The latest film in DC’s live action film universe, Wonder Woman 1984, follows Wonder Woman as she deals out vigilante justice. Overall the movie is fine. but it does struggle to find its footing for the first half. It picks up a bit in the second half and delivers an alright ending with a nice message by imploring that the entire world embrace selflessness instead of being obsessed with personal desires.

However, Wonder Woman 1984 feels more like a standalone comic book adaptation rather than a continuation of 2017’s Wonder Woman. Events and characters from the movie set in 1917 were also referenced and included in the new movie, which includes the mysterious return of Steve Trevor, who we all saw die heroically in the previous film.

In the 1984 film, it opens with Diana working for the Smithsonian Museum and fighting crime as Wonder Woman with a fun fight sequence. This Diana clearly misses Steve, her long lost love, and is seen spending her evenings alone. The film shows us how she learns to open back up to a chance at love, but it also opens up a notable plot hole.

In 2017’s Justice League Bruce Wayne, who we know better as Batman, states that he had never heard of her until Lex Luthor, in 2016’s Batman vs Superman, dug up pictures of her from World War One. Bruce would have been alive during the events of Wonder Woman 84 and likely would’ve wished for his parents back. Not only is this an example of little to no direction on Warner Brother’s part, it also just shows that from a storytelling standpoint, Wonder Woman 84 doesn’t matter.

But where does it stand among the other live action DC movies from the last 10 years? Ultimately, it is a very average, extremely run of the mill superhero film. However this doesn’t mean that I disliked the film per say, just that it doesn’t deliver like recent superhero films have.

For example, look at 2019’s “Shazam”, that movie had an amazing human element while also delivering on the superhero action. It felt very Marvel-esque, which in DC’s case is neither good nor bad. Warner Brothers clearly wanted to capture the essence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but have failed miserably because they only focused on the tongue and cheek, sarcastic, dry, comic relief and not the actual seriousness of the story.

DC’s current live action universe has potential to be great with films like Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam proving to be critical successes as well as popular among fans but they need to stop trying to be Marvel.