Movies
“Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom” Trailer Reaction
My first question: “Are we supposed to care?”
“Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.”
Director: James Wan
Writers: David Leslie Johnson McGoldrick, James Wan, Jason Mamoa, Mort Weisinger, Paul Norris
Staring: Jason Mamoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Adbul-Mateen II, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, Ben Affleck
Release Date: December 20, 2023
IMDB
My first question: “Are we supposed to care?”
The answer depends. With James Gunn taking over the DC Movie universe, the entire future is in flux. Many, including myself, believe that Jason Mamaoa is a strong Aquaman. He has the natural look and the nonchalant charisma tied with the ability to deliver a glare as black as the eyes of a shark.
However, is DC going to clean house and recast everyone? There are no direct reports as to what is going to happen with Mamoa himself, but we can say that The Lost Kingdom is absolutely not a part of what James Gunn is weaving for the future.
So, in what context do we put Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (2023)? Director James Wan states that he created this movie to be part of its own narrative world and exist without a greater universe in mind. With the characters returning for the film, this does appear to be factual. But if that is the case, that means that audiences are meant to go to the theaters to watch a sequel superhero movie with no sense of a definitive end in mind. There are a lot of road bumps for potential viewers to leap in order to get them to buy tickets.
My second question: “Is this a sequel…or is it an origin story?”
This trailer drops an absolute fuck ton of exposition for the audience. It has been two years since we have seen Mamoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021). It has been five years since the hero’s first solo outing in Aquaman (2018), which was a surprise to many, including to myself.
My third question: “Is Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom the DC take on Lord Of The Rings?”
The evil villian Blank Manta (who is dressed in all black like Sauron) has come into possession of a deadly object that embalmed him with unique abilities and strength. This ominous Black Trident was part of a war that took place many eons ago under different royal lineage. Thankfully for the good guys the object was broken, but now that object is back and society and family must band together to stop evil consuming everyone.
What we have here is the One Ring equivalent. I am not upset about it, but we need to acknowledge the similarities.
Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom appears to be an idea directly from Jason Momoa himself. He receives a story credit and according to IMDB he is the sixth person to receive a writing credit for a comic book superhero film while also starring in it. That is a nice little fun fact. The other super heroes include
- Christopher Reeve – Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
- Edward Norton – The Incredible Hunk (2008) – Uncredited.
- Paul Rudd – Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
- Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool 2 (2018)
- Tom Hardy – Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
- Taika Waititi – Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Now my cinematic antennas don’t necessarily love hearing this blip in the radar because Mamoa also wrote The Last Manhunt (2020), which was not a good movie.
But back to Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. Besides the direct correlations to Lord of the Rings and other classic fantasy stories, it would appear that the James Wan directed movie is leaning heavily into the buddy cop vibe. Orm (Patrick Wilson) is back and has a TON of screentime. Remember when he was banished? That didn’t last really long. The relationship between the nonchalant brother and the uptight former world-conqueror dreamer is going to be crucial to the film’s success.
It is also very noticeable that there is VERY LITTLE Amber Heard in this preview. I could just one quick glimpse? Are there more? Never thought we’d be getting more Nicole Kidman than Amber Heard (in terms of character importance), but that is where we and DC are at right now.
I can tell you exactly what is going to happen with my interest in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. More previews are going to come out and it is going to bombard some football weekends before being released on December 20, 2023. I will then wait till streaming, immediately add it to my queue, and then wait months to watch it. This is the exact same relationship I have with The Flash (2023) right now.
Call me whatever you want, but at least I know who I am.
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