Aquaman director James Wan promises a 'swashbuckling action adventure'

It seems that Jason Momoa’s ‘Aquaman’ solo movie is shaping up to be something quite different from the (admittedly few) existing DC Extended Universe movies.

Since the biggest complaints of the DCEU’s launch pad films ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (and to a lesser degree ‘Suicide Squad’) is that they were far too downbeat, it seems that all at Warner Bros/DC have been eager to push a more light-hearted, optimistic outlook in their future films.

And if future ‘Aquaman’ director James Wan’s latest comments are anything to go by, he most definitely got that memo.

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Speaking to Entertainment Tonight about his vision for the Atlantean superhero’s first solo outing, Wan said, “I kind of don’t want to give too much away but know this: The spirit that I’m going for is like a classic sort of swashbuckling action adventure, sort of high seas adventure story.

"It’s ultimately a quest story in the spirit of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ meets 'Romancing the Stone.’”

This sounds pretty far removed from what we’ve seen from DC thus far, and it’s certainly a tantalising prospect – especially for those of us who feel that Momoa’s last attempt at a swashbuckling adventure, the 2011 ‘Conan the Barbarian’ reboot, is unfairly maligned. (Seriously, watch it again, it’s really not half bad.)

Of course, we will first get to meet Momoa’s Aquaman (we can’t really count his very brief ‘Batman V Superman’ cameo as a proper introduction) alongside Amber Heard as his wife Mera in 2017’s ‘Justice League.’

Of this, the ‘Fast & Furious 7’ director says, “I think Amber and Jason Momoa, in their moments in ‘Justice League,’ [are] going to give the rest of the world a flavor of what their own standalone movie could be. And that is just scratching the surface of what I plan to do.”

While its UK release date is not confirmed at present, ‘Aquaman’ is due to open on US screens on 27 July 2018. Before that, we’ll see Momoa and Heard in ‘Justice League’ on 17 November 2017.

Picture Credit: Warner Bros