You never know, ‘Aquaman’ could turn out to be the next big hit of the DCEU with some early reviewers claiming it is the BEST film to date of the DCEU, which is both surprising (come on, ‘Wonder Woman‘ was pretty impressive) and not that surprising (the rest of the DCEU has had nothing but divisive reviews and middling success). Personally, I did not have much faith in ‘Aquaman,’ not only because of the success rate of DCEU films thus far, but also because I have always believed he was never that great of a character. However, director James Wan seems to have gone out of his way to prove naysayers like myself wrong, and if the recent trailers and these two new clips are indicative of the quality of the ‘Aquaman’ film, I will gladly reconsider my thoughts on the character (but not the costume, everything in the trailer looks awesome until he puts on the costume from the comics, which looks…awful.)
The first clip (below), features a bit of a fight between Aquaman and Ocean Master, which showcases some of the stunning visuals of the underwater action, which some have described as “Matrix-like” because of the physics of it all and the way Wan and company have decided to visualize how the characters would move and fight underwater.
While speaking about Orm and his issues with the surface world, which is why Aquaman steps up to stop him, star Patrick Wilson (who portrays Orm) stated:
“He’s kind of an eco-warrior. He’s got a very clear gripe with the surface world, which has been polluting his oceans for centuries. And that’s something for me — I’m sure for you too — that’s very easy to understand. If somebody was just constantly polluting our air and ruining how we lived.”
The second clip (below) is on land and is an appeal from Mera to Aquaman to return home and stop the war about to happen, revealing more of the plot of the film and giving us some of Aquaman’s backstory.
It seems director James Wan found it very important to tell a complete story with ‘Aquaman,’ making him a fully three-dimensional character with real motivations in the film, hence clips like this with Mera. Wan really wanted to show off his own unique style and storytelling abilities with the movie, and prove he was not just the man studios could bring in to keep franchises alive. In his own words:
“It was very important for me early on to be allowed to make my own film and to have my own voice be in there. After Furious 7 and Conjuring 2, I didn’t want to be a director for hire. After Furious 7, that’s kind of who I was to some degree, but after that, I don’t want to be that guy again. So, it was very important for me to be able to bring my own stamp, my own visual aesthetic, create the characters. Even though Jason has somewhat been established Justice League, I wanted to bring his character into this, basically, fresh in a lot of ways… So it was important for me to obviously pay a respect to where he was left off in [Justice League], but then allow me the freedom to take him to where I want to take him at the end of the movie. My hero goes on this hero’s journey to become someone very different than where he started. That was something that was very important for me. But the movie I want to make, that I was allowed that freedom to do that.”
What are your thoughts about the clips and the film in general? Are you excited for the latest addition to the DCEU or are you fearful of getting burned again? Were you ever a big fan of Aquaman to start with? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
And here is the film’s synopsis:
From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an acition-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas, “Aquaman,” starring Jason Momoa in the title role. The film reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime—one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be… a king.
Source: HeroicHollywood, Comicbook
