Film Review - Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

 Wonder Woman 1984 is the second in the series and Patty Jenkins is back directing and Gal Gadot stars as Wonder Woman, this story takes place in 1984 and Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) wants his hands on what is known as a wishing stone to save his failing oil business and with the help of Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) he just might be able to have his wish granted but not if Wonder Woman and a returned Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) stop them first.

 

Wonder Woman 1984 was a movie I was very keen for, the trailers for the film looked fun, Ms Jenkins and Co made a great movie in the first film in 2017 and though questions remained on how Christopher Pyne-sorry-Pine returned I was keen to see how this sequel would play out.

 

And well this is not a bad movie not in the least but it is one that has a number of script problems that really weigh it down but before I delve into those I want to write about what does work.

 

And firstly the film has a great music score by Hans Zimmer that really adds a lot to the film and sounded great on the cinema speakers and also there are a number of fun action sequences such as a great opening on Themyiscera with a Gladiators style tournament and a fight in a Shopping Mall and then one in the White House later in the film and the big screen experience really adds a lot to those moments.

 

Also the film has some good performances, Ms Gadot continues to shine as Wonder Woman and has really grown into the role while Mr Pascal and Ms Wiig also do good work as the villains.

 

But this screenplay to quote another Christopher Pine desperately needed a fixer to come in and say “I’m the fixer and I’ll fix it” as it is a really really jumbled mess.

 

And it feels messy because of firstly three story points:

 

- Mr Pascal’s Maxwell Lord

- Ms Wiig’s Barbara

- The return of Steve Trevor

 

These 3 story elements don’t mesh well together at all and feel more like separate story ideas mashed together in a blender like M Night Shyamalan’s Glass in 2019 felt like and like that film they just do not go well together at all and the movie as your watching it feels like its grinding its way through those elements rather than feeling like a clearly defined well thought out cohesive whole like the first film was in terms of its storytelling.

 

The return of Steve is well the one that had to go, sorry but his scenes here are terrible and when I was watching them I kept thinking that it was a bad repeat of their dynamic in the first film and done nowhere near as well and that character was done, D-O-N-E DONE and there was no need to bring him back.

 

As for the villains again Mr Pascal and Ms Wiig do well but the way their storylines play out in this script is unfulfilling, Maxwell Lord’s arc suffers the most from this as it really reminded me a lot of Will Smith in Suicide Squad and not in a good way while Ms Wiig well that was very anti climatic and should have been saved for a future movie where she could have been front and centre and played by someone like Elizabeth Moss who would have crushed this role.

 

Next the 1984 setting should feel integral to the storyline but instead just feels like window dressing for some fun production design and costume design and there is a lot to work with from that 1980s setting for this movie:

 

- The rise of the Corporate Raider (Mr Alan Bond mate and that Bastard Christopher Skase come to mind)

- The dawn of Home Video

- The Cold War with the Soviet Union

- President Ronald Reagan

- The AIDS Epidemic

- TV Evangelists

 

Any combination of these elements could have served the basis for a great Wonder Woman sequel set in the 1980s that was worthy of the first film but instead very little of these are touched upon in any meaningful way and others are outright ignored.

 

And lastly the Wishing Stone itself really makes no sense, now I had heard about wishes being in this movie before I got to see it and I thought to myself “Are the Dragon Balls in this” because I know they can grant wishes when all 7 are gathered together but at least their power to grant said wishes makes sense and only certain wishes can be granted by the Eternal Dragon for example someone dying of Cancer can’t be brought back to life by the Dragon Balls because they died of a natural disease.

 

But here its just a plastic prop-sorry-a rock that also looks like a plastic prop and it can grant any wish your heart desires and while there are some limits to its power its not well handled or integrated into the films storytelling.

 

Well that was Wonder Woman 1984 and I wish this last review of 2020 was a better one but perhaps its fitting given how thoroughly shit this year has been that its movie year for me ends with a fizzle merged with a whimper, the first film was so good and so well done but this sequel despite some strong points really needed a fixer to fix this script as it’s a real mess and it’s a shame, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Soul (2020)

 Soul is the new Pixar film that has gone from cinemas straight to Disney Plus due to 19 and is the first Pixar film with a black lead named Joe voiced by Jamie Foxx who is a teacher and wanna be Jazz musician who after falling down a hole in New York finds himself in the Great Beyond a land where Souls go to die but Joe feels it isn’t his time to go yet so he works to get himself back to the land of the living.

 

Soul is an interesting Pixar movie and its one also that I did enjoy watching but its also one that I have some issues with but before I delve into those I want to write about what I did like:

 

- Firstly the film has some gorgeous animation in it from the more realistic looking animation of Joe and his day to day life to this almost hand drawn look to the spirits that work in the Great Beyond and the Great Beyond itself feeling like both this black unending void with the white light of the divine at the centre of it and then the Great Before which is like this big wide open space with blues and purple skies, visually this movie is just delightful and if the previews were a guide it would’ve looked great on the big screen.

 

- Secondly the voice acting is really good, Mr Foxx is in a role that I have genuinely enjoyed him in for the first time in what feels like a long long time and he is really good in this movie, I also enjoyed Graham Norton as Moonwind the spiritual guru and sign twirler who helps Joe get back home and Angela Bassett in a small role as well.

 

But about those issues with the film:

 

- Well firstly a lot of the spiritual aspects of the storytelling felt very weird to me in that when I was sitting there watching the film I said to myself “This is weird” and not in the best of ways either and I find myself wondering how this would’ve played during a normal School Holidays release in cinemas and I can’t help but think that it would’ve played best for that 7-12 year old audience that sometimes is catered to in some School Holiday blocks.

 

- And secondly I really didn’t like Ms Tina Fey as Soul 22, her character annoyed me a fair amount and it feels like its more her story than Joe’s and that really bothers me I mean Pixar finally gets to do a story with a black lead voiced very well and for so much of the film he’s relegated to a side character while this other person takes centre stage and it feels like they are intruding.

 

Now to be fair it does lead to some touching moments and the film does pull on the emotional cords well but after a while I didn’t have that proper Pixar emotional feel like the end of Toy Story 3 or Monsters Inc where you really do feel for the characters on screen and the bond they share and when it was over I didn’t have tears in my eyes.

 

And so that was Soul and it’s a good solid Pixar affair that I did like and I did enjoy but its issues hold it back from being one of their best for me, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Freaky (2020)

 Freaky is the new film by the team that gave us Happy Death Day in 2017 and stars Kathryn Newton as Millie a young girl morning the loss of her father and one night while waiting for a ride home from a local football game she comes across the infamous Billsfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) and through an ancient ritual the two switch bodies with Millie in the Butcher’s body and vice versa and things could get deadly if the situation isn’t reversed within 24 hours.

 

Freaky is a lot of fun and there were many times where I had a big smile on my face and laughed quite a bit out loud in the cinema, first off the film has some terrific gooey violence that earns that MA15 rating and I just got a real kick out of and there were one or two in particular that I enjoyed the most and they made smile.

 

Also the film gets a lot out of its body switch premise and Mr Vaughn is a lot of fun when he’s imitating Millie and there are also some nice heartfelt moments with his performance that worked well also and also when I thought about the film some more I thought that Mr Vaughn would make a good Captain Ginyu of the Ginyu Force from Dragon Ball, he’s a fun villain that would suit someone like Mr Vaughn well.

 

As for the rest of the kids in the film well their okay but their characters can sometimes feel like the typical high school characters you get in this kind of film, there’s the best friends, the pricks on the football team, the cute boy among others and hey all of that works here well and I enjoyed those characters.

 

And so that was Freaky and I had a lot of fun here and it comes highly recommended, 4 out of 5.