Aquaman

Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, Randall Park, Graham McTavish, Leigh Whannell, Julie Andrews (voice), John Rhys-Davies (voice), Djimon Hounsou (voice)
Directed by: James Wan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Arthur (Jason Momoa) reluctantly ventures to Atlantis to stop a potential war against the surface world.

Review:

Tim: I was looking forward to seeing Aquaman. I've been very clear in my belief that Marvel is far superior to DC, but I want to watch great movies, not bad ones, so I've been rooting for them to get their act together. This movie did well at the box office and received mostly positive reviews from critics, so there was a lot of optimism here. The film itself does some things right, but I am a bit surprised so many people liked it. It's a decent movie, but it feels like multiple steps below what Marvel has been doing for the last decade. In short, this movie is decent yet still disappointing.

In some ways, Aquaman is the answer to Marvel's Thor. Both feature family dramas set in fantastical locations. Whereas Thor was Shakespearean in its portrayal of family dysfunction, this movie never rises to that level. It feels so generic. A lot of this is the writing. It just felt average from beginning to end. The story is fine, but it's predictable. Aquaman has to confront his half brother, who wants a war with the surface world. None of it seemed all that compelling because the relationships weren't firmly established. As an outsider his entire life, Arthur didn't know his half brother, he didn't have many relationships with anyone at Atlantis. So the familial drama was minimal. There wasn't any baggage because they'd all just met each other for the first time.

I was excited that this movie moved away from the dark, brooding quality of the earlier DCEU films. This movie at least attempted to be lighthearted and humorous (copying Marvel, but whatever). I appreciated the attempt, although a lot of work needed to be done. The movie just wasn't funny. So many lines made me cringe. "Permission to come aboard" is one of the most groan-inducing lines I've seen in years, especially with Jason Momoa's over-the-shoulder look. I don't know if I laughed at a single point in the film. The dialogue often felt stilted. The banter between Arthur and Mera was so forced it bordered on being uncomfortable. They didn't have a great deal of chemistry. I think James Wan and the cast had their hearts in the right places, but the script just let them down.

Jason Momoa is pretty strong as Arthur. I love that he doesn't look like the traditional Aquaman from the comics. I think it's cool they embraced his look for this character. I have to admit being pretty psyched when I saw him in the classic costume. It looked really, really cool. Momoa doesn't have great dialogue, but you can tell he was passionate about the character and put a lot of effort in. The limitations are on the poor dialogue, not his performance. I thought Amber Heard did a really good job as Mera. I would definitely watch her in this role in future films. She was strong, intelligent, and wasn't afraid to push back on others. She stood up for herself and what she believed and that was a lot of fun to see. Willem Dafoe is always good and added to the film. I loved the casting of Nicole Kidman- she was great and one of the best parts of the movie. I wish she had more screen time because she was so entertaining. The rest of the cast was decent.

I wasn't overly impressed with the film's villains. Patrick Wilson does decent work as King Orm, but he wasn't all that exciting. Wilson is a good actor, but I wasn't fully invested in his character. Yahya Abdul-Mateen gave an okay performance as Black Manta. His origin story as a villain was fairly lackluster. I didn't love his costume, but I suppose it was true to the comics. He has a few good moments, but he was severely limited by the script, too.

I will say that the underwater scenes were incredibly impressive. It felt like a ton of time and attention was spent on getting the underwater scenes right. The flowing hair, the way people moved, the incredible underwater city- the visual effects in this movie are among its biggest strengths. I really enjoyed the colors and the look of everything. It was super cool to watch this very different world unfold on screen. I really had zero complaints and all compliments about the visual effects. I do wish as much time and energy were spent on the script.

As a whole, Aquaman was a decent movie. Realistically, it's 15 minutes too long, but it does cover quite a bit. However, I'm not able to look at this as the success that DC certainly does. It did well at the box office and critics liked it, so overall, I get how this is viewed as a success. Unfortunately, it just feels a step below what Marvel is doing. I'm not sure this film closes the gap at all. It's not as effective as Wonder Woman. I enjoyed parts of the film, but it was hard not to feel some disappointment walking away from it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Wonder Woman, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League