The year is 1984 (obviously), and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is still working undercover as a superhero, trying to avoid any major public news attention. When a gemstone that grants any wish arrives in her anthropology department, things get a little messy little by little. Diana wishes for Steve to come back, and soon after, the stone gets into the hands of the ego-driven Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal).

I want to first start off by saying that pretty much everything about this movie is nonsensical plot-wise. Not a whole lot of it makes sense, so keep that in mind, even for some of my positives. The reason I wouldn’t give Wonder Woman 1984 a lower score, however, is that I think there is plenty here to enjoy and like.

First off, seeing Diana and Steve back onscreen together is definitely great, especially with how good their chemistry and relationship were in the first Wonder Woman movie. Thankfully, their chemistry is just as great here, and makes for some of the more emotional and sweet moments in the film, again, just like the first one. I also thought that some of the sort of “fish out of water” stuff regarding Steve was pretty fun, and it was neat to see through the perspective of someone how much the world had changed in the sixty-six years since the events of World War I regarding the original movie.

One thing that I don’t think gets praised nearly enough about this film would have to be the action. It starts off with a great, long action sequence on Themyscira that really gets you into the movie, and from there on, the action really only gets better for the most part. There are some other pretty amazing action sequences, two notable ones being the car chase and the White House scene, and the choreography is absolutely amazing and very dynamic. I think this is by far the most underrated and underappreciated aspect of the film, and something that should get talked about more, despite how flawed the movie as a whole may be, and despite there definitely still being a few action scenes that aren’t great, mainly the final fight.

Maxwell Lord makes for a really good and entertaining villain as well. He’s very over-the-top, but in the best way possible, in my opinion, and Pedro Pascal is definitely giving it his all; easily the best performance in the movie alongside Chris Pine as Steve Trevor. He has some surprising depth to him, too, that, while maybe it only becomes super prominent towards the end, is still effective, that being his relationship with his son. I’m not going to go into any specific details, but what they do with that relationship, especially with their scene towards the end, is really emotionally compelling and deep.

Ending off the positives, the last thing I’ll talk about is the cinematography and visuals. I think this easily trumps the first Wonder Woman movie in terms of the way it looks, mainly because I really dig the 1980s aesthetic. It perfectly fits Wonder Woman, especially her suit, and just like the first film, Patty Jenkins really captured the era the film took place in perfectly. The cinematography is also excellent, especially the opening scene on Themyscira (I wish they had used the IMAX ratio for more of the movie, by the way), though I don’t have much to add there.

Now, after all that, I have to say, and I think pretty much everyone would agree, that the actual plot of Wonder Woman 1984 is completely nonsensical as I said at the beginning. It’s super ridiculous and over-the-top, even for a comic book movie, and even for some of the positives that I just mentioned, you really have to turn your brain off for them to actually work. The whole thing regarding wishes is simply just a cheap gimmick to get Steve to come back, and makes for some really weird creative choices, especially with how Steve comes back, but with a lot more even. It’s also cheap in another way, simply allowing the plot to really do whatever it wants without having to question it, particularly with Maxwell Lord and how he achieves what he sets out to do.

Adding onto that, there are things in this film that are just completely illogical and don’t make any sense, even aside from the plot itself. A couple of examples would be Wonder Woman swinging in to save some kids, where she hits them so hard on impact that they would almost certainly die from a serious case of whiplash, and several characters getting into the White House without really any struggle at all.  There are also several plot holes and conveniences that really just come with the nature of the premise itself.

I also really wasn’t a fan of the second main antagonist, Barbara Minerva (AKA Cheetah). Her whole character arc basically wraps down to just wanting to be pretty and recognized like Diana is, and the first thing she does is establish that. When the first thing you do onscreen is make it clear that you are a selfish person, I’m sorry, I just don’t really care at all. Her whole journey into becoming a villain is completely rushed and somewhat comes out of nowhere, too. She really just decides one night that she’s going to be a bad person, and that’s really all there is to it. Even the conclusion of her arc is unsatisfying, not really giving any clear answers on whether or not she actually learned her lesson.

Finally, Gal Gadot gets a whole lot of flack as an actress for her performances in movies, but to be honest, I thought she did a completely fine job in the previous DCEU films, until this one. Her performance in this film is incredibly stale, and especially becomes jarring in the scenes with her and Steve, as well as Max Lord, where Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal are very clearly outacting her. Really, besides a scene between her and Steve towards the end, I wasn’t buying her emotions all that much. I still don’t think that she is that bad of an actress, at least from the movies I’ve seen, but Wonder Woman 1984 definitely doesn’t help her case.

Really, to sum things up, the plot and writing are absolutely ridiculous, but it’s still very much an entertaining film, simply because of the action and the relationship between Diana and Steve.