Set during the events of the Cold War, Wonder Woman 1984 was created after the success of its predecessor. Although many fans would consider the film a flop, Wonder Woman 1984 does have its merits. 

The film successfully tackles the concept of greed with its simple yet intricate plot. Max Lord, the main antagonist, obtains a mysterious stone that can grant the user one wish. Rather than following the conventional behavior of wishing for money, wealth, or fame, Lord wished to become the stone itself. Driven by his desire to appear as the perfect dad for his son, Lord deceives others into wishing for his prosperity. 

The stone, however, functions like a monkey’s paw and causes the world to descend into chaos. What pursued was an amusing series of cat and mouse chases between Diana (Wonder Woman) and Max Lord in an attempt to end the disorder until Lord ultimately accepts his failure and revoked all the wishes. The film ends with Max Lord confronting his son, Alistair, in which his son responds with a heartfelt “I don’t need you to make me proud, I already love you daddy.”

The main issues with the movie are its various plot holes and its poor build-up. One of the plot holes occurred during the scene where Steve Trevor flies a plane to chase Max Lord. Steve Trevor was a character that died in the Wonder Woman movie but was resurrected by the stone in Wonder Woman 1984. Despite being a WWI pilot, Trevor manages to navigate a modern plane with no prior experience with the new models. This inconsistency coincides with the character Steve Trevor as a whole since the film tries to portray Trevor as a clueless character who has no knowledge of anything past the events of WWI.

The movie also suffers from its awful development. In one scene, Trevor notices a golden armor that belongs to Diana, which she described as “one suit strong enough to take on the whole world.” Fast forward and Diana, now dressed in the armor, is fighting Barbara who tries to prevent her from stopping Max Lord. What proceeded was not a breathtaking fight that showed the capability of the armor, instead, the armor was ripped to pieces in a few scratches. The build-up did not reward me with the battle I was anticipating but I was instead left with watching a few pieces of yellow steel being torn apart. It is unfeasible how a suit that can supposedly “take on the whole world” ended up being ripped apart within a minute.

Even with these issues, however, the film more than made up for it through its elaborate and realistic cast of characters. The character in particular that stood out to me the most was Alistair. Alistair’s only wish was to spend time with his dad, which is juxtaposed with Lord’s delusion that his son wants to see him as a successful businessman. Throughout the film, I could only feel sorry for Alistair as his father’s negligence continues to divide the father and son relationship.

Like many others, my expectations coming into the movie were extremely high because of how the first film flawlessly presented the heroine. However, it is only fair that I judge the movie as a stand-alone film when the directors themselves fail to recognize Wonder Woman 1984 as a true sequel to their previous work.

Wonder Woman 1984 is a movie with excellent plot and characters even though there were minor setbacks from some less satisfactory scenes. Overall, the movie is worth watching for its unique take on the impact of greed even if the movie lacks the same level of quality as its predecessor.