Wonder Woman 1984

Ellos, los guionistas, tenían buenas intenciones con el tema de la duplicidad de «conceder cualquier deseo». Era posible construir una historia llena de ideas sobre ella. Ni siquiera me importó esperar 80 minutos para la primera escena de acción después de la inicial. Si hay algo que ver y está bien hollywoodizado (de lo que tuvimos mucho en 2020), esperaré con gusto. Pero como un conjunto relativamente largo, WW84 es dramáticamente inconexo, a veces innecesariamente lento y a veces demasiado rápido, y especialmente en su tratamiento del tema casi autoparódicamente ingenuo. La tercera estrella, por aquello del placer muy culpable, se la doy solo por mi afición a Gal Gadot, que como Wonder Woman me gusta incluso más que mi Vengadora favorita. Y por Zimmer, que aquí llega a (otro) cumbre. Increíble y maravilloso, ahora lo pongo todos los días y algunas pistas 2-3 veces seguidas. (06.01.2021)

Hay escenas en Wonder Woman 1984 que, en el mejor de los casos, están en la media del género, o escenas francamente abreviadas y tontas, que acumulan un cliché tras otro. Todo aquello dudoso, que se le perdonaría por ejemplo al Superman de 1978, porque es de 1978 y a la vez fue pionera de la forma moderna de películas de cómic, en esta película los creadores lo intentan vender como algo con encanto retro, pero a la vez no es más que un guión estúpido y autocomplaciente. Las escenas de acción son probablemente la parte más débil de la película. Que Patty Jenkins no sabe rodar acción y, como muchos otros, lo compensa con CGI de aspecto poco natural, ya lo descubrimos en la primera película. Sin embargo, incluir solo cuatro escenas de acción cortas y anodinas en una superproducción de 151 minutos es quizás demasiado. Pero quizás por eso no me molestaron tanto como en la primera película. Por lo demás, es en todos los sentidos un espectáculo olvidable que se estrenó con más atención mediática de la que realmente merece. (27.12.2020)

I was expecting worse based on the tragic reviews, but it's not that bad. The best part is at the very beginning, with the Olympic tournament of the Amazons, and it is captivating. Then the pace slows down significantly, and there is surprisingly little action for a comic book film, and even when it happens, it's not very impressive. But I enjoyed the idea of granting wishes, it kept me from getting bored, though Pedro Pascal failed to impress me with his acting for the first time. Had I seen it at the cinema, I would have left disappointed, but I watched it at home and it turned out to be okay. Story***, Action***, Humor**, Violence>No, Entertainment***, Music*****, Visual****, Atmosphere***, Tension***. 5.5/10. (30.12.2020)

The attempt to repeat the same procedure in a different retro era didn't turn out well. Whether the main scriptwriter of the first installment, Allan Heinberg, voluntarily left to make TV series or had a falling out with the other creators, his name is no longer involved in the sequel, and it shows. The ingredients are the same, but this time that central thread that turned an adventure fairy tale into a legendary spectacle has gone missing – or at least it's been tampered with. I won't lie, I appreciated the old-fashioned first half, which behaves at times like Richard Donner's Superman, and at times like B movies from the same era (which I mean in a good way). This time as well there are no unnecessary interconnected universes established; instead, they follow the path of the comics in a direction that was aimed at decades ago, both in print and on celluloid. And most of the time, it even works in terms of building upon the wartime antics, because if anyone has almost atomic chemistry, it's Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. How you get past the fact that someone is appearing in a foreign body and how that body is then treated remains bittersweet, awkward, but still genuine and believable in terms of romance, where I believed every word and shed more than a tear during any tearful statements like "I will never love again." But that's where the biggest positives end, and I'm not sure about the rest. I have no problem with the nature and direction of the other characters, since it falls within the visual tradition, but I don't know why Pedro Pascal is being forced into Rock Me Amadeus mode, and why there seems to be about thirty minutes too much of him in the plot, more than would have been necessary for a rich portrayal of his motivation. Similarly, the frequent "educating" of the viewer is glaringly obvious, and there could have been fewer moral lessons on gender or consent, not just because they don't fit the genre but also because they are almost clumsily served directly to the camera. And finally, the most unforgivable aspect: the final showdown and its outcome is the weakest part of the film, as if it were present only to bid farewell to the plot in any way necessary. The action is banal and almost invisible due to darkness, the final moral lesson is illogical, the costumes and masks don't work at all, and most importantly, by that point, it has already extended past three hours in duration; as much as I enjoyed the film, I can't understand this decision to leave everything uncut. Patty Jenkins has fallen victim to megalomania syndrome, and it cost Wonder Woman a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. (19.07.2023)

If I never saw another Patty Jenkins movie in my life, I wouldn't mind at all. Not that I was looking forward to her Wonder Woman 1984 or was a big fan of the first film, but those two and a half hours with Gal Gadot went by as fast as, say, the Thirty Years War. And I'm convinced it's the fault of a director who just can't handle blockbusters and action movies. WW1984 has an extremely excessive runtime and unfortunately most of it is completely pointless filler. The 1980s setting didn't make much sense to me, the film could have been set almost any time before Batman vs. Superman. Virtually nothing happens, and when the action does come, it's mediocre at best. The only lighter moments are the romantic scenes where the film can lean on Chris Pine. But the biggest problem I see is that Jenkins clearly wanted to make something that would be reminiscent of the first and second Superman. That is, a naive comic book movie with a simple plot, easily distinguishable good and evil, and lots of hope and optimism. I don't disagree. It's just that the end result is more like Superman 3 and 4, which really aren't good movies. Overall, Wonder Woman 1984 doesn't feel like a big 2020 movie, but like something that was made two years before the first Iron Man, when Hollywood still didn't really know how to handle comic book heroes and heroines and the whole superhero genre was still in search of a new direction. And no, I don't mean that as praise for the old-school approach. Jenkins simply made not an old-school movie, but a movie that feels extremely old. Aside from the nice costumes and production design, I don't really know what to praise about it or why I should recommend it to anyone. (28.12.2020)