Film Review

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Now living in 1984, Diana Prince faces off against an archaeologist with mystical abilities and a devious businessman.

Patty Jenkins finally debuts her long-delayed sequel to Wonder Woman (2017), thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Wonder Woman 84 arriving a year later than originally planned. Gal Gadot reprises her role as the eponymous heroine in a story that takes place 66 years after the events of the first movie. It’s now 1984 and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is working at the Smithsonian as an expert in ancient civilisations and archaeology. And while keeping up her day job, she foils low-level criminals under the radar of public scrutiny, being more of an urban legend and rumour than a well-known superhero.

Fanboys are sure to notice this storyline doesn’t jive with the mysterious Wonder Woman we were introduced to in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), but in the context of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), where individual narratives are less entwined and a larger vision has been mostly abandoned, one can hardly fault Jenkins for taking creative liberties.