When I was a freshman in college, there was an eccentric senior who created a super-hero persona for himself.
Valdar! The super hero of Naperville, IL.
His super powers included giving positive energy bursts with a hairdryer to stressed looking students. Also public nudity.
Aquaman is more awesome than cool. My God, he is king of Atlantis (although I’d go with the loner, lighthouse version, because wtf wants to be responsible for a kingdom, especially one getting shat-on by the surface-world?), can swim to the depth of the ocean floors at speeds approaching supersonic and can communicate telepathically with all sea life. Even at a base, communications-based level, talk about an interesting development in empathy and perception. And he has had a beautiful and, or for superheroes, mostly healthy relationship with a partner he loves. I absolutely would take being Aquaman over Batman any day of the week. Eh, if the oceans were cleaner I suppose. Still, fAquaman is much better than cool.
Lol it’s Jason Momoa dude; can’t be uncool by definition. But I’m thinking his brother might have it right about the surface world needing to go.
I think there was a one-off comic to the effect that Aquaman has a standing appointment to kick Cthulhu’s ass on a yearly basis as the stars line up right, and no one on the surface has any idea.
so…I’m going to call bullshit on this and say @SeamusBellamy perhaps you should maybe READ THE FUCKING COMICS before trying to disparage the character as just a guy that can breathe underwater and talk to fish
Clearly with the plot outline and first trailer WB/DC has done something actually good with this flick (something they did similarly with Wonder Woman) and actually stuck to the source material. The movie is very much taken from Aquaman New 52 (both The Trench and The Drowning storylines), which are both excellent reads. And your derision here is called out exactly in the text of The Drowning as some of Black Manta’s dialogue. Aquaman is not just some dude who breathes underwater and talks to fish. It’s amazing to me that you come up with this commentary I feel like DC may have missed the mark by about 20 years. It is so grim-dark and EXTREME that you’d swear that 1990s Todd McFarlane was called in as a consultant. from a 3 minute trailer! Jesus…jump to conclusions much?
I like how the trailer looks overall, though I am still not the biggest Mamoa fan for the role…but I found him to be one of the more enjoyable parts of Justice League, so I am on board.
He was always one of my favorite DC comic heroes…and always misused in the cartoons. Though Batman Brave and the Bold’s version of Aquaman was freaking awesome.
Is it just me, or is the animation style similar to Venture bros?
I’ve heard great things about the DC cartoon movies.
I used to think the same thing about Halle Berry. Then they made Catwoman.
Seriously, someone deserves some kind of lifetime achievement award for the sheer feat of combining Halle Berry and Selina Kyle into something both wholly ridiculous and entirely unsexy.
it is very similar. Batman Brave and the Bold ran for three seasons. It was a campy take on things to illicit a Superfriends vibe. It was a lot of fun and a good change of pace to the previous more serious runs (Batman Animated series, Justice League Unlimited, and The Batman).
The only way things could get darker and grittier is applying sandpaper directly to the eyes.
I’ve heard great things about the DC cartoon movies.
95% of their animated works are awesome, both movie and TV. Most of their live action TV shows are good too.
Their movie writers (except for Wonder Woman) need to be fired.
The Teen Titans TV show is not so good, and looks like it was directed and written by their Movie people. Or maybe by whoever thought it was a good idea to make everyone a crappy human being in New52 (except, oddly, for the one universally reviled character from old-DC, Vibe, who was nothing but a walking mexican american street kid stereotype. They made him into one of the few decent human beings in the world. Blue Beetle doesn’t count, he was kicked out into space at the time.)
I’m fairly certain Catwoman got a couple of razzies… and she showed up the accept her award, no less:
Should someone have to read the comics in order to enjoy the movie, in my opinion, the film is a failure fornanythibg outside of fan service. I have no problems with Aquaman as a character. My issue is that, based on the trailer, not the comics, any cartoons that might be out there or anything else, it looks like more of the same grim, goofy malarkey that we’ve been served up by DC many times before. I’ll happily read the comics when I have time, but I’m not feeling the film, based on the trailer.
DC took away the wrong lesson from the success of the Dark Knight trilogy and has been charging ahead on that flawed premise ever since.
Just because the “Dark & Gritty” treatment works for a psychologically tortured hero who stalks dark alleyways dressed as a creature of the night doesn’t mean it’s the right approach for every spandex-wearing character in the whole DC universe.
I’m sure that DC will be thrilled to know that people who don’t read their comics and hate their movies have decided that their new film is “grim dark’” and a “failure” based on a three minute trailer.
I’m sorry but no. You’re very first line is this: When you’ve got a 77-year-old hunk of intellectual property that can breathe underwater and talk to fish, it’s not a bad idea to update it so that it’s relatable for a modern audience.
You are beginning with bringing in that history in the first place and disparaging it as “un-relatable” and needing updating. So your argument doesn’t hold water here that someone shouldn’t have to have any pre-history or knowledge walking in. I can semi-agree that the trailer for the film shows off some of the same style and design choices that WB/DC have used for the other films, but you are equating from that 2 min and 26 sec that the entire film must be the same. They are not going to wholesale change the look and feel entirely, but it is an incredible leap to say that this film is already crap from the first trailer. Additionally, did you pan and critique Wonder Woman in the same way? Because as of right now, this feels no different than WW and universally everyone seemed to enjoy the direction and style that movie took.
Perhaps your post comment should have been just this: I’m not feeling the film, based on the trailer. then instead of disparaging the entire character and boiling him down to “some guy who breathes under water and talks to fish”.
That trailer didn’t seem TOO bad.
My only complaint is the same old rightful-hero-heir-challenges-the-bad-king-to-a-dual-for-the-throne trope is very tedious by now. Also the tone is EPIC-DARK but I wonder what it would do to change it up a bit. Less EPIC, maybe a bit brighter. Maybe instead of giving him a solo film, show how the Justice League tries to reach and out and recruit him. Needs more lulz. Etc.
