By Hera! Come anticipate WONDER WOMAN 1984 with me!

I could see why they felt it was imperative this movie come out in 2020 because its villain is a Trump stand-in. Making the plot all about the danger of magic wishes is such a strange choice until you remember it was supposed to come out pre-election, and they were instructing the audience not to believe Trump’s lies and wild promises.

There was a Steven Soderbergh interview this month where he defended releasing these big tentpole movies on demand because they’re zeitgeist-y and have a limited shelf life. This movie is exhibit A for that reasoning.

Also the Trump figure gets to just walk away at the end and we never see him face legal consequences, which is a little preview of real life.

its villain is a Trump stand-in

completely insane to do this when, again, the producer of the first movie is the only one of the six appointees to remain in Trump's cabinet the entire term who worked directly with Trump, mouthpieced for him regularly, appeared frequently at photo ops, etc.

I can only the imagine the direction given to the Mandalorian.

had to DDG to see who that was.

There's no reason they couldn't have Irishmanned Sam Neill back to 1984 levels, so much of the rest of the picture is CGI.

so is this set in 1984? or does that mean something else?

1984 is the runtime.

Seriously, though, this really could have been set in just about any year. Maybe 1984 is before any of those other DC superheroes enter the scene? Speaking of which:

Why is a near-invincible demi-god wasting her time rescuing cats from trees and basically doing Spider-man week-one stuff? There's bad shit in the world in 1984, she could be putting her powers to good use.

For that matter, why does a striking, instantly recognizable person even need bother with an alter-ego? Kind of occurred to me that the Marvel heroes, more or less, all of them either never bothered with or immediately dispensed with the alter-ego bullshit. What does Wonder Woman get out of it?

So they find old planes at a secret Smithsonian spinoff site, one that just happened to be in good working order and fueled up? With a working, manned runway? And Steve's exclamation of "invisible jet!" ... he's never flown a jet, he doesn't even know the word. He died in like 1916.

Why did Kristen Wiig turn into a cat person?

Max Martin, did he have an end game with the wishes? Even before the ridiculously even by blockbuster standards "the particles are touching people!" bullshit, why grant random wishes to strangers? Like the guy that gets ... cows? For that matter, even my daughter wondered what happens if people make conflicting wishes. Like, what if someone had wished for, say, world peace, a pretty common wish? What if some asshole just wished everyone was dead? Why did he keep bleeding from his orifices? The Trump stuff was both obvious and toothless. While I suppose making Ned Beatty's Otis your antagonist could have had its pleasures, Pedro's semi-Trump was in the end just an old softy clown from a kids cartoon when he could have been a thoroughly corrupted ultimate evil with grand schemes bigger than "give me your oil!"

Major missed opportunity to make the magic tiki idol that actual original literal Monkey's Paw. Either way, that cursed tiki idol is easily the stupidest superhero plot since the later Christopher Reeve Superman sequels. When the missiles are launching and love conquers all in the corniest way possible, the got even more flashbacks to Quest for Peace.

Was totally surprised the trouble-making evil god Wonder Woman keeps alluding to never makes an appearance. Certainly I figured that was what was happening during that impenetrable magic wind storm in that secret hidden base (that had my wife making Austin Powers jokes).

And yeah, where did the armor come from? What good did it do her? Why can she suddenly fly? When she started flying I immediately thought of the Go Go's "Vacation: video:

https://media.tenor.com/images/f44fe83fc6a18c2b1b3554ed5b1741e4/tenor.gif

flashbacks to quest for peace? jeez am i going to like this movie

Be warned, it's a full hour longer than that one.

I didn’t like this movie but at least half of the questions you’re asking were answered within the confines of it

Really? I miss things all the time but I'm impressed I missed that many. Then again, I kept leaving the room, so I suppose it's possible I did so every time an explanation was given.

Let's just start with why Wiig turned into a cat person. I know she wanted more power or whatever, but ... why a cat? Did she have an affinity for cats? What did being a cat give her beyond the powers she had already? She was Cheetah and iirc she wasn't even particularly fast!

She said the line "I want to be an apex predator." Earlier in the movie she admired some item in an animal print. Boom, she's Cheetah.

This was so, so bad.

i was pretty stunned by how incompetent this was

I didn't hate it as much as y'all but I sure as hell wasn't entertained either. good movie to fuck to

mmmm, those pounding Hans Zimmer rhythms

I did catch the apex predator line, but I just didn't know why a cheetah, which is a really specific apex predator known for running fast. But, like, the cursed tiki idol power should have turned her into an orca or something. That would have been funny. But yeah, what does she gain that she didn't have before? Fur and a tail?

How was he just able to grant her another wish, anyway? With no touching and no apparent repercussions? I mean, this whole thing was so dumb and senseless and dull and stupid and janky I guess there is no point even asking.

He said the line "I'm feeling generous."

Since george orwell is out of copyright now, could totally set a superhero film in "1984".

"good movie to fuck to"

better to just put a picture of Gal Godot on your headboard

There are about 40 minutes of entertaining stuff in this film, and they are all Kristin Wiig. When she's not onscreen it's a slog, or dire, or worse. also the representations of middle easterners in this are ... let's just say this seemed like it was from 1984.

They could have made some more interesting political points with the US villain stepping in to 'take all the oil' from a country he's destabilized but it was pretty weak. Also I don't think that President was actually supposed to be Reagan, was he?

Also I don't think that President was actually supposed to be Reagan, was he?

In the credits, he's "POTUS." But there's a jar of jelly beans in the Oval Office (visible at 1:45:58).

Dude literally said “I take something for myself in return when I grant people’s wishes” right before saying “I’m feeling generous” to Barbara and then granting everyone’s wishes and so he turned over some of his “take something in return” bounty over to her so she could turn herself into a crazed half-cat woman and yes, the willy-nilly conflicting wishapalooza caused a bunch of turmoil and chaos including the advent of an impending thermonuclear war (btw, lifeless rubble across the globe after warheads melt everything could fit the definition of “world peace” so the warheads aren’t directly incompatible with that)

Also, the character Barbara Minerva in the comic books is a villain named Cheetah who got her powers from an amulet imbued with the essence of a malevolent cheetah goddess IIRC so her transformation was going to happen in some form or fashion

same basic concept underneath - she makes a sort of deal with the devil for power and ends up cursed

though i like the added sexual tension between her and Diana in this film

I just didn't know why a cat woman (other than because comic book). Since she already had super powers and afaict gained nothing but fur and a tail.

You know what this movie was really missing? A youthified digital Mr. T.

she goes from being one sort of cat lady to another
(half-joking here)

Wonder Woman 1982:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Cat_People_1982_movie.jpg

pretty much. as well as the Selina Kyle/Batman Returns comparison talked about earlier in the thread

also: women have to fight other women, femininity, apex predator, yada yada yada

People don’t like Wonder Woman 1984 because they haven’t seen a superhero movie in ten months and forgot they’re all like that.

— Brandon Bird (@Brandon_Bird) December 26, 2020

some of these reactions to that entirely not serious Cro-Mags tweet are nuts, I tell ya

I still say the reactions in this thread (at least mine) were keeping in the spirit - I wasn’t mad at the tweet, lol. Maybe you’re referring to responses on Twitter, though (I didn’t actually click thru)

That said I do think there’s a thing where when someone posts a tweet in a thread here, my immediate response is to go “yeah, but...” – not sure why. Maybe b/c it sort of sits there with a veil of inflated authority, intruding from beyond the realm of ILX discourse, demanding a counterpoint.

That NYMag pan is such a waste of a good panning opportunity

ok now I'm stoned and trying again, my new problem is that my roommate is home and this feels even more aggressively For Kids than most superhero movies I've seen

The defenses of WW84 that claim it's not appreciably worse than most superhero movies (people just haven't seen one in a while, aren't used to watching them on TV, etc.) don't carry much weight with me because I avoid most superhero movies. But I did see the first Wonder Woman and found it charming, while this one felt overstuffed and nonsensical. (I mean, I don't doubt that it's a typical superhero movie; that's why I don't watch superhero movies!)

ok now I'm stoned and trying again, my new problem is that my roommate is home and this feels even more aggressively For Kids than most superhero movies I've seen

The defenses of WW84 that claim it's not appreciably worse than most superhero movies invalidate themselves by conflating DCEU, Fox X-Men, MCU, and Tim Burton Bat-verse.

Marvel’s success suggests hmm it is maybe possible to make a superhero movie that many people like. DC just stubbornly refuses to follow the template bc they want a unique identity distinct from Marvel.

Unfortunately, having now tacked away from “dark, gritty, and risibly bad” they have no idea what that identity would be and seen to have doubled down on “risibly bad.”

Kind of occurred to me that the Marvel heroes, more or less, all of them either never bothered with or immediately dispensed with the alter-ego bullshit. What does Wonder Woman get out of it?

idk if this is referring to the Marvel movies, but it's definitely not true of the 1940s Timely or 1960s Marvel characters

Wonder Woman's entire raison d'rumspringa is to learn about Man's World, which she can do better as part of it instead of as a demigod

Yeah, Marvel movies, they don't have alter egos, afaict.

I've never read the comic books, but in this movie Wonder Woman has been living in man's world for over almost 80 years years. I'm not sure what what more she can gain by playing Undercover Boss. If she doesn't have a good idea of what man is like at this point she's clearly doing it wrong (and to be fair, having apparently no human friends does probably mean she's doing it wrong). Anyway, the biggest lesson she seems to be learning is that man shouldn't mess around with magic god stuff, which makes her very presence on earth self defeating. She'd be better off giving in, keeping the costume on and getting a bit more ambitious.

I’m seeing ppl say that several characters who have dramatic death scenes end up alive at the end(?)

I am... ambivalent? about the movie

it didnt suck but it wasnt v enjoyable eithet

There were parts that I liked

but the bulk of the movie was, I dunno - the parts i didnt care about like WISHES ARE COCAINE DO YOU SEE like uuuggg hhhh FUCK OFF WE GET IT JESUS CHRIST it was was sooooo overwritten & piled on it got boring almost right away —- but then Max & his kid, or him as any kind of discernible character was really underwritten

And Pablo was miscast or they upped his character after he signed on, he seemed kinda lost in such a weird role but who wouldnt be i guess

And the stuff Diana & Steve switching roles like he’s in her world now & he’s the naif ... it sort of worked i guess but was v undercooked

And just call it Wonderwoman 2 ffs - calling it Wonder Woman 84 gives me an expectation of a great soundtrack which never eventuatedinstead is three (3) partial songs at one (1) party

I feel like someone greenlit the 1984 aspect ages ago thanks to Stranger Things but it was never more than an afterthought

i liked all the stuff w barbara & diana / cheetah & wonder woman, i could have done w way less of max lord personally

and gail is a great wonder woman, just standing around or flying through the air or whatever
i could watch her all day

They made him way too likable for the amount of Trump cosplay they were doing.

Most of the supey characters in the Ant-Mans have alter egos & secret identities iirc.

Walter Chaw's review: https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2020/12/ww84.html

lol he brings up Superman IV, too!

More Superman 3 tbh

he also answers your question of why she still has a secret identity 66 years later

Must have missed that there, too, ha.

Anyway

Strange fact: John Joseph is good friends with Patty Jenkins, allegedly got her her first directing gig (for a Leeway vid lol) and sent her this shirt personally. pic.twitter.com/v8DlhjyemV

— Sturgeon's Law (@Sturgeons_Law) December 26, 2020

He's right that the album was around in tape form before 86, but he's fudging the facts here. The black tape wasn't even finished until 85 (as you can see here), and that album cover/shirt design didn't exist until 86. pic.twitter.com/FbyHUwc5Na

— Sturgeon's Law (@Sturgeons_Law) December 26, 2020

How does the wish renouncing work.

If 10 people wished they were married to Taylor Swift, is she now married to all ten?

Also at least 5% of males wished for a bigger weiner and no way they renounce that

I’m not going to see this either way, but am curious if this is worse than Superman 3, which is in the running for the worst superhero movie I’ve ever seen