Wonder Woman 1984 Review Confirms Villain Maxwell Lord Is A Stand-In For Donald Trump
To no one’s surprise, it’s being incontrovertibly verified that the reimagining of Maxwell Lord, as played by Pedro Pascal, in Wonder Woman 1984 is based on President Trump.
Reviews of the Patty Jenkins film are coming in and they make it very clear who Lord is supposed to be.
Related: New Wonder Woman 1984 HBO Max Spot Reveals Best Look At Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah
Collider‘s review subtitled “I Wish This Were a Better Movie” sums it up thusly: “Patty Jenkins’ sequel is a well-intentioned but sloppy punch against Trumpism.”
“Jenkins makes no secret to what she’s aiming for with her movie,” Collider’s Matt Goldberg writes.
“Set in the 1980s, she depicts a world of excess, self-entitlement, and indulgence, and Lord is a distinctly Trumpian figure with his reliance on mass media and conning others to amass more power,” he continues.
Related: Rotten Tomatoes And Metacritic Critic Scores Revealed For Wonder Woman 1984
The reviewer draws a distinction between Trump and Lord in one way but goes after the POTUS and how he views his children in the process, writing “(although Lord differs from Trump by genuinely loving his child and not just seeing his offspring as an extension of his own vanity).”
It goes on, “Wonder Woman 1984 becomes even more muddled when you simply try to understand what Max Lord is up to.”
The reviewer adds “the movie doesn’t fare much better with Barbara” (Minerva, as in Cheetah), and overall “the execution is atrocious.”
Related: Wonder Woman 1984 Has a Secret Post-Credit Scene
Execution might not be what Patty Jenkins cares about. Recently, she revealed her perspective that film is all about (like Joker put it in The Dark Knight) sending a message.
Her intended message with WW84 is the usual “America is built on greed and excess” Hollywood refrain plus the tired corollary the 80s were the pinnacle of that.
Jenkins, however, countered in August that Trump was only one inspiration she drew from.
“He’s one of them,” Jenkins told Screen Rant. “Trump’s definitely one of the people we looked at, but it’s any of [that] kind of mavericks of business success that was big in the ’80s. Who went on to be major players in our world in potentially questionable other ways.”
Jenkins deflected by saying she’s not political and “it’s not about being political.”
“I don’t have an agenda to have a political message to send to the world. Everybody needs to look at themselves right now, and our politics, our belief system of excess,” she said.
Related: Wonder Woman 1984 Faces Yet Another Potential Release Date Delay
Using Lord as a representation for Trump follows a trend in DC releases going back to last year, at least.
Joker used Thomas Wayne as its cipher for soulless politicians and businessmen. Birds of Prey – a film on record as made “to smash the patriarchy” – and its caricature of Black Mask as a vain, paranoid misogynist followed.
Wonder Woman 1984 is coming out in theaters at the same time it hits HBO Max, so if the film fails they can write it off without blaming Trump supporters, patriarchy, men, ComicsGate, or any of their chosen boogeymen.
Are you surprised at all by this? Tell us in the comments.
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