Fixing the disjointedness: Backseat Director's cut continued.
At the end of the dogfight over DC, just when all seems to have been settled in peace, then the sirens go off in the city once again with the announcement, "Nuclear missile approaching." So WW dashes to her apartment, dons the golden armor, essentially hugs incoming nuke, wrapping it in golden wings, and thus she contains it when it explodes, doing no damage.
Reason: cool to see, heroic and self sacrificing, gives the golden armor something to do other than be shredded by a cat, explains why the cat could shred it - because it was weakened by a nuke.
And after barely surviving that ("Sorry, Asteria. I think I cracked your armor.") WW knows she has to go to the source to put an end to the randomness, and flies off to Maxwell's broadcast island.
A well constructed plot ties everything together; if something is in the story, it has a reason to be there and serves the purpose of the plot.
Patty loves to pay homage to other films in her films, but 1000 homages does not make a plot. For example, if asked why there is a body swap in her film, she says, "A lot of 80's films had body swaps," as though that is an answer. The question is, what purpose does the body swap serve in your film, and does it serve the plot and fit with the rules of the McGuffin, or does it just raise a lot of questions?
Let's do a post mortem of WW84 and ask, where did it go wrong, in the creative process? And the answer is: at the story, at the script. Here is the story: struggling father learns greatness is being a daddy. Notice, the main story has nothing to do with WW. Here is the subplot: Lonely heroine wishes her true love back, but then renounces him so she can save the world. Not bad, although we would expect some heroic fireworks after she renounces him, rather than lying down in a corner talking.
And the other subplot: nerd embraces wickedness along with new found superpowers. Not alot in that one. Barbara's moral decline seemed hard to believe, actually. Would have been better if she were *possessed* by the evil cat spirit, like in the comics, and retained her core of goodness.
WW84 ended up being a very self indulgent bulletin board of Patty's favorite things. She tacked Lynda Carter in there, tacked this and that. Tacked flying in there, but - again - there was no reason to fly. WW did not engage fighter jets in the sky; she did not battle Silver Swan in the sky. She just flew for the sake of flying; it was tacked on without serving a purpose. Like the golden armor and Lynda, and the invisible jet, and all Patty's other favorite things. They're all in the film, and none of them serve a purpose for being there.
So what WW84 really needed, right at the beginning, was a clear story, and the discipline to keep everything tied to the plot, and exclude extraneous things which do not serve the plot.
For the first WW film, Patty inherited the story and the script (they were already in place). This was a blessing! The story: young heroine leaves home to save mankind, and discovers love and her true identity along the way. Wow, what a great plot, and everything in the film serves that story line. Like an arrow, the story flies from start to finish, from the brightness of Themyscira through an increasingly darkening world, until the final struggle in a hellish night. And her character development is one of increasing self awareness and increasing power. It is a very linear story, told in straight lines. WW84 is a meandering collage of the director's favorite things.
So, for next time, start with a better story, a better story teller (script), and the discipline to stick to it. No wandering off the path to pick a flower or put on golden armor for no reason, etc.
As a great writer once said: "If you introduce a gun in the first act, you have to fire it by the third act." Similarly, if you introduce golden armor with wings in the first act, you better use it to block a nuke in the sky by the third act.
At the end of the dogfight over DC, just when all seems to have been settled in peace, then the sirens go off in the city once again with the announcement, "Nuclear missile approaching." So WW dashes to her apartment, dons the golden armor, essentially hugs incoming nuke, wrapping it in golden wings, and thus she contains it when it explodes, doing no damage.
Reason: cool to see, heroic and self sacrificing, gives the golden armor something to do other than be shredded by a cat, explains why the cat could shred it - because it was weakened by a nuke.
And after barely surviving that ("Sorry, Asteria. I think I cracked your armor.") WW knows she has to go to the source to put an end to the randomness, and flies off to Maxwell's broadcast island.
A well constructed plot ties everything together; if something is in the story, it has a reason to be there and serves the purpose of the plot.
Patty loves to pay homage to other films in her films, but 1000 homages does not make a plot. For example, if asked why there is a body swap in her film, she says, "A lot of 80's films had body swaps," as though that is an answer. The question is, what purpose does the body swap serve in your film, and does it serve the plot and fit with the rules of the McGuffin, or does it just raise a lot of questions?
Let's do a post mortem of WW84 and ask, where did it go wrong, in the creative process? And the answer is: at the story, at the script. Here is the story: struggling father learns greatness is being a daddy. Notice, the main story has nothing to do with WW. Here is the subplot: Lonely heroine wishes her true love back, but then renounces him so she can save the world. Not bad, although we would expect some heroic fireworks after she renounces him, rather than lying down in a corner talking.
And the other subplot: nerd embraces wickedness along with new found superpowers. Not alot in that one. Barbara's moral decline seemed hard to believe, actually. Would have been better if she were *possessed* by the evil cat spirit, like in the comics, and retained her core of goodness.
WW84 ended up being a very self indulgent bulletin board of Patty's favorite things. She tacked Lynda Carter in there, tacked this and that. Tacked flying in there, but - again - there was no reason to fly. WW did not engage fighter jets in the sky; she did not battle Silver Swan in the sky. She just flew for the sake of flying; it was tacked on without serving a purpose. Like the golden armor and Lynda, and the invisible jet, and all Patty's other favorite things. They're all in the film, and none of them serve a purpose for being there.
So what WW84 really needed, right at the beginning, was a clear story, and the discipline to keep everything tied to the plot, and exclude extraneous things which do not serve the plot.
For the first WW film, Patty inherited the story and the script (they were already in place). This was a blessing! The story: young heroine leaves home to save mankind, and discovers love and her true identity along the way. Wow, what a great plot, and everything in the film serves that story line. Like an arrow, the story flies from start to finish, from the brightness of Themyscira through an increasingly darkening world, until the final struggle in a hellish night. And her character development is one of increasing self awareness and increasing power. It is a very linear story, told in straight lines. WW84 is a meandering collage of the director's favorite things.
So, for next time, start with a better story, a better story teller (script), and the discipline to stick to it. No wandering off the path to pick a flower or put on golden armor for no reason, etc.
As a great writer once said: "If you introduce a gun in the first act, you have to fire it by the third act." Similarly, if you introduce golden armor with wings in the first act, you better use it to block a nuke in the sky by the third act.
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. Pine and Pascal were both fun to watch but I wish their characters had better story/writing.
