No offense to all the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut out there, but I harbor no great love for the DC Extended Universe. Or at least, there’s much more bad than good so far. “Wonder Woman” and its massive success aside, the executives at Warner Brothers seem to make bad decision after bad decision in an effort to catch up to Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios.
After the critical and commercial disaster that was “Justice League,” the studio is working frantically to right the ship, shuffling around dates and, thankfully, taking things on a movie-by-movie basis as opposed to planning ten films in advance. Part of this strategy comes from hiring good, imaginative directors, like Patty Jenkins (‘Wonder Woman’ and its upcoming sequel), David F. Sandberg (“Shazam”), and horror icon James Wan, who’s at the helm of “Aquaman.”
Having been a massive pop-culture punchline since his appearances on “The Super Friends” (he can talk to fish, etc.), DC hired the incredibly charismatic Jason Momoa to fill the role of Aquaman, also known as Arthur Curry, and rehabilitate his image somewhat, but his first cinematic appearance left a lot to be desired (see: My man!). Wan, known for his work on “Saw,” “Insidious,” “The Conjuring,” and “Furious 7,” should inject some much-needed characterization and eye-popping action into the world of the DCEU with his visionary qualities. The previous trailer for ‘Aquaman’ did much to drum up interest in the film outside of diehard fans, but time will tell whether or not the film will resonate with audiences as much as DC needs it to.
Starring alongside Momoa is an admittedly stacked cast, from Amber Heard as Mera, Arthur’s love interest, regular Wan collaborator Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master, Arthur’s half-brother and the main antagonist, Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna, Arthur’s mother, Willem Dafoe as his mentor Nuidis Vulko, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as classic villain Black Manta.
‘Aquaman’ swims into cinemas on December 21st. You can watch this new special, extended trailer, released now that New York Comic Con has started, below.