*** SPOILERS TO BOTH OF THE WONDER WOMAN FILMS
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After three years, we finally got another Wonder Woman movie: “Wonder Woman 84”. Compared to the first film, this film is very different when it comes to time periods, plots, villains, and the overall message of the story. When the first Wonder Woman film was released back in 2017, the movie was grossed at over $821 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2017, as well as the highest-grossing film by a solo female director.
While the first movie took place in 1918, this film takes place almost 70 years later in the year 1984. We see how living in different time periods affected her way of life. Wonder Woman, also known as Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) was impacted by the decade of the 1920’s as that is where she met her first love and first ventured off from being Diana, princess of the Amazons to being Diana Prince. She also helped fight in WWI.
THE FIRST MOVIE:
In order to watch the sequel, you have to watch the first movie to fully understand what is going on. In the first movie, we are introduced to an all-women society on an island paradise now known as Themyscira, which was gifted by the Greek Gods. Diana is the daughter of the Amazonian Queen, Hippolyta, who was molded from clay. The society was created as a message for the Men’s World to be at peace, separating themselves from brutality.
With the magic of sisterhood, the society becomes more technologically advanced than ours, creating a prosperous society with culture. Everything changes for this civilization when Captain Steve Trevor crash-lands on Themyscira. He is a spy looking for intel of what the villains are conducting for war. A tournament is held to see who will return Steve, to which Diana wins. This film was filled with romance, adventure, and its coming-of-age tale of a young woman leaving behind everything she’s ever known to help a world that very well may not accept her for being different (having powers).
WONDER WOMAN 84:
The plot changes drastically in this sequel. After the death of her one true love, Steve Trever, she hasn’t been able to move on, keeping the memory of Steve still with her. We meet Diana in 1984 during the Cold War, where nothing interesting has happened in her life just yet. Keeping her powers a secret, Diana keeps fighting crime and helping the people and is then met by an interesting ancient artifact that was brought to her work. The artifact also known as the Dreamstone, allows people to make one wish that comes to life for them but every wish comes with a consequence.
Max Lord, a new character to the franchise, is our villain who takes control of the Dream Stone and plans to use it as a means to his own ends. Not only does Diana have to face a villain in the movie but two. A co-worker, Barbara Minerva, wishes to be like Diana, having all of her strengths and power. Barbara becomes Max’s guardian and companion as she doesn’t want Diana to get Max to give up his powers. She wishes to be the ultimate alpha making her a cheetah, which is stronger than Diana. Even though Diana was always strong for her supernatural ability, she was weakened for wishing for Steve to come back and he reincarnated in another person. Being the one person Diana loved, it was hard for her to let go once again, but letting go of him made her stronger.
Diana manages to make Max get rid of the stone within him which makes everything in society go back to normal. Since Max granted many people’s wishes, those wishes were going to be the cause of the end of humanity. She made a very inspirational speech to him which was the reason why he gave up the powers.
In her speech, she states, “Everything has a price, one I am not willing to pay, not anymore. This world was a beautiful place, just as it was and you cannot have it all. You can only have the truth, the truth is enough, the truth is beautiful. So look at this world, and look at what your wish is costing it. You must be the hero, only you can save the day. Renounce your wish if you want to save the world. You’re not the only one who has suffered, who wants more, who wants them back. Who doesn’t want to be afraid anymore, alone, frightened, or powerless… cause you’re not the only one who imagined the world being different. A world where they are loved and seen.”
Seeing how the world is about to end, and having his child crying and wondering where Max is, he gives up his power.
WHY THE CONTROVERSY AND BOYCOTT:
In the film the main protagonist is a symbol of feminism and represents the independence of being a woman. While Wonder Woman is anti-war, according to an article “Boycott ‘Wonder Woman 1984’: A pro-Palestinian viewpoint” written by Raha Murtuza, it states that, the lead actress, Gal Gadot, is famous for being a proud Israeli and even serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Force). In 2006, Israel and Lebanon, engaged in a 34-day war known as the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War or the 2006 Lebanon War, to which Gadot served and around 1,100 Lebanese citizens and around 165 Israeli citizens were killed. Since she participated in the war, people were against seeing her on the big screen. Aside from people boycotting the film because of her serving in the Israelian army, she was also critiqued for a controversial post made on facebook. Where she called the Hamas, “cowards who were hiding behind women and children,” citing the hashtags #weareright and #freegazafromhamas.
Since the film first premiered on HBO Max and in select theatres, the film has made $118 million in a month. This is the first time that a film was released in theatres and on a streaming service. Not only was the box office numbers lower compared to the first movie of the franchise, but since you are buying the HBO Max subscription for a month, for only $14.99, which is around how much a single movie ticket costs, the film might suffer from ticket sales.
Overall, the movie was very interesting to watch. There was action, romance, and moments that literally took your breath away. I did find the first movie to be more intriguing compared to this sequel. I felt that the first film’s plot was more organized and the plot twist at the end made it even more trolling to watch. This film is a solid 7/10 with the controversy and everything. I did enjoy the special effects and cinematography. The last day to watch and stream Wonder Woman on HBO Max is on January 25th. The HBO Max subscription will cost you $14.99 a month with a free 7 day trial.
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