The Wheel and Axle

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The Wonder Woman, Part 2: Stop A War With Love

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Despite how much I loved Wonder Woman, there were still a few things I didn’t quite like. Mostly minor, to be fair, but could’ve been better in these areas.

1. Etta was severely under-utilized. In many ways, Etta is Wonder Woman’s Jimmy Olsen. However, she is so much more. Aside from a couple of periods wherein she was unused, she was even more actively involved in Diana’s heroics across varied interpretations (sorority girl, lounge singer, soldier). So it was sad that her role was significantly diminished.

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Continued From:

The Wonder Woman, Part 1: Now The World Is Ready For You

*** SPOILERS ***

The great thing about Wonder Woman is how well it still fits into the over-all atmosphere and themes of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) while creating its own niche. While I personally have enjoyed all of the DCEU films so far (Man of Steel, Batman V Superman, and Suicide Squad), they have largely been divisive primarily due to how dark and often depressing they can be. The appeal these movies have for me is how thought-provoking they can be – how much they delve much deeper into ethics, psychology, and similar mature themes rarely looked at in the genre.

Wonder Woman certainly still fits into that mold because – perhaps even more than its feminist stance – it is a film that questions the worth of humanity and provides us a good hard look at the what we are capable of across a moral spectrum. However, on top of these themes, it offers so much more than what we’ve seen so far in the DCEU: innocence, pure joy, fun, hope, and a better balance of humor and seriousness.

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*** SPOILERS ***

As of this writing, I’ve watched Wonder Woman four times. I started on Day Zero, an IMAX midnight screening the night before it officially opened in Manila on June 1st. Then almost every day until Sunday, except for Friday where we took a break with Baywatch, I saw it again and again and again. And again.

It’s been almost a week since I first watched the movie, and it took me this long to start putting my thoughts into written words because I am still overwhelmed with my love for the film.

After a long long time of anticipation and excitement, Wonder Woman arrived, and it surpassed my expectations… and even more. The critics seem to think so, too, because even before its official release, it had already garnered a huge number of pre-screening positive reviews – rivaling several top-rated superhero movies, particularly Logan and the currently-unbeatable The Dark Knight.

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Wonder Countdown: three days to go in the Philippines!

A hero is only as good as his or her villain, as the cliché goes. There is much truth to this. Superman and Batman wouldn’t be as interesting as they are without Luthor or the Joker. The same goes for Wonder Woman, whose rogues gallery – while not as famous as those of her male counterparts – is full of interesting characters, especially in the hands of the correct writer.

Many of them are metaphors, symbolic of the psychology and advocacies associated with Wonder Woman. Ares is the war to Diana’s peace. Dr. Psycho is a misogynistic freak. Various versions of the Cheetah, recognized as Diana’s archenemy, represent different things: the beast to Diana’s humanity, the predator to her hunter, the greed to her selflessness. The Silver Swan, in many of her versions, has always been about insecurity regarding beauty, a struggle many women relate in the face of sexist expectations. Circe represents a lot of things antithetical to Diana, including the transformation of men to beasts as opposed to the reformation Diana usually advocates.

And so on and so forth.

For the upcoming Wonder Woman movie, they’ve chosen Ares and Doctor Poison.

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One month to go!

Looks like Warner Bros. is now overcompensating making up for the purported barebones marketing for Wonder Woman for which they were criticized by the internet last week.

Of course, it’s also true that perhaps, after the debacle regarding the over-saturation of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad marketing last year which included the spoiler of Doomsday in BvS, they’re trying to practice some restraint. That’s good, but restraint doesn’t mean there should be a huge drop in Wonder Woman visibility so close to the release date.

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