WW1984

I remember watching the first Wonder Woman movie and thinking that this was a good action story. Chris Pine fit the good action hero role as Steve Trever but it was Gal Gadot who really brought the move to life. She brought the innocence from the comic books by George Perez and made me feel it. I enjoyed the movie and felt her sadness when Trever died. That was it though. There was no hero's journey to become stronger. Just a bad guy to defeat and she did. She saved the world.

Watching WW1984 here is a woman who has shut herself off from the world. She is locked in the past and can only dream of one day seeing Steve Trever again. When her wish comes true it was the culmination of every deepest fantasy. Her love is back. Here was a man who always embraced the future, who wanted to explore and live with a childlike glee. He became the person she was in the first movie and did it better. Diana's journey which started in the first movie had stopped. She remained locked in place, unable to open up. Too afraid of getting hurt. Everyone wanted something from her because she is beautiful but she refused to let people in. Until she made a wish. From there she opened herself to pain, love, friendship, a future. Trever helped her remember what it was like to be happy and left her a precious gift. A second chance. He helped her continue on her journey, move forward and embrace who she is rather than hide herself in the past. The next step will be finding the next hero.

Wonder Woman was never about gourgous action scenes or wanton destruction, even though they're there. It's always been about humanity. Superman is the best person we can be but he is someone who can do the impossible. We let him do that so we don't have to. Wonder Woman was always about being a better human. Making the difficult choices, not because they're easy but because they're right. We all want to be Superman but we need Wonder Woman more.

A final note on Max Lord. He wasn't like his newer comic book character but he was still a con man who wanted more. If anything he was us and if you had his power wouldn't you do the same thing.