AQUAMAN TRAILER BREAKDOWN

Hey, everyone, we are back with a brand new trailer from Comic-Con, and here we have the trailer for the new DC Comics film, Aquaman, directed by James Wan. The trailer presents the origins of Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), and the story we can expect to see in the film. So without further ado, let's break down the trailer.

The trailer opens up with a flashback Arthur's father, Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison) finding Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) washed up on the shore, as we see a short montage of the two living together. This flashback is to show how Arthur's parents met up and eventually conceived Aquaman, the half Atlantian, and half human hero. Half human as Arthur explains, his father was a lighthouse keeper, and half Atlantian because his mother was the Queen of Atlantis or at least one of the kingdoms.

The idea of Arthur Curry is that everywhere he is, he is seen as an outsider. Here we see a young Arthur (Kaan Gulder) who is being made fun of for talking to fish. This is an awesome scene, as we see how Arthur develops his powers in communicating with the sea creatures as he uses the sharks in this aquarium to scare the bullies away. I am curious to see how the film handles Arthur as a child. I hope it will be like Man of Steel, where we see Arthur struggling with his powers throughout his life, not knowing how and why he can communicate with fish.

"Permission to come aboard?" I really love that line, it sets the tone of the character on an average daily basis, where he goes around taking down bad guys. In the Justice League, we got a subtle hint that Aquaman was a character who played on the lighter tone, and this trailer shows that his lighter tone is coming through in this film.

This scene focuses on Aquaman taking down pirates who are possibly looking for Atlantis. I believe that this vessel is led by Manta, who we see later in the trailer. Manta isn't the main villain of the film, more of a side villain for the most part.

Here is Mera (Amber Heard) who in the comics is the love interest of Arthur, and the same is happening in the film. This scene appears to be Arthur's calling to Atlantis since he went there in Justice League because once again, Arthur is still an outsider in Atlantis being half human. Mera is a character who I am excited to see on screen, as we saw her in Justice League, however, not for a whole lot so we will get to see her fully fleshed out in this film.

The costume that Mera is wearing in this scene is extremely close to her comic book suit, and it looks great. This does create the speculation of the possibility that Arthur might get the classic orange and green spandex in the film.

As Mera explains, Arthur's half-brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson) AKA, Ocean Master is about to declare war on the surface world. So this line is basically the condensed, simplified version of the film's plot. Orm is one of the biggest Aquaman villains in the comics, if not the biggest. In the film, it appears when we pick up in the present day that Queen Atlanna has just passed away and been the son of the queen, Orm is the new king. Orm is a full Atlatian, and in the comics, he usually is more favorable than Arthur.

The war on the surface world is a classic plot for the Aquaman film to go. There was an animated DC film, "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis" which deals with this plot. Obviously, this film doesn't have the full Justice League, but there is a more personal story being told, and a less violent approach to stop this from happening.

Orm appears to be stirring up a war, by creating more deadly whether with the ocean on the shore. Here we see Arthur, Mera, and Thomas looking at the destruction of Marine, where presumably this is all happening. I don't think that the destruction from the conflict will be massive in the film, however, more localized to just small coasts.

I want to say that this is in the middle of the film where we see Arthur and Mera in a temple searching for an artifact. If I had to guess, the artifact is something Atlantian which was buried on the surface when Atlantis was on the surface. There are a number of things which the two could be searching for. One could be some Atlantian battle armor for Arthur to wear, the other and the more exciting option is that the two are going to try to get a new Trident for Arthur to wield. The trident which Arthur used in Justice League was not his trident, however, the trident of the first king of Atlantis, King Atlan. Also, Arthur used Atlan's armor in Justice League.

Arthur is suited up in battle armor. There were some set pictures leaked which showed off this armor. This is most likely not his primary suit in the film, however more like a combat or trial suit which he has to wear. For the most part of the film, Arthur will be shirtless or in civilian clothing. This scene here seems to be before Arthur trials Orm to be King of Atlantis because Arthur does have the right for the trial. But I do like Arthur's reaction here, to presumably Mera who seems to be pressuring Arthur to be king, "That was the worst prep talk... ever.."

This is something I have been curious to see ever since 2014 when the Aquaman film was announced, and here it is in all its glory, the city of Atlantis. I have to say, this looks amazing. I personally thought that the film was going portray Atlantis a gritty underwater place where it is desolated, and there are abandoned buildings from thousands of years ago. There are parts which are like that, but this main city looks amazing. The way that the film incorporated technology to show how Atlantis has evolved like our 'surface world' is amazing. The mixture of coral plants in this shot is also so awesome to see creating the idea of a hub in the desolated ocean.
The use of colors such as the bright blue, green, and purple, are all great. The use of multiple colors really brings the city of Atlantis to life. I almost just expected a bleak blue, abandoned city for Atlantis, but this shot blew my expectations away.

This is the trial for the throne of Atlantis. Orm versus Arthur. You see that the two are both in the battle armors, and it appears that this is done in front of a larger crowd which could be the entire population of Atlantis. I really love this combat arena, where there is lava flowing through the ground, presumably to dampen the powers of the two. This fight or arena, in general, has to be happening in one of those bubbles which Mera created in Justice League, otherwise, that lava would not mix well.
I do like the idea that Orm would be extremely weak to the lava being full Atlantian, while Arthur is not as weak being only half Atlantian.

Theis is a glory shot of Arthur. I feel like something like this shot has been in all the solo films, with the main hero lifting a heavy object in an orange sky, it does look very cinematic. This shot appears to connect to that fight scene at the beginning where Arthur boards the submarine presumably owned by Manta. This is the end of that fight where Arthur apprehends Mantis, who may not have his full suit at this point, because this most likely takes place near the beginning of the film.

A teenage Arthur (Otis Dhanji) is training on a beach. I am not too sure who he is training with, however, he does catch the Atlan's trident. It is possible that Mera is the one training him, and the two have a more intimate relationship which dates back before the events of the film and Justice League. But I do wonder who breaks the news to Arthur that he is part Atlantis. He seems like he has been training for a little while here so it might be before the aquarium incident.

Here we see Mera and Arthur on the surface of some European coastal city. This is most likely after the two go into the temple to find some Atlantian artifact. But in the background, we hear Arthur monologuing about how he is doing this to save his home. That can mean both the surface and Atlantis, and they are both his homes, and he does not want the two to destroy each other. In Justice League I was curious about where Arthur and Mera were in their relationship, they seemed sort of like friends at best. But this film seems like it will define their romance a little more.

Here we see Queen Atlanna hugging young Arthur. I am guessing that this is when she goes back to Atlantis to lead as Queen, thus Arthur is left with his father on the surface. I am not too sure how close Arthur will be with his mother and what he thinks about. In terms of whether he thinks that she abandoned him and doesn't like her as much, or whether he saw his mother as a hero.

This is an awesome scene where we see Arthur and Mera jump off a boat with flare in hand other a swarm of sea monsters in the ocean, during a storm. In Atlantis, there are going to be less evolved creatures which attack anything. This might be happening just before we see all the storms and destruction in Arthur's hometown. The shot looks amazing in terms of the color with the red bleeding over the different blues. The wide shot also looks phenomenal as it shows the large scope of the scene and all the mayhem which follows.

This premise behind Arthur is summed up in this line by Mera, she tells Arthur that he needs to lead Atlantis because he is from two worlds [the surface world, and Atlantis]. This scene might be taking close to when Arthur stops Manta's submarine, as you can tell from the orange sky. I am not too sure why Arthur and Mera are sitting on a board in the ocean, but it does make for a nice background and more shots of Mera's hair.

Here is one of the leaders of one of the seven kingdoms of Atlantis, Fisherman King (Djimon Hounsou). There is no revelation about the character's role in the plot but he looks awesome. The race of the character is still classified as an Atlantian, however, he just adapted more when the kingdoms sunk into the ocean thousands of years ago. The set design in the back looks amazing, with the crazy architecture and the use of the gold, it looks great, and adds more diversity into the look of the film.

Here he is in the suit, Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). I have to say, the full-on comic boom look of the character is amazing, with the helmet and all. I did speculate earlier that the submarine that Arthur was taken down earlier was Manta's submarine, and he did not have the suit then. I am speculating, in wanting revenge, David Kane builds the Manta suit to fight Aquaman and get revenge for his plans being foiled. Again, Manta is not the main villain of the film, just a side villain for this first film.

Here is an awesome shot. This takes place in what I speculate is that coastal European city from earlier. Manta is out to attack Arthur and Mera. The director of the film did say that the eyes are red for a reason on the Manta helmet. So now we know why, they shoot lasers, which is awesome. I am going to speculate that this scene takes place in the middle of the film, as this is more of a side problem to what Arthur has to deal with in Orm.

                                       

This is a major war which is going on, not the surface world war versus the Atlantis war, however, a civil war in Atlantis. What I am speculating is going on is that Arthur won the throne and stopped Orm from creating a war. However, Orm went to some of the other Kingdoms of Atlantis to create a war against the surface world, and the Arthur lead Kingdoms have to stop Orm and his allies. I am assuming that the blue side here is Arthur's side, while the red and orange side is led by Orm. I absolutely love the use of color in this scene here. The polar opposite range of the blue and red looks amazing here, showing that this film is not going to be all blue here. I do have to point out that Orm's side has giant crabs while Arthur has sharks, tieing this back to the beginning in the Aquarium.

The last scene here is of Arthur and Mera jumping out of a plane without a parachute over this desert. This scene is taking place in the middle of the film, most likely when Mera and Arthur go out to seek the Atlantian artifact in the temple, whatever the artifact turns out to be. I do like how this is used for humor, showing the lighter tone of the film, commenting about "redheads".

In conclusion, this Aquaman trailer is absolutely amazing. I love the tone which is presented in the trailer which is seen with the characters and their humor. Everything looks awesome in this film, from the story to the coloring of the film, and Mera. From this, it looks like James Wan has done an excellent job in creating this film, which I am excited to see in December.
What did you think of the trailer for Aquaman? Let me know all of your thoughts and opinions of the trailer down in the comments below.
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