.png)
Old School is New School again as WW84 excels in the sequel that is sure to bring lots of entertainment for the fans!
Spoilers Ahead!
Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot did it again, making another hit period piece in the superhero genre. The highly anticipated sequel to 2017s Wonder Woman came out on Christmas day in both theaters and HBO MAX. I, like many, I assume, celebrated the holiday watching the film and I enjoyed every minute of it, though I have heard some who were disappointed. The gripe I have heard the most is how it is cornier than the first. All I have to say about that is, of course, it takes place in the 80s, the corniest era of them all. I actually really enjoyed the way Patty captured 80s movie culture in this modern film and still clearly have it be a superhero movie.
Honestly, the film reminded me of Big at its core. The story really picks up once the dream stone appears, causing mayhem all around as everyone makes wishes. The stone is the source behind both villains in the film and Chris Pine's Steve Trevor's return. The stone is found due to an attempted robbery of a black-market inside a jewelry store at a mall that Wonder Woman stopped. The FBI then asks Diana's coworker Dr. Barbra Minerva (Kristen Wiig), to identify the artifact. Both Barbra and Diana jokingly wish upon the stone to where both wishes come true. Diana wished for steve to come back, and Barbra wished to be like Diana, not knowing this would gain her powers. Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) enters in charming Dr. Minerva, making his way to the stone and wishing to be the stone. This gives him the ability to grant wishes, only he manipulates people to wish for what he wants or makes the penalty benefit him. Wishes from the stone come with a cost, in a proper 80s manner, as it is an artifact forged by the God of Lies.
Dianas price is the weakening of her powers, Barbra's is losing her moral compass, and Lord's is his health. However, the real cost is the destruction of the entire culture unless all wishes are renounced. This ultimately happens in another callback to the heart of 80s movies with the hero (Wonder Woman) having to sacrifice her love for the greater good. In contrast, the villain (Lord) has to sacrifice their success for love (Lord's son). This doesn't happen until after He comes to full power using a satellite to grant wishes worldwide and also gives Barbra the capabilities of an apex predator, having her become Cheetah. Lord does this because she protects him against Wonder Woman because she doesn't want to lose her wish of becoming powerless again.
In fact, even though Cheetah is seen as Barbra again, she is the only person we deliberately don't see renounce her dream, causing one to think maybe she still has her wish abilities and could be seen in a later film.
A lot of cool things for fans of Wonderwoman happen throughout this sequel. Two key moments in the film really come to mind when speaking on fan appreciation. My favorite moment is when the Invisible jet makes an appearance and also provides two new abilities of the heroin to be showcased. The first is that she can turn objects invisible as she does this to the jet to go off the radar, and the other is it inspires her to fly at the end of the film. The jet inspires this ability when Steve tells her how it feels to fly. She then uses his words later to fly successfully. The other moment comes in the after credit scene where Lynda Carter is revealed to be legendary Themyscira warrior Asteria.
Free-Lance Writer for the #WeeklyReplay! Follow me: Instagram | Twitter