Loading up on villains can work, of course, but only under specific conditions: Tim Burton’s 1992 film Batman Returns famously recruited both Catwoman and the Penguin to great effect—but both of those characters had already established significant cultural footprints: beloved by Nerds, recognizable by Normals.
The same, it cannot be said, of WW84‘s Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) and, especially, Maxwell Lord (a shockingly uncharismatic—nay, acharismatic—Pedro Pascal). Wiig brings a great comic timing to the film’s first half, when her squirrelly anthropologist befriends Diana and—not uncoincidentally—comes into her power. It’s nothing you haven’t seen her do before, but credit should be given to both the actor and the script for finding a way in to a villain that only a handful of comics writers have managed to make effective.
Pascal, on the other hand, flounders as Lord. Granted, that’s part of the character’s whole schtick—a desperate huckster who’s grasping at anything to stay afloat—but Pascal seems wildly miscast, and his willingness to hurl himself bodily into Lord’s tortured distress only exacerbates that impression.
3. Too Many (Grace) Notes
Jenkins and her fellow screenwriters Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham clearly know Diana’s whole Warrior for Peace schtick (Johns, especially, as he’s clocked serious field time with DC and its IP). Which might explain, but not excuse, the script’s tendency to keep slowing down to supply Wiig and Pascal with scenes duly apportioned with emotional beats, psychological motivations and characterizing details. It’s a good impulse, in theory, especially when you keep in mind that they’re in the script to expressly set up Diana’s efforts to defeat these villains. She wins the day, after all, by reaching out to their innermost conflicts, understanding what drives them, and forcing them to confront the Truth about themselves.
Again: On paper—on the comics page, especially—it works. In an action movie, however, when you’ve got two villains, each outfitted with their discrete sets of grace notes that must be churned through, those scenes keep piling up and piling up and cannot help but muddy the waters and crowd out the spectacle we clamor for.
Still, though: WW84 is entertaining, Gadot nails the character and her contradictory nature, and Chris Pine shows up (never mind how) to reestablish, and further, the two actors’ easy, charming onscreen chemistry.