Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? This quote kept spinning in my head while watching the Patty Jenkins directed follow up to her smash 2017 hit Wonder Woman.
This film again features Gal Gadot (Justice League, Fast 5) as the titular character Wonder Woman or Diana Prince. Instead of being set in World War 1, it is set in 1984 (shocking, I know), and we find Prince trying to conceal her secret identity while still stopping crime and saving lives.
How this fits into the whole DC extended universe I don’t know. They have not done as good of a job of having a cohesive and consistent plan as Marvel has so there are some things that happen that relate to the first film but they play it fast and loose with what counts and what doesn’t.
Prince is still forlorn over the loss of her love interest Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine (Star Trek, Hell or High Water) in the previous film.
After being magically reincarnated, Trevor is now the fish out of water in the 80’s as Prince was in WW1 London in the first film. Gadot and Pine have an easy chemistry.
These magical shenanigans happen because Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal, Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian) is a failed businessman who has dried up every source of cash for his oil exploration business and happens to find out about a magic relic that can grant any wish the holder has – but it comes at a price.
Thrown into the mix is the goofy and ignored Barbar Minerva (Kristen Wiig. Bridesmaids, Saturday Night Live) who works in the same building as Prince but is treated like a doormat rather than a highly educated academic and researcher.
The film has some well shot and executed action scenes but I struggled to care about the main character. A film is essentially about someone who wants something badly but is having a hard time getting it and we see their journey as an extension of our own and we empathise with that character and want them to succeed. Wonder Woman is created by Zeus. She is smart, powerful, beautiful, unaging, it’s hard to really feel anything for her. Minerva’s wish is to be like her and I can see why.
Minerva is the most sympathetic character in the film. She appears to be lovely and tries to be this elegant, fancy woman that Prince so effortlessly pulls off. When her wish is granted she pulls the late 90’s teen comedy move of turning the nerd girl into the hot girl by doing a makeover. Suddenly, she has the attention of all the guys that ignored her. She got stronger so she can defend herself. Her wish wasn’t selfish like the others.
Minerva is then made to wish for more and becomes one of the villains of the film. However, the fight didn’t feel like Prince was in much peril. Lord was never a sympathetic character and was a very one-dimensional villain.
The film goes on to basically say stay in her lane. All those that wish for something get punished for it. Those that have, keep having, and those that don’t have, go back to not having. As if there is some morality to having something, power, wealth, looks, and its immoral for those that weren’t born with it to suddenly get it.
It didn’t really feel like an uplifting story. Prince has to sacrifice something to get back all her powers and it is played off that this person with godlike powers is being a saint for using them for good.
Everyone has some skills or resources, we all should use them for good. In this case, I kinda wanted Minerva to win.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe
26 December 2020