With every single
superhero now a days getting their own movie, it was only a matter of time that
famous DC hero Aquaman gets a big blockbuster screen debut. In the wake of
everything the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to offer and even compared to some
of DC’s offerings, Aquaman just
serves as a standard movie that doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.
However, with the help of a bit of a campy tone, some enjoyable action
sequences and some decent set designs and performances, Aquaman is at least an
entertaining film from the DC Cinematic Universe.
Aquaman
centers on Arthur Curry, a man who has the powers of the under-water beings
known as Atlanteans due to his mother being one herself. When an evil threat
comes to take over both the dry surface and underwater utopia of Atlantis, it
is up to Arthur to be the savor of the world at hand. From the perspective of
so many comic book movies that come out, it does seem very basic and barebones
from hearing the plot synopsis and it is. This could easily be an issue as Aquaman narratively wise, doesn’t really
do anything spectacular or unique that truly makes itself different from every
other comic book movie out there. This could be a major fault for some DC Fans as
one of the appeals of DC is how their films manage to tackle the more in depth
and philosophical elements of their superhero, even within their weaker movies,
there is an element of depth to be told here and unfortunately Aquaman rarely has any of that. Though
that doesn’t quite matter in terms of what the plot is, but more so in terms of
execution, and Aquaman does get a
pass for that. It doesn’t do anything new but James Waan directed a film that
is somewhat aware of that, and instead makes a movie that is over the top and
has some fun with it. Aquaman is a
movie that is filled with a lot of ridiculous things, a lot of cheesy dialogue,
and with not much depth to it, it can easily be seen as lacking in some
regards, yet the film makes up for it by making as over the top in the same way
a lot of older 80s action movies have in the past. It’s a macho man action fest
that could be seen as either too dumb or likeably dumb and it mostly stays on
likeably dumb with set pieces and characters that will make the average DC and
Aquaman fan grin in the same way someone would enjoy an over the top movie like
Commando. Waan’s experience as a
director with over the top action films like The Fast and Furious movies served well as Aquaman goal was to ultimately be entertaining and it did that for
the most part.
Going back to previous efforts of the DC,
Aquaman’s first solo outing turns out much better for him as a character than
his first appearance in Justice League. Jason
Moamoa was possibly the weakest element in Justice
League and that might be more so due to the fact that film did not quite do
him justice and his portrayal of the character was just someone who was there
just to look cool. While it’s not too much different in his own film as Aquaman
was made just to look cool in a good majority of this movie, the film sort of
relishes in that aspect much more. The character not only does a lot more in
this film to make him look cool, but Jason Moamoa does has some charisma to his
performance, making the character looking like he’s having a lot of fun with
the material for how cheesy it is. There isn’t as much to mention with the rest
of the cast though as they serve basic yet serviceable roles in Aquaman, Amber Heard plays the pretty
love interest who’s badass, William Dafoe plays a decent trainer to Aquaman and
Patrick Wilson plays a standard villain, nothing too deep to these characters
script wise but the actors again do a decent job with the material. The only
real character to take note is Aquaman’s main adversary Black Manta being in
the film. The character starts out pretty well with a decent backstory set for
him giving him some good motivation to be after Aquaman and Yahya Abdul-Mateen
II giving an all-out good performance. However, the film doesn’t utilize him to
a good degree as the character is established in the beginning and then returns
for a fun action sequence near the end of the second act with a cool costume
and that’s it. The character is unfortunately overshadowed by Patrick Wilson
who just plays a standard villain in this. It doesn’t serve as a strong
character piece, but it showcases these characters being “cool” in some
enjoyable ways.
The true big element that could make or
break Aquaman for a lot of people is
how the film is aesthetically. On the one hand, from an art direction
perspective, the film does look impressive with set pieces that look pretty
amazing with bright colors and unique designs as the artists do an excellent
job making the world of Atlantis alive and well. Many other things whether they
look cool or visually unique design wise such as how the armor and creatures
look are all created in a way that showcases the film’s creativity. As far as
action sequences go, it is also impressive with the fight choreography and
cinematography all being well down and shown very clearly in some very
entertaining ways. It does make for a visually interesting movie, however,
there is one major aspect that could ruin Aquaman
for some. The film is heavily reliant on CGI, and much like many other
comic book movies, it definitely feels like its overkill at many points. With a
film with CGI so much, there are certainly points where you can tell some of it
doesn’t look all that rendered and looks unconvincing, but then again you’re
dealing with a movie with giant sharks and seahorses with armor and lasers
attached to them therefore it’s hard to fully make it look real. Then again, it
is amusing and creative to see visuals like sharks and seahorses having armor
and lasers attached to them, making Aquaman
not an amazing or groundbreaking visual spectacle but one that is at least
amusing to look at.
Aquaman
is a serviceable movie for the type of film it is aiming to be. It is an over
the top action B movie, that is just there for a fun ride. It would have been
nice for it to aim a little higher than what it was aiming for, but the product
in question does manage to be a decent definition of a popcorn flick. It’ll be
a movie that fans could get a kick out for being mindless fun but also one that
could be seen as just mindless. Either way, Aquaman
serves as an entertaining style over substance movie that has an audience and
succeeds at it in the most average way.
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