Wonder Woman 1984: Worth a Look

1984 or 2020? women do the warrior-ing while the men lie prostrate.

Wonder Woman 1984 has gotten mixed reviews, IMHO because it suffered in comparison to the 2017 original, Wonder Woman . The earlier film was fast-paced and character-driven; the excellent special effects didn't detract from the plot; and movie-goers were challenged to keep up with the titular character's origin story (it helps to know Greek mythology) and the Victorian / La Belle Époque ambience that terminated emphatically with the Great War.

Adding to the first movie's appeal was the chemistry between Gal Gadot's Diana Prince (Wonder Woman's alter ego) and Chris Pine's Captain Steve Trevor. Gal Gadot is perfectly cast as the principled superwoman whose only weakness is her empathy, and Chris Pine has been making a habit of playing the archetypical American with heartland values (Jack Ryan, James Kirk). Part of the fun of their interactions is the alien-ness of each of their worlds to the other's.

WW84, like most sequels, doesn't have the joy of discovery to fall back on. Its higher budget ($200 million vs. $150 million) is reflected in the CGI, and the stakes--preventing the destruction of the world from nuclear war--may be true to the 1984 setting but are hard to take seriously.

WW84 can best be understood as a very expensive special effects movie where they blow up everything without anyone getting killed onscreen. It's definitely targeted toward kids--the villain's affection for his young son near the beginning of the movie is a dead giveaway--and is safe to watch with all but the most sensitive children.

Considering the lack of competition, Wonder Woman 1984 is definitely worth a look, even at the cost of a subscription to HBO Max.

Reviewers' headlines say it all:

Time: Wonder Woman 1984 Arrives When We Need Some Fun—But It Could Have Been More Than That

SF Chronicle: Review: Gal Gadot can’t rescue ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ from pit of empty ideas

WSJ: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Review: Wishfulness Run Riot

Cross-Over Continuity Confusion Clean-Up

I had begun following the DC Universe again but was not all-in; it's been too much of a commitment to watch a half-dozen shows on the CW Network.

Last week I tried to catch up by taking in three hours of Crisis On Infinite Earths, the highly touted cross-over event based on DC's comic series from the mid-1980's. In the 1980's Crisis cleaned up the many inconsistencies in the DC multiverse and permitted nearly every character to reboot his or her origin tales.

On television the DC heroes' stories differ significantly from the comics, and occasional viewers-cum-comics readers are easily confused. Like the print version, the TV Crisis (so far) has destroyed many worlds and heroes. Good, there's a lot of history I no longer have to learn.

Going forward, six shows a week is still too much of a time sink.

I do intend to tune in to the cross-over episodes, especially when the casts find an excuse to showcase their song-and-dance talents. (Many of the actors in DC shows have musical training.)

Below is a number from a 2017 episode of The Flash, in which Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Flash (Grant Gustin) find themselves trapped in a dream world:

Justice League

(Image from cdn.collider.com)

The Netflix DVD queue finally worked down to Justice League, the DC Universe's superhero team-up movie released in 2017. The disc had been sitting on the blu-ray player for over a month, and I half-heartedly popped it in. Expectations were low because the reviews had been mediocre.

Having low expectations about a movie--in fact, everything--is a useful policy in life to prevent disappointment and its partner, anger. A secondary benefit is that occasionally one is surprised on the upside. So I'm happy to report that I liked the movie. Its opening action sequences were great; the blend of CGI and live actors was seamless, and a few seconds on each character were sufficient background to allow the audience to move on to the story.

Justice League of America was one of my favorite comic books in the 60's. For 10 cents one could get a story with seven heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter) instead of buying the separate books. Given the changes to the DC Universe, it was remarkable that the Justice League was largely intact a half-century after the original comic; for the movie Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter were subtracted and Cyborg was added.

Ben Affleck's Batman is the glue that holds the team together. He persuades the other recruits to join forces against the planet-destroying Steppenwolf. To these eyes the weakness of the film was the plot-obviousness of the MacGuffin: the three separated Mother Boxes that, if united, would destroy the world.

One of the film's pluses was the late introduction of Superman, whose presence usually shifts the balance of power to the good guys. (Superman is always a problem for comics writers because he's too mighty; they either have to get him out of the picture with some personal problem or weaken him with Kryptonite, which used to be exceedingly rare but now shows up in nearly every story.) Encouraged by Justice League, I'll put the DC Universe back on the follow list.

Netflix's blu-ray service levels.

Because I watch most videos on Netflix streaming and its rivals, I've been thinking about canceling the $9.99 per month Netflix DVD-rental service. However, the large majority of movies, for instance Justice League, are only available on disc. If I manage to view at least one a month this year, I'll keep the subscription.