“Wonder Woman 84” was co written and directed by Patty Jenkins who directed the 2017 previous film. It sees Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen all return to their respected roles while being joined by the new cast, Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal. This film serves as the sequel to the 2017 previous film but is the 9th film in DC’s Cinematic Universe.

The year is 1984 and Diana Prince (Gadot) is living among the world, working at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., but also still saves others as her alto ego, Wonder Woman. Diana meets the new girl, Barbara Minerva (Wiig), an archaeologist and zoologist who is chosen by the FBI to investigate a mysterious artifact that was seized. It revealed to be the “Dreamstone”, a Latin based rock that grants a wish to the beholder but also stripes away their most valuable asset. Diana and Barbara each unknowingly make an wish as joke but their worlds are turned up side down when Steve Trevor (Pine) returns after his death in 1918 during World War I while Barbara begins a physical and psychological transformation into a strong and beautiful woman. Diana and Steve begin to investigate more into this Dreamstone and come a popular but failing oil tycoon, Maxwell Lord (Pascal). Max has on the hunt for this stone and will stop at nothing to get it. This stone begins to cause more and more harm to Diana, Barbara, Max and eventually the world. Diana must destroy the stone before Max uses it for global dominance but that task seems nearly impossible with her powers beginning to vanquish. Barbara is becoming more stronger and powerful herself and soon loses her humanity, nice girl qualities and then allies with Max. Diana is in for the fight of her life if she is to save the world and stop Max and Barbara.

Coming off the huge success of the previous film, not including the Cinematic films, “84” had all the hype behind and was released on Christmas Day despite the COVID-19 outbreak causing it to be delayed. However, the film drops the ball entirely with a convoluted story and a watered down plot. Gal Gadot shines bright once again as Wonder Woman. Her performance commands the screen along her beauty and grace. She really owns the role. A surprisingly great performance from Kristen Wiig as well. Mostly known for her comedies, this role was damn near perfect. Even though her character arch is very similar to Jim Carrey’s in “Batman Forever” and Jamie Foxx’s in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, her performance is much better and development is much more flushed out. Pedro Pascal is over the top to say the least but I’m going to assume that is what they were going for so I’ll let it be. To be honest, his performance was much better than Jesse Eisenberg as “Lex Luthor”. Like what we got from Pascal was more over the top, maniacal madman and we should got that from Eisenberg. My biggest issue with the film is the Steve Trevor character and story arch. I think Chris Pine nails the character in part 1 and here but from a storytelling perspective, his character doesn’t need to be there and story arch doesn’t make sense or even needs to be included. I don’t want to give anything away but the movie could’ve worked without him. He has amazing chemistry with Gal Gadot but his whole arch really bogs the story down and makes the movie very cliche and a bit boring at times. The action sequences and visuals are top notch. The ending is a bit of let down but overall a damn entertaining film. Not as good as the first but it has a entertainment value.

“Wonder Woman 84” was a disappointment coming off the the film but as a stand-alone film, it is entertaining. It could’ve been better. Even thougg the film was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a third film was green lit by Warner Bros. at the end of 2020 and sees both Patty Jenkins returning to direct and Gal Gadot returning as fhe titular character however no word on a release date or even storyline details. Gal Gadot is set to reprise her character in the Zach Synder’s Cut of “Justice League” which is scheduled for a 2021 release exclusively on HBO Max.