Amazonian delivers goods in a muscular, thrilling sequel
WONDER WOMAN 1984
12A, 151 mins Rating: 7.5/10
WITH worldwide box office takings in excess of $820 million for the first Wonder Woman story in 2015, it’s no surprise that the Amazonian princess is brandishing her lasso of truth in a turbo-charged sequel.
Wish-fulfilment is at the heart of Wonder Woman 1984, a muscular and occasionally thrilling cautionary tale set during the Cold War.
Patty Jenkins’ script, co-written by Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham, explicitly references WW Jacob’s 1902 short story The Monkey’s Paw to explore the grim price of asking for your heart’s desire.
The fantastical conceit grants filmmakers’ wishes to reunite the core cast of the original film and shatter broken hearts into tiny shards a second time.
Action set-pieces are staged with brio and minimal digital effects, which allows cameras to closely shadow Gal Gadot as she somersaults over and beneath a moving military convoy.
A gravity-defying showdown, which required actors to spend months training on wires with performers from Cirque du Soleil, is a whirling, breathtaking spectacle.
The organic, ‘blood, sweat and tears’ approach to key sequences is a refreshing antidote to CGI overload.
Diana Prince (Gadot) now works as an archaeology expert in the Smithsonian Institution.
She has found her calling as mankind’s secret protector, although she is still haunted by the loss of American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) during the battle with Ares at the end of the First World War.
Elsewhere in Washington DC, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), CEO of Black Gold Cooperative — “The oil company run by the people for the people” — discovers a way to grant wishes.
His Machiavellian scheme pits Diana against her bookish friend, gemologist Barbara Ann Minerva (Kristen Wiig).
Wonder Woman 1984 opens with a terrific throwback to Diana’s childhood on the island of Themyscira with her mother (Connie Nielsen) and aunt (Robin Wright).
Gadot plumbs her character’s grief and solitude in between dazzling acrobatics, while Wiig transitions from broad comedy to jealousy and self-loathing as her apex predator villain manifests.
Pascal’s chief antagonist feels dramatically underpowered, even with the addition of an emotionally manipulative subplot involving a young son.
Fans will be hoping Jenkins’ sequel matches the original outing for vertiginous thrills and spills.
Wish granted.