Connie Nielsen, who plays the Amazon queen Hippolyta in the DCEU, has defended Wonder Woman 1984 and its director Patty Jenkins.
"A lot of people were so willing to just critique certain elements instead of seeing it as a whole," she told Den of Geek. "And I think that as a whole, everything that happens in this film makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense, and I think it's a beautiful film."
She also talked about how much pressure the shifting release schedule must have put on Jenkins – and reflected that the pandemic-induced delays, and the movie's status as a sequel, might have contributed to the film polarizing fans and critics alike. "I think that what happens psychologically is that a lot of movies like that then get into this insecure territory where they're up for a judgment that would not normally have happened," she said. "The fact that it was moved so many times, put it under scrutiny that it did not deserve. It also, as a sophomore film, will always be compared to the one before."
Nielsen had nothing but praise for Jenkins and her take on the iconic character, too: "No one can say that Patty is not true to the vision that she has of Wonder Woman, which is to me, an incredibly brave, incredibly important vision. The way in which she transforms the expectations of a superhero may not be to everyone's liking, because they've been conditioned to seeing a bunch of other films that follow these specific tent markers."
The actor added that she doesn't think people enjoy not knowing what's going to happen next, but said that's no reason to stop trying to shift the expected pattern and "make a different shape that's more interesting and more psychologically profound."
Nielsen also appears as Hippolyta in Zack Snyder's Justice League, which is streaming now on HBO Max. Her role was greatly expanded from the theatrical cut – and you can check out every difference between the Snyder Cut and Joss Whedon's Justice League here.
