's simply dull as a blank wall. He adds nothing to the story - well, his presence does, but not him as a character. He's expendable; you could swap him out with anyone else and the effect would be the same. Also, Chris Pine has absolutely no chemistry with Gadot; he was clearly only cast because he's considered eye candy for the ladies.
Now for the villains... this is where it gets interesting... the bad guys are way better than the heroes. As I said above, Steve and Diana are painfully boring and blank. However, this movie has some of the best villains I've seen in a recent superhero film.
Max Lord, played by Pedro Pascal, absorbs the power of an artifact called the Dreamstone, which gives him the ability to grant wishes. However, he also takes something from whoever had their desire granted. Obviously, this goes horribly wrong, and eventually the world descends into chaos. Max (who is loosely inspired by J.R. Ewing from Dallas; change my mind) is a surprisingly engaging character. The actor did a good job portraying him; I know he sounds boring but he stole the show every time he was on screen.
Finally, we have Barbara, aka Cheetah. Her story starts a bit slowly, even invoking the age-old trope of a stereotypically dorky girl who becomes confident. But Kristen Wiig actually gives the character enough charisma that she is more likable than Diana. This is what I talked about earlier. Once Barbara becomes Cheetah, she is the kind of character Diana should've been. She's cool and fun to watch, she looks like she's enjoying the battle, she has spirit - even though she was supposed to be evil, I actually enjoyed seeing her beat up Diana! Yeah, I know that sounds awful, but this brings me to my final point: what I liked most about this movie was the film's biggest flaw.
If I'm rooting for the villains, that means the heroes sucked (which they did). Don't get me wrong, bad guys need to be interesting in a story, but the heroes also need to be charismatic and awesome. I wanted to see Barbara succeed, and once she did, she seemingly surpassed Diana's level. Therefore, it was easier to dislike Diana.
Now, onto my final complaint: why on earth was this set in the 80's? Both the title and the marketing for this movie made it seem like it was no mistake that it took place in 1984. Clearly it was for nostalgic purposes, but that's just it... there's no nostalgia. This could've been set in literally any other decade and been the same. Now, I'm not saying it needed to be heavy-handed, playing cliche and overused songs every five seconds, but there is absolutely nothing in this movie that utilizes its setting. There is one opening scene that takes place in a mall, but it's entirely pointless and could be cut out of the movie. There were just so many opportunities to make Wonder Woman even cooler with this, like playing rock/synth music while she fights or having her duke it out with Cheetah in a theater while 'The Terminator' is on the screen. But there is nothing of the sort. Now, this wouldn't be so much of a problem if the year 1984 wasn't such a big part of the plug. If it was just called 'Wonder Woman II' in regular font, who cares. But when you call it 'WONDER WOMAN: 1984' with retro colors and title style, the audience expects more clever nods to the decade.
I suppose I've went on and griped enough; in short it's an okay movie but it could've been a lot better. I like some of what they did, but the rest certainly isn't what I would've done with it.