Wonder Woman 1984 released on December 25, 2020, in theatres and on HBO Max for streaming. Wonder Woman 1984 successfully help HBO Max gain millions of subscribers. Where Disney+ releases Soul and saw a 13 percent increment in their subscribers, Wonder Woman 1984 won this competition for HBO Max as they gained almost 23 percent of new subscribers. Reviews are mixed, and the audience, in general, is not happy with the movie. Opposing the initial reviews that called Wonder Woman 1984 a great sequel to Wonder Woman (2017), it didn’t take long enough for Wonder Woman 1984 to fall down the list. The said movie even became the lowest-rated movie by DC ever released. But despite this, just two days after the release, Wonder Woman 3 was announced as well.
Wonder Woman 1984 picks up decades after the first film and finds Diana living a solitary life in Washington D.C., a far cry from her first introduction to the world of men. New threats in the form of shady businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and friend-turned-enemy Barbara Minerva, aka Cheetah (Kristen Wiig), draw Diana into her latest conflict, which is further complicated by the return of her dearly departed love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). Now because of the global pandemic, the road to theatre for Wonder Woman 1984 was far from easy.
Wonder Woman 1984 failed to resonate with Chinese audiences because it didn’t have enough action, according to fan reviews. Lower box office numbers are understandable with the pandemic going on, but there might be more to Wonder Woman 1984’s woes with Chinese audiences. Per THR, those who have seen the film have taken to popular ticketing apps like Taopiaopiao and Maoyan to share their thoughts.
Diana (Gal Gadot) is a part-time undercover crime-fighter in D.C. and works at the Smithsonian as a cultural anthropologist. When the FBI confiscates items from a botched robbery and gives them to the museum to identify, Diana discovers the Dreamstone among their findings. She and newcomer gemologist, geologist, and cryptozoologist Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) realize there’s something odd about it when their coworker touches it and wishes for coffee. Seconds later, another coworker offers him coffee.
Diana also finds out it was already been purchased by seedy businessman and TV personality Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), who is set on finally taking it for his own. Maxwell has his own devious designs for the Dreamstone, having researched and tracked it down for quite a while.
Here’s a breakdown of what each character loses when they make a wish on the Dreamstone:
Diana Loses Her Powers
After Diana wishes for Steve Trevor to return, her powers start to weaken considerably. She has difficulty breaking a lock into Maxwell Lord’s building and loses her grip on her trusty lasso in Egypt. As a result, she and the two children she’s attempting to save are nearly mowed down by Maxwell’s newly attained security team. She is also vulnerable to injury now unlike before. For a time, Diana denies her wish is what’s stolen her abilities in order to keep Steve by her side. She refuses to renounce her wish, believing she cannot live with the heartbreak of losing him again. It’s implied she’s been pining for him ever since his death:
She goes to dinner alone, watches planes with longing, and keeps his watch by a picture of herself at his family ranch. By wishing for him, she surrenders an essential part of herself in the process. Steve eventually persuades her to let him go and helps her realize that her duty to protect mankind is more important than him. Diana loses Steve a second time but regains her powers just in time to save the world and finally gets closure to move on with her life.
Maxwell Lord Compromises On His Health And Almost Loses His Son
Maxwell Lord suffers a great deal of mental, emotional, and physical duress. Soon after becoming the stone, he appears unhinged and unwell. His left eye pops a blood vessel, he can’t stop coughing, veins appear on his temples, his health seeming to deteriorate as turning into the Dreamstone takes his vitality. His plan comes to fruition at a secret government communications base, where Maxwell broadcasts live and touches people using particle technology.
In this way, he is able to heal himself and become stronger by granting wishes and siphoning a bit of the wish maker’s health in return. He intends to rebuild himself “organ by organ,” with no regard to human life. Because Maxwell becomes so power-hungry and possessed by the need for more, he neglects his son Alastair, the one person he wanted to do right by and make proud. In the chaos Lord creates, Alistair gets lost and is almost hurt before Lord finds him and shows remorse for his actions.
Barbara Minerva Loses Her Humanity
Barbara is introduced early on as an insecure scientist trying to build human connections. She is largely ignored by the staff of the Smithsonian because of her awkward nature. When Maxwell Lord displays an interest in her, even though his motivation is based solely on stealing the Dreamstone, Barbara is instantly smitten. She and Diana bond over their shared outsider status, though Barbara can hardly believe Diana chooses that lifestyle. The most obvious changes come in how Barbara dresses and conducts herself – part of her transformation includes no longer tripping in heels.
But she also becomes increasingly cold and embittered toward Diana, especially during their White House showdown. When Barbara expresses her desire to be an “apex predator,” Maxwell seems to telepathically transfer someone’s anger and expertise over to her, thereby completing her metamorphosis into Wonder Woman nemesis, Cheetah.
