Everything's better down where it's wetter.
At least, that's what we've been led to believe our entire lives...until now. For the past few years, the DC Extended Universe has been struggling to keep up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, "The Dark Knight" set a solid foundation for fans in 2008, but the DCEU has since come up short with flops like "Batman v Superman" and "Suicide Squad." I loved "Wonder Woman" as much as the next girl, but I'm starting to wonder if Gal Gadot is enough to save this franchise. Don't even get me started on the 110 minutes that "Justice League" took from me that I'll never get back. This is in contrast with the MCU's most recent releases, "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Infinity War," which both smashed box office records and hold steady wayyy above average on the Tomato Meter.
When the DCEU confirmed that a stand-alone Aquaman film was in the works, I'll admit that I was intrigued. Jason Momoa is my sun and stars and if anyone could turn this around it's him, right? Wrong. The first official trailer for the film was released over the weekend and I, for one, am disappointed.
"It’s got a lot of great humor, it works on so many levels," said Peter Safran, one of the film's producers. "It’s a testament to [Director James Wan's] unique vision. I think it’s an extraordinary step in DC Universe that sets it on the right path."
What path is that, exactly? Gladiator mermaids and saddled great whites? What???
During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Jason Momoa acknowledged that one of the most challenging parts of filming was attempting to swim with pants on.
“It was a bad choice, looking back, to wear denim," the 38-year-old actor joked. "They look like leather. They’re not. They’re wet, 20-pound denim. Bad move.” Maybe he should just take them off? Now that is a movie I'd pay to see (kidding...sort of).
My apologizes for being a Negative Nancy here. Although my expectations are very low, I'm hoping this can all be blamed on the DCEU having an awful marketing department. Who knows, maybe "Aquaman" will actually be great! Momoa, after all, has high hopes -- especially following the less-than-stellar reviews of "Justice League."
“I try to stay the f*ck away from what people say,” he told EW last fall. “Some of my friends said, ‘Justice League isn’t doing well’ and it kind of bummed me out. But I didn’t want to look it up. I don’t want to look up the bad and the negativity. I don’t think that’s useful; it doesn’t help.”
One of the biggest criticisms of "Justice League" was that Aquaman's character got the short end of the stick where the storyline was concerned, and many fans were left wishing that he had gotten a better intro than that which we saw on screen.
"It's a huge movie," he said. "The whole Atlantean part, about me being this reluctant king. There was no need for it because you’re going to see it in 'Aquaman.' It’s not an Aquaman movie, it’s a Justice League movie.”
Maybe all of these issues would have been solved if "Aquaman" had been released prior to "Justice League"? Speculation aside, I may need to have a couple drinks before seeing this in theaters. Your move, DCEU. Prove me wrong.
"Aquaman" hits theaters December 21, 2018.