I couldn't make a specific comment before, because the suspense of the whole movie revolves around how Steve came back, and it is difficult to avoid it, so I can only comment on a general level. Recently, after the release of "Wonder Woman 1984" in China, I heard some audiences' reactions and analyzed the emotional drama and the shaping of female villains.
(Spoiler alert! If you haven't seen the movie, please wait until you finish it before reading it)
1. It is reasonable for the idea and choice of the story to focus on emotional drama
I heard more complaints about less action scenes, more preaching, and more emotional scenes. The emphasis on emotional drama is actually the advantage of this film in my opinion and many other film critics. It is to find the right angle to show the true meaning of Diana's existence: she is the god of love, not the god of war. Although she has an extraordinary ability to try to ensure that mankind is free from various disasters, her real goal, starting from the first part, is to try to promote love and justice, and to educate mankind to avoid disputes in a non-violent and minimally destructive way. Keep the peace. After talking about the origin, the sequel will naturally continue to emphasize her role.
1) Themes
In fact, the most engaging and successful part of the first episode is not the action scenes, but the creation of Diana's endearing character and a touching love story. Her way of resolving the human crisis is also trying to bring love and kindness to human beings. The same is true for the second episode. The story of the wishing stone makes people realize that one's ambition may be satisfied temporarily, but it may bring more disaster to the world and oneself, and nothing is free of cost. of. And Diana wants people to see that the world is so beautiful and worth cherishing and loving, which is more important than personal selfishness. That's why the film keeps emphasizing this at the end.
This theme is more representative today. There are a lot of people with all kinds of ambitions in the film, and once all of them are fulfilled (even building a wall), it ends up causing the world to become even more strife. In particular, Max Lord is shaped like Trump. Isn't Trump's biggest feature is his love to talk big? He always makes a lot of false and empty promises, which is very demagogic, making people think that he can help change people's lives, but in order to achieve these goals, he has only made the world more chaotic, and even violated human nature, science and international rules . Therefore, most viewers will naturally think of our real life when they see this film. At the same time, the setting of this wishing stone makes it easy for everyone to ask themselves: What is the wish that they most hope to achieve? Is it worth it if it costs a lot?
2) Action scenes
Diana's fight scenes are actually difficult to film, because she, like Superman, basically doesn't need too many moves, and can easily defeat the opponent. In the first episode, the gods were used as the enemy, and in the end, there was an explosion, which was actually not enjoyable.
The only way to humanize her and increase the visibility of her movements is to take away or lower her superpowers. We all know that Superman's weakness is kryptonite, but it's really bad, so the director tried to use Superman's mother as his weakness before, but it was not very convincing. And in Wonder Woman, her weakness is Steve. Using her to choose between superpowers and the lover she wants the most is not only in line with her character, but also makes people see the truth that everything has to pay a price. The Wishing Stone in the film does a good job of reducing her abilities and exposing her flaws, while creating villains and enough chaos to make the film a reasonable and realistic sequel. From this point of view, the idea of the story is actually very successful.
During the part of her incapacitated time, the fight scenes in the White House and the car chases on the road are interpreted in a more mortal capacity, so it is more like the Indiana Jones series, she still has the whip, but it is very laborious . In fact, this part of the action scene is more interesting than flying around. And in order to satisfy the audience's curiosity about the magical power of "Wonder Woman" and their thirst for visual effects, the stunned fairy contest at the beginning was arranged, and at the same time, the teacher had told her about the importance of sincerity.
3) Emotional drama
A love story doesn't have to be beautiful and touching, and the brief reunion between Diana and Steve is actually very sweet. Although Diana is stronger than Steve, the latter can always be the right-hand man and spiritual support at critical moments to help Diana successfully complete her tasks. Although the knife at the end once again pierced the tears, thinking about it, it is still a luxury to be able to reunite with those who have left, even if it is short-lived.
I'm still quite satisfied with the movie's setting for Steve's return, instead of letting him appear in front of people with a "poof", he was attached to another man's body, and only the audience could see him. original appearance. This looks reasonable and unobtrusive, and in the Christmas scene at the end, the man and Diana meet again and there are infinite possibilities, which means that Diana can finally see hope in other people and have the opportunity to find love again. Because the front of the film has been showing that she is not willing to give anyone a chance at all, thinking that she can only find love once and has lost it. But Steve kept emphasizing to her that there are other people in this world who deserve her love.
My personal favorite is the Independence Day Steve and Diana flying over the fireworks, and finally her being on the streets of Christmas, where she relives the good parts of life. Since the audience of this film has a large number of women, such a romantic and warm scene is still necessary. This is also the reason why Christmas and other festivals and beautiful street scenes always appear in most romantic comedies. I don't think that a movie with a female protagonist should only show the strength and bravery of the female characters. Even the male protagonists have romantic and light scenes. The important thing is that the characters should be human and likable, and easy to resonate. Many people who are widowed, divorced or separated have been unable to get out of the shadow of past relationships for a long time, and some think that they can no longer find the right person. Many film and television dramas also often emphasize the true destiny and destiny, as if there is no true love if this person is missed. And this film not only allows the goddess to give people the teaching of great love, but also allows her to regain the courage to love.
2. The villain is very representative
Another complaint I saw was about the villains, not as powerful as the previous villains. But in fact, the leopard girl Barbara and Max Lord in the film are very typical in life, and I personally think that they are easier to resonate than the gods. They are all people who feel underappreciated for a long time and strongly hope to take shortcuts to change their status as soon as possible, and they have also become very dangerous characters.
Among them, I personally think that the role of Barbara is very successful and represents many women who are common in life.
First of all, she is a little sheep who was once bullied by the domineering "Predator". She was initially violated on the street and could not protect herself. She is a weak person worthy of sympathy. Therefore, she hopes to become stronger and stop being bullied. But after that, she couldn't control her ambition, and eventually she became a "predator", which is why she finally appeared in the image of a leopard girl. She did not acquire the ability to transform, but it represented that she completely gave up her humanity and kindness, and became the type of Predator that she hated the most who relied on her ability to bully others.
One of the saddest things in the world is to be the kind of person you hate. In fact, this is very common in life. The most typical example is some pseudo-feminists on the Internet who scold people everywhere under the banner of feminism. While they oppose violence, they use very ugly words to violence or even slander others on the Internet. Not only did they fail to solve the problem effectively, but instead they created countless enemies and provoke confrontation, which was no different from the "violators" in their mouths, thus tarnishing women's rights. The reputation of the activists makes it difficult for real feminists to achieve. Many times when people gain the right to speak, they do not realize how to use it correctly, but start to do whatever they want because of excessive ambition, which shows an even uglier side.
Secondly, the film describes in great detail the neglect, hostility and harassment Barbara suffered from the outside world, which truly reflects everything that a woman often faces. If you are not beautiful enough, you are ignored; if you are too beautiful, you are often harassed. She is often very concerned about what other people think of her, and her mood is affected because of this, and she desperately desires to be noticed, but she often loses her vigilance when she occasionally gets attention. For example, when you are suddenly praised and favored by men, you will be hooked immediately.
This is also very common in life. Many girls are particularly easy to be praised and can't find the North, and their goal is to attract the attention of others, but they often get into trouble. At the same time, Diana also faced these disturbances from her surroundings. What she did was to ignore those people at all, and she was not tempted or stimulated at all, because she did not pay attention to praise, attention, and favor. In fact, this is also the film that once again hopes for female audiences to see how to be self-reliant, free and strong inside, so as not to be influenced by others. A lot of trouble is also avoided when you don't mind the rhetoric or temptations.
The passage of Leopard Girl's appearance is very clear in the dark night, and most of them are action scenes. The Leopard Girl is very dynamic, and it is not easy for people to see her makeup clearly, covering up the strange feeling in the shape. And he did not deliberately make his face an animal-like shape, but just made up and lengthened his hair, avoiding the embarrassing look in the film "Cat". Overall, it's pretty pleasing to the eye, and it didn't turn into a CG tragedy.
The character Max Lord is actually the same type of person as the Leopard Girl. He was also the target of violence by violent people and had a tragic childhood, so he hopes to become a strong man and protect his children, so that he and his son will no longer be bullied . But he apparently used the wrong means. I always feel that the portrayal of his son is relatively unconvincing. Such a person who has written ambition on his face since he appeared on the stage actually cares so much about his image in his son's eyes. Every time he sees his son, he immediately becomes a good father. The change is too sudden. . And his son is an Asian adopted son. Seeing this, it is not difficult to feel that this must be the writer's final discovery: "Bad, the film is all white and lacks ethnic diversity!" So he specifically wrote his son as Asian, which is really deliberate. But as mentioned earlier, because the existence of this character has escalated the crisis and caused chaos in the world, it is more realistic and representative, and it is definitely much better than the villain of Guang Leopard Girl.
Overall, I think this is a sequel that is more in line with expectations. It has played a consolidating and strengthening role in shaping the character of the goddess, and also has positive encouragement and guidance for female audiences. The love story is again very sweet and touching.
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