Aquaman (2018) - Trailer Reaction

At long last the first trailer for DC's Aquaman has surfaced - the latest installment in Warner Bros' Worlds of DC series (crikey, that's an awkward brand name), following on from last year's Justice League and expanding on the character and mythology surrounding Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) in his adventures through the seven seas.

James Wan has really made a solid career for himself before branching out from horror to tackling a big-budget superhero movie, but from the looks of this trailer he has absolutely hit it out of the park. The shot composition, the production design, the visual effects, the use of colour...it all looks astoundingly good, and there are a variety of shots I could easily frame on my wall. Wan has taken the ridiculous, often seen as campy, nature of Aquaman and made something considerably more impressive and awe-inspiring, without trying to make it "dark and gritty" like so many other adaptations.

The little bits of dialogue we get are quite cheesy, but I don't think that lets the trailer down at all. We know how silly Aquaman can be, but Wan is taking it as seriously as Kenneth Branagh took Thor in 2011, or Joe Johnston took Captain America: The First Avenger. There seems to be a nice amount of humour in the film, but nothing to the levels of Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man or Thor: Ragnarok. Wan is taking the story of the film seriously, whilst appreciating how ridiculous many elements are. Gone is Aquaman's pink seahorse, but replaced with a giant sea-dragon; but there's still a load of characters riding giant sharks, and giant crab monsters, and turtles swimming their way through Atlantis. There's an appreciation for what Wan is adapting, and as someone who's never read an Aquaman comic book, that love has been really brought out on screen so much more than in other comic book-based films. The designs of Ocean Master, Black Manta, Aquaman and Mera's new costumes...they all look like they've jumped straight off the page of a comic book, and that gives them a very unique look in the same way that Taika Waititi took great inspiration from classic Marvel comics in the designs for Thor: Ragnarok. Is this going to be DC's next Wonder Woman? I guess we're going to have to wait and see...

Also, any trailer that uses "None Shall Live" / "Children of the Sun" is gonna be pretty awesome.

Aquaman will be released in the United Kingdom on 14th December 2018.

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