desires, only to see them lead to horrible ramifications, instant gratification and the revelation that lying is never without consequence. Those are some big swings and not every single one lands, but the ones that do are both joyous and genuinely worth pondering." Jake Coyle of The Associated Press considered the film "both campier and more real than Marvel movies — more like the page-turning thrill of a comic book", writing that the film has "ambitions...just outside its grasp, but it seldom feels predestined or predictable — a preciously rare commodity in the genre." Nicholas Barber of BBC gave the film four stars out of five, likening it favorably to a 1980s blockbuster and considering the plot to have a "sweet fairy-tale aspect." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying, "To be sure, we get a classic comic book movie storyline about a megalomaniacal madman intent on taking over the world, but there's often a relatively light tone to the proceedings. This is a throwback piece of pure pop entertainment." Alonso Duralde of TheWrap wrote: "Even if the notion of wishes — making them and then takesies-backsies — isn't quite a cinematic enough concept to support Wonder Woman's final face-off with Lord, Wonder Woman 1984 still brings a freshness and a wit that's often lacking in these gargantuan costumed-hero sagas." Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "Gadot is terrifically imposing, while Kristen Wiig is the scene-stealing antagonist in Patty Jenkins' epically brash sequel." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that "Patty Jenkins is behind the camera again, but this time without the confidence. Certainly some of the problems can be pinned on the uninterestingly janky script, a mess of goofy jokes, storytelling clichés and dubious politics." Adam Graham of The Detroit News gave the film a "C" and wrote that "the result is far from wondrous, a reminder of the limitations of the superhero genre and the ways its escapist trappings sacrifice key storytelling elements (narrative, characters, dialogue) for empty spectacle." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised Gadot, writing "Her performance here has dignity and earned emotion" and calling her the best thing about the film and "She was the best thing in the first installment, too, but that was an excellent movie. This one isn't." LaSalle concludes