New Wonder Woman needed more punch, while ‘Soul’ dives deep
It is impressive to see the superhero Wonder Woman on screen, even on the small one.
In both the first “Wonder Woman” and Patti Jenkins’ new “WW84,” Gal Gadot truly looks like the Amazonian warrior she portrays. The main problem with the latest film, however, is the galling lack of Wonder Woman.
Imagine a Superman film where we get mostly Clark Kent, or a Batman film dominated by Bruce Wayne. “WW84” has a run time of 150 minutes, yet the titular character’s screentime may fall short of 30.
That does not mean Gadot is absent. As Diana, she is entrenched in the 1980s – living a normal life. She meets the unhinged Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), and things take a strange and confusing turn.
An ancient stone has been unearthed, apparently causing wishes to be granted. When smarmy businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) gets his hands on it, he becomes able to grant wishes. Of course, this goes bad when he realizes he can also steal whatever he wants from someone just by granting their wish.
When the world goes topsy turvy, it is up to Wonder Woman and the not-quite-dead Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) from the first film.
The action scenes are top notch, the effects are not bad and the acting is just fine. It would have been hard to top the first film, but I expected this one to be at least on par and it wasn’t. Next time, more Wonder Woman, please. (HBO Max) B-
Pixar finds its ‘Soul’
Pixar has never shied away from movies with death as a prominent theme. Early on, films like “Finding Nemo” and “Up” had major deaths in the opening minutes; surviving characters grappled with their grief during their subsequent adventures.
More recently, “Coco” and “Onward” included death as part of the characters’ journeys. With mortality at the absolute forefront, Pete Docter (director of my two favorite Pixar films, “Up” and “Inside Out”), gives us the excellent “Soul.”
“Soul” wraps its entire story with impermanence, centering the movie around the accidental death of its main character. Poor Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) finally catches his big break in the jazz world right before he finds himself floating along in the afterlife. Rather than go immediately to the ‘Great Beyond,’ he moves to the “Great Before” to be a mentor to an unborn soul named 22 (Tina Fey).
Pixar imagines the Great Before as a school of sorts for new souls to be given character traits and eventually find their spark before floating down to earth to inhabit a body. Docter wonderfully fleshes out the Great Before as a place where lost souls roam around a city. As new souls search for their spark, mystics from the real world push through and operate a floating galleon.
The real beauty of “Soul” is in Joe’s gradual realization not of why he died, but why he lived. After a year beset with death all around us, a little laughter and self-discovery injected into the conversation is more than welcome. (Disney+) A-
Jeff Mellinger is a screen writer and film buff. He holds a BA in Film Studies and an MFA in film production. He lives in Concord. Email comments to editor@pioneerpublishers.com.