WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now in theaters and on HBO Max.
Wonder Woman 1984 doesn't seem to be an overly complicated narrative as it deals with Gal Gadot's Diana of Themyscira hunting down Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) in order to get the Dreamstone back. She has help in the form of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who she inadvertently wished back to life in another guy's body, although it does get tricky when Barbara (Kristen Wiig) turns on them.
But while all these forces collide, director Patty Jenkins and her creative end up making a mess of a story that has several unforgivable plot holes.
Steve's Body Transference
This is a two-fold problem because firstly, when Diana wants to board a plane to go to Egypt to track Max down, she says it'll be hard to do so as Steve doesn't have a passport. The problem is, he's in another man's skin -- the only person who's seeing Steve is Diana.
In addition, no one, not an employer or family member, ever reports the man as missing. Basically, Diana has no problem with Steve stealing a body, and more so, a life -- evidenced by her not wanting to wish Steve away in a very cruel, unheroic arc where she doesn't consider the victim and the invasion of his privacy.
Diana's Power of Flight
In regards to Wonder Woman's ability to fly, Jenkins backtracked what Zack Snyder did in both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. The director shifted her from just leaping tall bounds in Wonder Woman's ending where she was flying against Ares and then at the film's end in Paris.
Now, she's back to leaping, making things inconsistent, which is highlighted when Steve finally schools her on what it takes to ride the wind. This seems to be done for plot convenience, all to give them a romantic, sentimental bonding moment, even after it appeared that Diana figured out the secret of flight during her battle with the God of War.
The Surveillance Trick
Batman v Superman tried to pain Diana as a ghost, but in 1984, she's all over the place. While the film shows her in an American mall using her tiara to disable cameras, she can't do this in all of her adventures and she doesn't even try to stay hidden in the film after this point.
She's fighting in the White House and running in the streets, so some camera must have caught her, not to mention she steals a jet with Steve from a military facility. She even has a security system of her own, so it makes no sense to fool ourselves into thinking the authorities had no evidence of her existence.
The White House Assault
When Diana and Steve realize Max is tricking the president into giving him power, they head to the Oval Office where a massive brawl breaks out. However, after the battle, they simply walk out as if nothing happened. They shouldn't just be strolling out because the agents still belong to Max and they just committed an act of domestic terrorism at the White House.
In addition, it's also very confusing how Barbara finds and attacks them there where she harnesses the power of Cheetah. She didn't know Max was going to take the powers of the president, and it's not like the movie claimed she has the ability to track people.
The Golden Eagle Armor
As a price to pay for wishing Steve to life, Diana begins losing her godhood. Steve realizes she's bleeding, not healing and isn't immortal anymore, so it makes sense for her to wear this armor of legend at that point. However, she prefers not to don it even when it's clear Max has an army with him.
Being bulletproof, the armor would have helped a lot, but she only takes it out in the final act after she gets her powers back and is a god again. It's a counterintuitive decision, made only after Steve's sent back to the afterlife.
Barbara's Electrocution
When Diana and Cheetah battle at the government facility in the end, they fall into a reservoir and Wonder Woman makes a shocking choice to use live electric cables to knock Barb out. The problem is, unless she calculated the exact physics behind it, it could have killed Cheetah.
Even if Diana was knocked out as well, that's a huge gamble as she wouldn't have been able to leap out the water in time with an incapacitated Barb. The fact Barb was also using these exposed cables to swing around is also ridiculous, but it seems the creative team decided to suspend physics just for a bit.
Max's Son Making Wishes
In the finale, Max's son, Alistair, wishes for his dad to come home when Max sends his sinister broadcast out to the world. Coupling this with Diana using her lasso to make everyone see the truth, love and compassion in life, Max makes a U-turn and renounces his role as the Dreamstone.
He then runs over to Alistair, but the problem is, Alistair already used his one wish early on when he wished to be great like his dad at the office. For some reason, while this wish isn't addressed again, Alistair should not have been able to make it.
The Villains Go Free
When the Dreamstone's renounced, Max is with his boy, and Barb, wet and pensive, go back to their lives. But there doesn't appear to be any consequences for them, which is odd because they're terrorists who tried to start global wars and destroy humanity. It doesn't matter how sympathetic the audience may be to their cause, they're selfish villains who should be put behind bars. It's just odd to know that the movie ended and the villains are back out in public, even when the entire world saw their schemes enacted.
Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film is now available in theaters and on HBO Max for free to subscribers for one month. After that period, the film will be available exclusively in theaters until it is released digitally via home paid video-on-demand services.