Aquaman was always meant to have his own solo movie. Even though he made a fantastic addition to Justice League in terms of banter, that movie unintentionally highlighted how amusingly specific, and therefore, useless, his powers are.
Unless a giant tidal wave just happened to engulf the team, Aquaman didn’t have a whole lot to do. So it makes a great deal of sense to give him his own underwater adventure, where his extremely specific set of skills can be put to good use.
But Aquaman really has his work cut out for him; after years of being a laughing stock, the character was given an extreme makeover in the form of a towering, tattooed Jason Momoa, and a new tough guy attitude. And it worked, even if he tried a little too hard to be the new Wolverine.
This trailer proves that James Wan understands the appeal of Aquaman. The brown shades of Justice League have been replaced by vibrant blue, green, and the reddest hair ever seen on screen. Seriously, that’s really red hair.
But water is famously tough to render, and this film looks like it’s suffering from the same problems as Black Panther, where the writers envisioned a whole new, Avatar-esque world, without the mammoth budget or years of visual development under the demanding direction of James Cameron.
But, it’s only a trailer, and there’s still time to make those sharks look a little less like they came from a SeaWorld gift shop, and more like … sharks. Dodgy CGI aside, let’s appreciate how enjoyable it is to watch Jason Momoa do his thing; the man can make the corniest of lines sound brilliant, because he knows exactly how bad his dialogue is, and he loves it, “Permission to come aboard?”
And the plot seems strangely, perhaps intentionally, similar to Black Panther. Two rivals for the throne, chosen by a deathmatch in front of screaming spectators? A hidden, ancient society ready to overthrow our world at a moments notice? A side-character with a ridiculous mask?
Although, I’m impressed that Black Manta is so close to the comic book-incarnation, and more so that he shoots lasers from his eyes. This film looks absolutely ridiculous, and that’s exactly the way it should be. Turning this story into a shadowy, serious Batman Begins wannabe would have been the last nail in the coffin for DC.
This trailer, and definitely the one for Shazam, shows that DC is ready to embrace the insanity of their source material, and drop all those Messiah metaphors that Zack Snyder seemed to love so much.
Aquaman is at heart, a deeply silly character, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a joke. And if he is, at least he can laugh at himself.
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