Warner Bros. Pictures has released the first full trailer for the second Wonder Woman film titled Wonder Woman 1984, but the long-awaited footage is a disappointment.
The two-minute, twenty-second trailer doesn’t seem to reveal any plot except that it takes place in 1984 when businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) promises a better life where you can have “everything you always wanted.”
The video footage is backed by a remix of New Order’s song “Blue Monday” that was released in the UK around the same time the movie takes place but not even that popular in the US (except in alternative rock circles).
Wonder Woman’s enemies in the film, businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and her archenemy Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) are hardly intriguing in the trailer and the overall script so far lacks originality. Even Wonder Woman’s motives are unclear.
There is plenty of footage of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) who is presumed dead but suddenly appears from the past. Maybe there will be a twist in the plot in which Trevor is there for a different reason or not there at all (look for the closeup a watch handed to Diana Prince which may indicate some sort of time continuum).
And, maybe a second trailer will reveal more of the conflict Wonder Woman faces in the film. For now, she doesn’t appear to have much stake in the plot or in Maxwell Lord’s plan for the future.
What we would have liked to have seen in the trailer is a sneak preview of Kristen Wiig and her transformation into the Cheetah. That would certainly pique some interest.
From this initial footage it also seems the filmmakers spent too much time on the set design, slow-motion effects, and title graphics rather than substance. A good trailer will tell a story without revealing too much. This one is just a mess of footage that has no rhyme or reason.
Wonder Woman 1984 (also known as “WW84”) will release to theaters in the US, including RealD 3D and IMAX 3D, on June 5, 2020.
