There is a lot to like about Wonder Woman 1984. Gal Gadot turns in another winning performance as Diana Prince. Kristen Wiig is fantastic as the villainous Cheetah. There’s a terrific cameo if you stay through the closing credits. And it’s wonderful to have Chris Pine back as Steve Trevor, however contrived the reason.

The Wonder Woman sequel is set (obviously) in 1984, and the movie leans heavily into the era, amping up the bright colors (and outfitting the cast in leg warmers and fanny packs) and illustrating the looming fears of nuclear annihilation and the danger of Cold War Russia that were the background noise in everyday life.

Diana Prince is an expert in lost civilizations at the Smithsonian, where she meets Barbara Minerva, (Wiig) the bumbling, milquetoast newly-hired antiquities expert. A mysterious artifact arrives at the museum – a result of the thrilling action sequence that starts the 1984 portion of the movie. The artifact, we soon learn, has a mysterious power to grant wishes.

This (literal) plot device drives the story. Everyone gets a wish, intentional or otherwise, and as may be expected, there is a price to pay. Maxwell Lord, (played by Pedro Pascal from The Mandalorian) is a wealthy businessman and television personality (sound familiar?) who has designs on the artifact, but not just to make one wish. What he wants is more complicated, causing worldwide chaos.

Thus unfolds the plot, with Wonder Woman tasked with dealing with the mayhem that results when everyone on Earth is granted a wish. The consequence of Wonder Woman getting her wish is that her powers are diminished. Barbara Minerva’s wish, apparently for a decent hairdo and the ability to wear skin-tight clothes, makes her as strong as Wonder Woman used to be.

As for Maxwell Lord, he wants to be the genie, not Aladdin, making him the most powerful man alive. The plot depends on a lot of contrivances and hand-waves away any logic or continuity issues far too often. Steve Trevor returns from 1918 (more on that later) and is instantly able to fly modern aircraft. (It is cool how the film introduces the invisible plane concept here, though.) Maxwell Lord is somehow able to simultaneously take over every CRT screen on Earth (including computer monitors) using 1984 technology, and can broadcast even with no cameras or microphones nearby.

Maxwell Lord’s villain gets more screen-time than Cheetah, which is a shame. She deserved equal time; she is more powerful and interesting by far than Lord. Pascal plays Lord as slimy, smarmy and more than a little pathetic; even when at the height of his powers he doesn’t do that much and is easily vanquished.

There’s a lot more potential with Cheetah, who really doesn’t arrive until the last act before she, too is put down. Despite all the flashy special effects and (legitimately good) action sequences, the real conflicts in this film are all internal, which unfortunately isn’t the stuff blockbusters are built on.

Steve Trevor’s return, while romantic, is problematic. He doesn’t come back bodily, but rather his spirit is transported into the body of an unwitting man, played by Kristoffer Polaha. Diana sees Steve when she looks at “Handsome Guy” (he doesn’t even get a name) but the reality is that everything we see Chris Pine doing, whether it’s going on dangerous adventures or bedding Diana, is really happening to the body of his corporeal stand-in. And that’s not a good thing. It’s tough to imagine Captain America forcing some random woman to stand in for Peggy Carter and having everyone be cool with it. For a movie that prides itself in portraying a feminist icon, this feels especially distasteful.

Wonder Woman 1984 could have been, and should have been, so much more. After all, Warner Bros is trying out a brand new distribution method, and recouping the huge costs of making it won’t be easy if most people are watching it via streaming. And it’s going to be even more difficult if the word on the street isn’t very enthusiastic. It’s not terrible, but a Wonder Woman movie should be earning more than faint praise.