Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Age rating: 12

Length: 2h 31m

My rating: 3.5 stars

December finally saw the release of Wonder Woman 1984, originally scheduled for earlier in the year but delayed due to COVID-19 and resulting in limited release in cinemas simultaneously with a digital release.

It was a potentially hard act to follow, with the only decent DC film so far being the prequel, Wonder Woman, released 2017. With Steve (Chris Pine) being seemingly blown to smithereens during the First World War at the end of the first film, we’re left wondering what next for Diana Prince (Gal Gadot).

Fast forward to 1984 and Diana is strutting her stuff with big hair and shoulder pads, working as a museum curator rather than any of the classic 80s overindulgent occupational cliché’s. Greed and power, however, take centre stage as an ancient artefact, the Dreamstone, is discovered to grant wishes and is used to nefarious means by both supporting characters Barbara Minerva (Kirsten Wiig) and Max Lord (Pablo Pascal) whilst usefully working as a plot device to develop the love story between Diana and Steve (this is not a spoiler if you’ve seen the cast list).

The superheroes and villians spend the rest of the film wrestling the Dreamstone from each other before they all conclude that possessing unlimited wishes wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Best bits: Gal Gadot is radiant as one of the best superheroes of recent times and trumps the likes of Captain Marvel et al several times over. Diana is not a classically over-confident, cocky superhero and we witness her reflective side as well as her burgeoning inner strength, wisdom and courage . New characters are introduced, Cheetah and Asteria (a cameo which will delight TV viewers from the 1970s) which in turn propels the story forward for future DC films and sequels.

Fatal flaws: Why was this film so long? There is a lot of repetition and we feel weighed down by the story at times. Max Lord seems to be loosely based on Donald Trump which could be genius but actually feels a little too cliched here.

Fresh or fruity?: Fresh. A viable sequel, elevated by its luminous leading lady and overblown villain.

Find it on: Available to rent.