Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot have become the new dynamic duo in the DC universe. After the success of the 2017 film Wonder Woman, the two have teamed up together again to bring us Wonder Woman 1984 as a Christmas gift to us all in theaters and on HBO Max on Christmas day 2020.
Even though we are still 10 days away from the official release date, Rotten Tomatoes is already ranking the film 89% fresh based on 85 critics reviews. Here’s what critics are saying about Wonder Woman 1984:
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times says, “It’s a Christmas gift equal parts thrilling, comedic, romantic and action-packed, with a tone reminiscent of the Richard Donner Superman movies and the 2000s Spider-Man films. To be sure, we get a classic comic book movie storyline about a megalomaniacal madman intent on taking over the world, but there’s often a relatively light tone to the proceedings. This is a throwback piece of pure pop entertainment.”
Peter Debruge from Variety reports, “For nearly two hours of its 151-minute runtime, Wonder Woman 1984 accomplishes what we look to Hollywood tentpoles to do: It whisks us away from our worries, erasing them with pure escapism. For those old enough to remember the ’80s, it’s like going home for Christmas and discovering a box full of childhood toys in your parents’ attic.”
Rosie Fletcher from Den of Geek proclaims, “Wonder Woman 1984 is a cautionary tale, a modern morality story warning against greed, selfishness, and the excesses of capitalism. It might not quite be George Orwell but there’s a threatened dystopia here nonetheless and the alt-1984 it presents holds a mirror up to where we are today – or perhaps where we would have been if the pandemic hadn’t hit. It’s also incredibly good natured from start to finish.”
Josh Wilding ComicBookMovie.com declares, “Wonder Woman 1984 is 2020’s second, and final, superhero movie in a year that was once set to be dominated by the genre. However, regardless of whether you watch Patty Jenkins’ action-packed sequel on a big or small screen this Christmas, rest assured that it serves as the perfect way to wrap up what’s been an undeniably tumultuous year. Tonally, the movie is a far cry from 2017’s Wonder Woman, and the way it embraces the cheesiness of the 1980s makes for fun viewing and ensures it feels unlike anything else we’ve seen from the DC Extended Universe in recent years. It’s a little jarring at first, especially given the grim and gritty nature of its predecessor, but you’ll soon find yourself getting lost in the colourful world that’s been created around Diana Prince here.”
David Rooney from Hollywood Reporter says, “Watching Gadot swing between mall floors on her golden lasso after knocking out the closed-circuit surveillance cameras is an absolute blast. There’s a sweet nod to Diana’s role as protector of the innocent when she whisks a small girl out of the way and they exchange a complicit wink before she rounds up the perpetrators and delivers them to the cops, as a TV newsman reports on the latest intervention of the “mysterious female savior” thwarting crime in DC. It’s in this kind of muscular coverage, combining action with intimate character insights, that Jenkins and returning DP Matthew Jensen excel. And the stunt work throughout is terrific.”
Pete Hammond from Deadline Hollywood Daily reports, “It all makes sense that, if you are going to go down the path of a sequel, it should be in another time and place than the first one. Shrewdly, the filmmakers set this one smack in the middle of the Gordon Gekko Greed-Is-Good ’80s, an era that subscribed to the idea that you can never get enough for yourself. Diana aka Wonder Woman is the perfect antithesis for that as she believes in good and love over bad and evil, and in the end, her philosophy is what is needed to find our better selves. It is a good message right about now for a movie whose main aim is just to entertain. Thanks to Gadot and company, they do just that.”
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Alonso Duralde of TheWrap asserts, “The film’s wickedly pungent social satire must occasionally step aside for superheroics, of course. And while the re-teaming of Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins provides the expected thrills and excitement, this sequel shares the significant flaw of its predecessor: Both films graft an unwieldy and effects-heavy finale onto a movie that had managed to create relatable characters and situations, even when both are larger than life. Jenkins’ two Wonder Woman movies are two of the best superhero sagas of the current wave, but they both give way to the verge-of-destruction light show that is so often the go-to third act for films like this.”
Of course not everyone loved the film and Angelica Jade Bastién of New York Magazine/Vulture believes, “This sequel had almost everything going for it. Its empathetic predecessor is likely the most beloved and critically successful of the slate of beleaguered DC Comics films. Its time-skipping story offered a way to expand the superhero genre’s usual plot beats — which was desperately needed — and arrived buoyed by an excellent cast. Perhaps its lopsided universe was not perfect; there were lackluster villains and a noticeable absence of racial diversity and sensuality, and the sequel had to contend with a significant jump from WWI-era Europe into early 1980s Washington, D.C. But these issues were surmountable. Sadly, all that glittered in the franchise’s first outing is gone in Wonder Woman 1984. The disappointing sequel highlights not only the dire state of the live-action superhero genre in film, but the dire state of Hollywood filmmaking as a whole.”
Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig, The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal and Emmy nominee Natasha Rothwell.
The film arrives in theaters and HBO Max on Dec. 25, while debuting theatrically in international markets starting on Dec. 16.
Joia DaVida is a Jersey girl and mermaid at heart taking in all things Geek in California.
