The ongoing saga of Warner Bros. DC Films Universe and its growing-up-in-public growing pains has been fascinating and painful to watch. You know the story by now: a gigantic globally-known intellectual property suffering many more loses than wins. Ben Affleck as Batman is out, Henry Cavill as Superman is basically gone too and there’s plenty of rumors suggesting the DCEU will continue to slowly soft reboot itself—as to not appear jarring to the audience—recast most of “Suicide Squad,” Cyborg, the Flash et al. The only people’s jobs who feel really safe at the moment are Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. So, at lot rests on the shoulders of “Aquaman,” director James Wan and Jason Momoa.
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“Aquaman” was cast as a dudebro by Zack Snyder in “Batman V. Superman,” and perhaps one of the problems affecting the DCEU is that Snyder set the tone for every character and the actor that would play them rather than a studio, filmmaker and screenwriter building that character from the ground up. Wan inherited the surfbro-ness of the character from Snyder. That said, he doesn’t seem to be totally complaining. Not only has Wan seemingly embraced the hang loose aspect of Aquaman, but the seemingly cartoonish aspects of the character: the corny orange and green suit from the original comics (one of the only things Snyder did right with Aquaman was the modern look), the comical look of Black Manta and the overall aesthetics that look at lot like “Avatar“/”Ferngully” underwater (which should irk James Cameron to no end considering the next “Avatar” has a big underwater component).
Early tracking for “Aquaman” hasn’t looked good, perhaps a reaction to the goofy-looking trailers—the response at Comic-Con was decidedly mixed and or just polite.
But as “Venom” has shown recently, perhaps audiences are open and looking for something that is a) goofy-looking and b) bro-ish. That said, the success of “Venom” may reside two-fold in the popularity of the Venom character and his badassness and Tom Hardy. Momoa ain’t no Hardy and Aquaman is arguably still seen as something of a joke.
One could go two ways with an Aquaman film, lean into realism or embrace the fantasy elements and Wan has seemingly doubled-down with the latter. Will it pay off in theaters? Does it pave the way to keep the interconnectedness of the DCEU or will these movies curve towards being more stand-alone efforts as has been rumored? Time will tell.
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Critics should note: at least one positive review has leaked into the Internet either. Tatiana Siegel from THR, who tweeted early about the film, but deleted it said, “Just saw AQUAMAN, which is a whole lot of fun. Like an afternoon at an aquarium crossed with an MMA match. In a good way.”
“Aquaman” stars Amber Heard (“Justice League,” “Magic Mike XXL”) as Mera, a fierce warrior and Aquaman’s ally throughout his journey; Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (“Platoon,” “Spider-Man 2”) as Vulko, counsel to the Atlantean throne; Patrick Wilson (“The Conjuring” films, “Watchmen”) as Orm/Ocean Master, the present King of Atlantis; Dolph Lundgren (“The Expendables” films) as Nereus, King of the Atlantean tribe Xebel; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Netflix’s “The Get Down”) as the vengeful Black Manta; and Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (“The Hours,” “Lion”) as Arthur’s mom, Atlanna; as well as Ludi Lin (“Power Rangers”) as Captain Murk, Atlantean Commando; and Temuera Morrison (“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” “Green Lantern”) as Arthur’s dad, Tom Curry.
“Aquaman” is set to hit theaters on December 21, 2018, in 3D and 2D and IMAX.