King Orm is planning on having Atlantis go to war with the surface world and it’s up to Arthur Curry to stop his half brother by taking his rightful place as king. There is a special Trident that will prove Arthur is worthy enough to be the king of Atlantis. Arthur goes on a journey to find it while accompanied by warrior named Mera.
Blaine: “Aquaman” takes place after “Justice League” because director James Wan wanted that. James didn’t want “Aquaman” to be a prequel like “Wonder Woman” was, but it had to have an origin story because this was going to be Aquaman’s first movie and it needs an origin story in order for the audience to get to know this character…..if your not a comic book reader I mean. There were scenes they shot for “Justice League” that had to be cut out because of the tight schedule they had and those scenes showed Aquaman’s backstory, which pissed off Jason Momoa because it would have shown why Aquaman was in a bad mood. But “Aquaman”, the movie, explains what Arthur Curry is going through. The backstory is, Arthur’s mother, Atlanna, washed up on shore and fell in love with a lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry. But their love was forbidden because Atlanna is from Atlantis and Tom comes from the surface. Atlanna had to leave for her family's safety. Atlanna broke the rules of Atlantis and got killed for it. Arthur doesn’t want anything to do with Atlantis after they killed his mother. Arthur even hates their rules. Arthur spends a lot of time helping people whenever they are in danger. His father is proud of him for doing good. Some of the previous DC movies were dark and that’s because DC is known to be a dark Universe, but “Aquaman” is different. It’s more light. There are directors who are best known for directing a lot of movies in the same genre, but they like to try out different genres. James Wan is best known for directing a lot of horror movies, but he tried out something new when he directed the seventh “Fast & Furious” movie and now he’s doing it again with “Aquaman”.
James Wan was a comic book lover in his youth and he wanted to do “Aquaman” because this was a character who hadn’t had his own movie yet. James Wan has always idolized filmmakers like Tim Burton, James Cameron, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg growing up and the work they have done. George Lucas created the world of “Star Wars” using models for the special effects and James Cameron took CGI to a whole other level when he showed the world of “Avatar”. “Aquaman” shows an underwater world that has never been seen before on film and that was exciting for James Wan. This was his moment to show something that had never been done before and the actors felt lucky to be apart of this project because of that. They shot all the underwater sequences in front of blue screen and there were different types of devices the actors had to wear that made them look like they were swimming or floating. The actors had to wear harnesses, have wires attached to them and then there were times these mechanical devices were attached to them. Something like a crane.
James Wan was shooting “The Conjuring 2” while the casting for “Aquaman” was in process. James would get a call from the casting directors telling him which people they thought were suitable for a part in “Aquaman” and whenever James got some time off from “Conjuring 2”, he would head on down to check them out. Jason Momoa was already hired to play Aquaman way before this project was in development. It was while Zack Snyder was developing “Batman V Superman”. Snyder was just looking for whatever actors he felt were suitable for heroes of the DC Universe. Jason Momoa didn’t have to audition, Snyder just offered him the part and he was very excited. Of course Jason only had a cameo as Aquaman in “Batman V Superman”, but then Aquaman got to be a lead character in “Justice League". Jason Momoa has never put his own personality into a character he has played before, but he did it with Aquaman. James Wan thought Jason Momoa was a charming, likable fella when they first met each other and James was aware that people have seen Jason Momoa as a lot of characters with serious attitudes. So James decided to show people a side to Jason that has never been seen before. Jason was happy he got to smile a lot and act funny and he has James Wan to thank for that. Jason Momoa is Native Hawaiian and Aquaman represents the kind of things they go for, which is why Jason was honored to be offered the part. Jason Momoa also felt a personal connection to Aquaman being someone who’s nationality is Atlantis, but born of the surface. Jason is Native Hawaiian but born in Iowa.
Arthur’s had a couple of visitors come to shore. Mera and Vulko were the only two people from Atlantis who were very close to Atlanna and they made a promise to her to look after Arthur. Amber Heard loves seeing a superhero who is strong empowered, motivated, very much her own superhero, well driven, intelligent and who is also a woman. Wearing a red wig however was a pain for Amber. She couldn’t wait to burn it after shooting was over. Mera behaves like the responsible adult, where as Arthur acts like a comedian. One of the rules Atlantis has is arranged marriages if you’re of royalty. Atlanna disobeyed those rules by falling in love with Tom Curry and having his child. Atlanna did however proceed with the marriage and Mera follows Atlanna’s footsteps by disobeying the rules of Atlantis and helping Arthur. Mera is just doing what she believes is right. Like I said Arthur wants nothing to do with Atlantis. Mera tries to convince him to change his mind, but still he won’t do it. Shortly after, a giant wave hits the surface, causes a lot of damage and nearly kills Arthur’s father. Arthur realizes that if this is what Atlantis has planned then he can’t sit by and let this happen. Plus Arthur owes Mera for saving his father’s life. There’s an Easter egg in one scene where Mera takes Arthur down underwater to her ship and there’s a bunch of junk in the water after that huge wave hit the surface and one of them is the creepy doll known as Annabelle from “The Conjuring”, which James Wan directed. Mera hasn’t seen what the whole world of the surface looks like. Mera believes it to be a discussing wasteland, until Arthur and her travel to Italy. Italy is one of the finest places to go to on vacation and it’s a great example to show Mera that not everything on the surface looks terrible. Mera also develops romantic feelings for Arthur the more they spend time together.
Vulko, played by Willem Dafoe, has been Arthur’s teacher growing up. Vulko has shown Arthur the things he can do that are special and Arthur has used those abilities for good. James Wan was a sucker for the romance between Arthur's parents Atlanna and Tom Curry and the romantic relationship between Arthur and Mera. Nicole Kidman is no stranger to the DC Universe. She played Batman’s love interest in 1995’s “Batman Forever”, but she was the damsel in distress. Nicole Kidman is better as being Aquman’s mother, who can really kick ass and is really strong. Towards the beginning of the film, Atlanna fights officers from Atlantis, who have come to arrest her and it’s a long take. It took a lot of work to plan out that scene with the stunt work and camera movement. They shot 20 takes and it took three days to get the right one. It was a four wall set with no ceiling because the whole scene was done by spidercam. The camera would zip from one side to another while shooting that action scene. Atlana’s not just a brave warrior, she’s a character with a lot of heart and Nicole Kidman did a terrific job bringing her to life through her performance.
A lot of directors have become close with the actors they have worked with and for James Wan it’s Patrick Wilson. “Aquaman” is the fifth project James Wan and Patrick Stewart have done together after the two “Insidious” films and two “Conjuring” films. Patrick is no stranger to DC as well. He played a superhero called Nite Owl in 2009’s “Watchmen” and his voice had a cameo in “Batman vs Superman”, as the President of the United States.
Patrick Wilson liked playing the bad guy, King Orm, Arthur’s half brother, because he’s someone who hates the surface world. The people on the surface are ruining the ocean. It’s almost like a nature loving protester telling people they are ruining the Earth by littering. Orm feels they are evil and wants to have them destroyed. Orm also hates Arthur because he’s the reason their mother is dead. Arthur was a child born on the surface and Atlanna got in trouble because of that. Even Arthur feels he is to blame for Atlanna’s death, but he stays strong. Orm frames the surface world by having a submarine attack people of Atlantis just so he can have his war.
A lot of fans of the “Aquaman” comics love the villain, Manta, including James Wan. But James didn’t know if having two villains in Aquaman’s first movie was a good idea because Arthur is already dealing with his brother Orm. But Manta’s a popular villain and James Wan couldn’t resist, so the challenge was how Arthur would deal with two villains in one movie. Manta is like an assassin hired by Orm to kill Arthur, although Manta is doing it over personal issues because Arthur let Manta's father, Jesse, die. Arthur was saving a crew on a submarine from Manta and Jesse, they already killed half of the crew and Jesse tried to blow Arthur up. Arthur throws something sharp at Jesse and he gets pinned against the wall. Then something heavy falls on Jesse and he gets stuck. Manta asks for Arthur’s help to save his dad, but Arthur refuses to save the life of a murderer. Later in the film when Manta is trying to kill Arthur using his new technology, Arthur realizes that if he helped save Jesse maybe things could have been different. Manta has become violent and he won’t stop until he has Aquaman’s blood. Arthur defeats Manta and damages Manta’s new suit, but that doesn’t mean he is dead. During the post-credit scene it shows Manta is still alive and he still has a taste for revenge.
James Wan wanted to respect the comic books and show all the weird creatures Aquaman interacts with. One of the things I’m glad James Wan put into “Aquaman” was a lot of fighting sequences. The one I would say is the most extreme is when Arthur and Mera are being chased through Italy by Manta and few officers from Atlantis. You can tell a lot was put into that scene. One of the things I noticed was there are a lot of scenes where the good guys are having a nice moment, but an explosion always interrupts it. It happens three or four times in the movie. The actors spent four months choreographing scenes. Some of the actors had never done action sequences like these before or never have done an action sequence in their career. Jason Momoa has done action movies before and did some stunt work, but doing action while shooting underwater sequences was something new for him. Amber Heard had to do martial arts training and she was concerned at one point because she was bulking up a bit and she didn’t want to put on too much muscle weight.
There’s times where a dangerous creature is guarding a valuable artifact and for Arthur if he wants to get the Trident he must face a giant creature known as the Karathen. Arthur fights the Karathen at first, but then he decides to reason with it and he be’s honest with it. Arthur gives the Karathen a good reason why he needs the Trident because he wants to save the world. The Karathen becomes Arthur’s pet after he claims the Trident. One of the movies “Aquaman” is competing against at the box office is ‘Mary Poppins Returns” and “Aquaman” has the original Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, in it as the voice of the Karathen. Jason Momoa said if you are a fan of the original Mary Poppins, you should see “Aquaman”. Aquaman puts together an army of sea creatures to stop Orm and his war. I can’t imagine how many hours went into putting each sea creature in one shot.
