Although it came out over a few months ago, I still want to put out a spoiler warning to any DC fans who have yet to see the film.  That being said, I will try and write a helpful and honest review without giving away too much of the plot, but I can never be too safe.

Wonder Woman

The first Wonder Woman film was released in the Summer of 2017 and brought in over 800 million dollars.  It was one of the biggest movies of the year, as was seen with the popularity of Wonder Woman during the Halloween season.  Even Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 93% approval rating, which is surprisingly high for the site.  Stars such as Chris Pine and Robin Wright helped bring the A-list status to the film, but Gal Gadot quickly rose to fame after her role as Wonder Woman herself.  The movie was one that featured a whole lineup of powerful, strong-willed women, witty sidekicks, and a lot of incredible fight scenes.  No matter if you’re a DC or Marvel fan, Wonder Woman is definitely worth the watch.

Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman was undoubtedly an instant success, and probably one of the best superhero movies to date (I won’t be taking criticism on this).  And maybe I’m biased because I love that it’s finally a woman superhero with a male sidekick, but either way, the film was one of the most interesting and empowering I have watched.  So naturally, that set the standards for any sequels extremely high.  And in a short answer, I would have to say that Wonder Woman 1984 did deliver.

Don’t get me wrong- it’s not that the movie was perfect or even just as good as the first.  In my opinion, it doesn’t even compare to the original.  That being said, I went in making sure my expectations were not too high, since we all know that most sequels are never as good as the original (with the exception of High School 2, obviously).  I mean, look at the second Mean Girls or Grease 2- and that’s saying something, since the original Grease was not even that good.  But with an open mind, Wonder Woman 1984 was actually a great movie, and much better than I expected

The cast itself was great, with a few of the same characters from the original appearing.  Only this time, the majority of the film takes place in 1984, where Dianna is living in the normal world alongside everyone else.  Basically, there is an antique that is recovered from an FBI raid, and it has the power to grant the holder one wish, but not without a cost.  The plot focuses on Dianna working with a surprise guest from the first film (trying not to spoil too much here, so I apologize for the ambiguity) to try and undo the mess from a greedy, washed-up con man turned oil tycoon.

While the first film had almost constant action, with the famous beach-fight scene at Themyscira playing out before the first hour mark even hit, the second was much slower.  A simple mall robbery was interrupted by Dianna, who saved the day under her Wonder Woman persona.  But there was nothing special about the scene, and immediately after Dianna returned to her day job.  I know that the point was to show how she had settled down, but it was still slightly disappointing to have such little action for the majority of the movie.  The surprise return of an old character was exciting and a definite plus, but in no way did it make up for the lack of constant action.  Even the villains themselves were pretty basic, just humans consumed by their greed and eventually powerful from the “wishes” they decided to make.  The first film had a much stronger plot where the story of the villain was developed in much more detail.

However, the last 20ish minutes of Wonder Woman 1984 did not disappoint.  Heartbreak, relief, and an edge-of-the-seat fight scene all combined to wrap up the movie, and the action was definitely worth the wait.  Without spoiling too much, the fight between Dianna and her colleague, Barbara (aka Cheetah) was certainly an exciting one that was full of “shocks.”  The special effects as well as the fight sequence were absolutely amazing, and the fight would definitely rank as one of the better ones of this movie, and I would even venture to say that it was better than the final fight in Wonder Woman, where Dianna is fighting against Aries; just to be clear, the scene itself was not better, since the scene in Wonder Woman showed immense character development and self-growth.  Wonder Woman 1984 had a woman protagonist and antagonist, so the fight itself was slightly more interesting, especially because of the women’s empowerment.  Nevertheless, the 2020 release, as amazing and hyped-up as it was, could not compare to the original.  That being said, everyone who enjoyed the first film must add Wonder Woman 1984 to their watch list; it would be a shame to miss this production just because it’s tainted by its sequel status.