‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Might Be the Worst DCEU Movie Yet
“Wonder Woman 1984” is a truly bizarre movie. It starts with this very long scene in Themyscira that just isn’t very interesting. While it was going on, I turned to the person I was watching it with and said “I feel like this isn’t going to have anything to do with the rest of the movie.” Surely enough, I was correct.
For a movie that is two and a half hours, there is so much wasted time. They could’ve easily cut this move to less than two hours. There’s a lot to unpack with WW84 so I’m going to break down why it might just be the worst DCEU movie yet.
Mind-Numbing Script, Poor Direction & Bad CGI
From the early points of the film, it’s clear the script and direction is a mess. The structure of the movie feels so off. It almost felt like watching the big-budget pilot to a Wonder Woman CW show. There just isn’t a clear direction in the early stages. In typical superhero movies, the first scene establishes the villain or what the story is going to be about. The opening scene in WW84 doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie and the little montage of her fighting crime is shockingly bad.
Patty Jenkins is an established director but the movie feels like it was directed by the co-writer of the first one who has never directed anything before. I feel like Jenkins was going for a campy opening that was a throwback to older superhero movies but she failed miserably. The moment where she looks at the little girl and tells her to shhh was probably supposed to be cute and charming, but it was stupid and made no sense.
There’s also the CGI. This movie is getting ripped apart online for the bad CGI and while people are probably being a little harsh, there are some horrifically dated effects in the film. For whatever reason, any time Gal Gadot runs, it looks so bizarre. While that was distracting, the CGI for Cheetah was among the worst I’ve ever seen in a movie with this big of a budget. It’s truly inexcusable considering the movie was delayed and had plenty of time to polish the VFX.
Kristen Wiig Miscast
The decision to cast Kristen Wiig as Cheetah was annoying, to begin with. I was willing to give it a chance because there’s been odd casting that’s worked in the past. With that said, Wiig is completely miscast in the role of Cheetah. Personally, I don’t find Wiig to be funny in anything. She doesn’t try to be funny much in WW84 but when she tries, it falls flat. However, that’s not the worst of it.
When she makes her wish and wants to be “like Diana,” it’s unbelievably bad. She’s impossible to buy as a sexy villainess. She looks ridiculous the second she makes that flip, and she brings nothing to the table as a villain.
Forgettable Action Sequences
Almost all superhero movies are action movies so if you’re going to fail at everything else, at least have some fun action. That’s what Zack Snyder does so well. Say what you want about him but “Man of Steel” and BvS have the best action of any of the DCEU movies. It really isn’t even close.
The biggest sin WW84 commits is that the action is so forgettable and boring. I just recently watched the movie and I can’t think of anything that stands out. Jenkins even tried to steal Superman’s first flight scene from “Man of Steel” but it just felt lifeless and boring. If a scene from a Snyder movie has more emotion and joy than your superhero movie, you have a serious problem. Jenkins doesn’t come from an action film background so it’s probably not fair to compare her to Snyder but she at least needs to put together better action sequences than the first movie.
Steve Trevor
The insertion of Steve Trevor is probably one of the biggest complaints about WW84 despite a strong performance from Chris Pine. The problem isn’t the acting, it’s the decision to put him in the movie at all. First of all, the logic behind his appearance in the movie doesn’t really make any sense. The rock turned Wiig into a Cheetah but it couldn’t give Trevor his body back? Also, the whole way that was handled was confusing because Diana never says out loud that she wishes he was back.
Plus, the idea that Diana was still hung up on Trevor after like 60 years is so lazy. It’s okay that she has a special place in her heart for him but the idea that she’s essentially antisocial since he died is so dumb.
Summary
For a Wonder Woman film, Diana Prince never feels like the main character. We spend so much time with Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord and Wiig’s Barbara Minerva. This whole movie is just surprisingly bad based on the first movie, which was solid. It might be a tad early to suggest that this is the worst DCEU movie yet. I haven’t seen ‘Birds of Prey’ but I’ve heard bad things. WW84 is definitely up there with David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad” and it’s possible that it’s even worse.
