Wonder Woman 1984 (5/10)
I admit I didn't have high expectations for this movie. Still, I expected more than a two and a half hour remake of the old
Twilight Zone episode "The Self-Improvement of Salvador Ross".
How is it that a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars can't buy better writing? Apart from the mundane and unoriginal premise, the script has other weaknesses, like poor character development, and unexplained plot ideas -- like who is the poor guy whose body Steve Trevor has suddenly inhabited? And why do Steve and Diana have no qualms about Steve appropriating the body of another human being? Yes, she eventually "renounces her wish" when she see how these wishes are destroying the world. But for most of the movie she and Steve have no care for the person whose body he is basically stealing.
Also, Steve has never flown anything more advanced than a 1915 biplane. How then is he able to pilot a sophisticated jet? Why would this jet -- which is a display at the Smithsonian -- have fuel in its tanks? Moreover why would it still have working engines, if (as a museum piece) it hasn't undergone regular maintenance?
The overall message of the film is clear -- accept your lot, to want to improve your life in any way is "greedy". Max Lord is an obvious caricature of Donald Trump, so the movie's political posturing was already out of date by the time it was released.
The effects are "fancy" but no better than any CGI work from the past 20 years. In fact Wonder Woman's dash down the highway looks no more convincing the Clark Kent outrunning the train in
Superman: The Movie.
Hans Zimmer's score however is surprisingly adequate. Though he does bring back that slick, vulgar "Wonder Woman theme" (which does nothing to express her character) he at least spares us the electric cello this time. He comes up with yet another "inspiring" power anthem, but on closer scrutiny it's rather fluffy. The big climactic cue is just a ripoff of Morricone's
Once Upon A Time in the West, but hey, if you're going to crib from someone else it may as well be one of the masters.
The only thing that makes this watchable is Gal Gadot, who is one the most attractive stars to emerge in recent decades, and whose sincerity and radiant beauty lights up every scene. But even she can't save this formulaic, gimmicky dud. I'd watch
Supergirl before watching this again!