There's a certain kind of monkey's paw situation when you agree to direct a big blockbuster film - you get all the resources and publicity and eyeballs, but in exchange subtle themes and careful plot points go out the window. Instead it's all loudness and blatantly stating your themes like thesis statements and grand gestures for the lowest common denominator. Wonder Woman 84 has a couple of requirements it's decided to meet - introduce a new female nemesis for Wonder Woman, have a world-engulfing evil plot and reintroduce her deceased love interest Steve Trevor. The first and last of these works reasonably well, the middle is where everything turns to sludge. Pedro Pascal's tied to this and struggles mightily to carry a dud of a storyline, but Gal Gadot also gets sabotaged with a long ambling speech that is meant to resolve it but ends up being a parade of banal platitudes. There's some decent action sequences (although a climactic CGI-and-darkly lit fight brings back the bad memories of the messy resolution of the original film), some reasonable comedy and nostalgic tie-ins from the period, but it's all a bit of a messy sludge.
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