issue 15// vol 47 Wonderful Wonder Woman » ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ soars as one of the most original comic book movies of the last few years Craig Allan Business Manager en it comes to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), the Warner Brothers connected universe of DC Comics movies, the Universe has never organized itself properly. But, it has always had one shining star in Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, and her successful first film directed by Patty Jenkins. Jenkins returns to the director chair for the sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, and while it fails to capture the same magic that the first film had, Wonder Woman 1984 still provides many thrills, top notch performances, and even some tear-jerking moments. Set in 1984, Wonder Woman must save the world from destruction caused by villain Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a TV pitchman who wishes to grant people their deepest desires, while also furthering his own ambitions. There are many great performances in this film, including Gadot and Chris Pine’s reincarnated Steve Trevor, but the true standout of this film is Pascal. He takes off the Mandalorian mask for a transcendent performance as Max Lord. Pascal brings one of the most best villain portrayals in recent comic book memory. He is complex and selfish, but in a way human. He represents the embodiment of human ambition. These qualities make Lord the movie's most interesting character, and hands down the best villain in all the DCEU. Throughout the movie, Jenkins shows how well she understands the characters, and how to sculpt big moments. She knows how to bring out the “wow” in the film. It’s unfortunate that most people will likely only be able to view this through a TV set and not at a big screen surround sound cinema due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down theatres around the world. For British Columbia, a video-on-demand release is the only way to watch the movie due to every theatre in the province being ordered to shut down. The plot of the movie is original and fits with the story themes established in Jenkins 2017 film. Wonder Woman is tasked with defending mankind from evils like war, desire, and lies. While these do manifest in real villains they also manifest in the human condition. It is Wonder Womar’s duty to save people from these ills, but not with her power. Instead, she must use her belief in the good of all people. This theme is really felt in the third Illustration by Athena Little act. While the previous movie’s weakness was its third act, it is this movie's strength, and considering what kind of year 2020 has been, with many people wishing the year was better, or that we could experience it with loved ones, the ending is quite prescient in today’s world. While the film is well done it is not without its flaws. The film’s length is an issue. It runs two hours and 30 minutes, arts // no. 9 which does make the film feel bloated as there are many scenes that could have been cut out—the most glaring being Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah. Wiig does a serviceable job in the movie but if she were cut out entirely, nothing would be lost. Considering Cheetah is one of Wonder Woman's greatest foes, it’s a bit perplexing that Jenkins would use the character in what feels like a C plot. Another fault of the movie comes with its CGI. The DCEU has had some tough times with CGI, and Wonder Woman 1984 is no exception. All of the CGI in the film just has this sheen over it that feels artificial. The realization of Cheetah, while not Cats bad, still comes off looking like bad Island of Dr. Moreau cosplay. Considering this film had an extra six-and- a-half months in stasis waiting out the coronavirus, it’s disappointing that they couldn’t keep trying to make the CGI the best it could be, especially when Marvel movies over at Disney are usually very competent with their CGI. While Wonder Woman 1984 does not fly as high as the first movie, it still provides thrills and a great movie spectacle that was missed from the entertainment landscape in 2020. The Wonder Woman franchise is still the crown jewel of the DCEU and leads the way for engaging stories that will hopefully spread beyond the Wonder Woman section of the Extended Universe. Bright Eyes ‘Mariana Trench video clarifies the tune’s socio-political theme » An exploration into the making of the music video CJ Sommerfeld Staff Writer n 2020, after nine years of being musically dormant (to the public), alt-rock group Bright Eyes released an album titled Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was. The first video for the album—a fury of Indian-ink animations—was released for their single “Mariana Trench’ on June 22. Just last month, however, another video came out, uncovering how the hand- illustrated stop motion came to be. A troupe of 2D animators and designers from Art Camp—a video, animation, photography, and design creative studio—were responsible for the making and directing the 2,210 hand- illustrated frames. Artists from the United States, Singapore, Switzerland, and India contributed to the four-minute animation, each of which were assigned to complete between 200 and 300 illustrations. These hundreds of illustrations resulted in a mere 20 to 30 seconds of stop-motion per artist. The animation is described as depicting “a journey to a celebration for the end of the world,’—a euphonism to the harm that human has self-inflicted and spread to one another and our Earth. The video follows a young girl running through a buffalo-clad space, rich in nature, until she is faced with a cliff. She is then being followed, running through a maze of Roman-esque structures when buildings and laborers appear briefly before the structures are overtaken by flames. The remaining images in the video show the contiguity of battle and harmony—uniting human and nature. The video concludes with a mass of people surrounding an ablaze tower, above which, Bright Eyes plays. Neanderthals, the 2oth century human, and animals dance amongst the fire and smoke, alluding to the capitalistic mess which the current state world is in. All of which is depicted in an abstract mass of ink splotches and drawings. While the illustrations have a child- like quality to them, the video’s themes— environmental collapse, neo-capitalism, and colonialism reveal the adult and dismal essence of the track. These blatant images accompany the tune’s undisguised/ overt lyrics: “Well, they better save some space for me/ In that growing cottage industry/ Where selfishness is currency/ People spend more than they make [...] The closing bell death tolls/ Hear the market crash/ A crying trader swears he'll get out of the game [...] Look out for the plainclothes/ Look out for what the wiretap knows/ Look out on the ever- widening money trail and where it goes/ It takes a lot of gall to try to please/ These dehumanizing entities/ I befriended all my enemies/ They had my back against the wall / Oh, a coward is what a coward does.” Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic depression on Earth. What a great figure of Illustration by Athena Little speech to convey the current sociopolitical state that us Westerners are in. “Look up at that Everest/ Look down in that Mariana Trench’—look up at the one percent, look down at the juxtaposed rest. The song begs the question, can human demoralize further than they currently have, and if so, what will that look like?