Wonder Woman 1984 is fun, but doesn’t quite capture magic of its predecessor

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  A flashback to Themyscira. [credit: YouTube/Warner Bros. ]

Count me among the many millions who likely logged onto HBO Max on Christmas Day to watch Wonder Woman 1984, Director Patty Jenkins’ hotly anticipated, oft-delayed stand-alone follow-up to her 2017 global blockbuster, Wonder Woman. I’m a major fan of the latter, which gave us our super-powered Amazonian’s origin story, and had high hopes for the follow-up.

Those hopes weren’t completely dashed, but they weren’t really fulfilled either. While Wonder Woman 1984 still has a bit of the old magic, and its leads all turn in terrific performances, the film is hampered by a frequently nonsensical plot, extraneous showy action sequences, and it’s way too heavy-handed with the moralizing. But it still delivers quite a lot of slick, 1980s-infused fun if you turn your brain off and just go with it—and you’ll definitely want to stick around for a post-credits scene.

(Some spoilers below, with a couple of major spoilers below the second gallery. We’ll give you a heads up when we get there.)