Aquaman movie review

Here's what you need to know; a war is coming to surface, Atlantis, tired of the surface world's arrogance and abuse of their ocean home, is mobilising its forces for an attack that will kill billions. Standing between the world of Man and certain annihilation is Arthur Curry, a drunk, antisocial superhero with the unusual ability to talk to fish and a birth right he is reluctant to claim, but when the looming war comes knocking at his door, Arthur is forced to embark on a journey that will either get him killed or see him become the King of Atlantis.

The DCEU has had a very rough existence; having struggled to get off the ground since its inception, with quality as all over the place as its box office returns, and with a reputation as a mediocre MCU knockoff. Wonder Woman seemed to steer the ship in the right direction when it blew everyone's minds back in 2017, only for Justice League to flop just a few months later. Unlike Justice League however, Aquaman's production didn't spiral out of control, and with it also dominating the box office and becoming the highest grossing film in the DCEU to date, it looks once again like the DCEU is in for smooth sailing at last, but how much did I enjoy Aquaman personally, in a word, or two, laser sharks, let's go.

Like most prologues, Aquaman's establishes Arthur Curry's origins as well as the film's primary conflict, as we see Arthur's dad finding Queen Atlanna washed up by his lighthouse. This scene has an unbelievably funny gag in it, one I most certainly appreciated more than anyone else in the cinema, but this sequence does provide a mushy montage and narration as they fall in love and have a kid. Things pick up when the Atlantian army comes for Atlanna in an awesome action sequence, and I truly mean awesome, I could watch that shit all day. Naturally the film then kicks off with another action sequence as Arthur Curry retakes a hijacked submarine from pirates, which sets up a later conflict with the Black Manta, a completely wasted villain, but let's not rush. In fact, let's; the sequence at the beginning of this film with the pirates and the hijacked submarine sets ups what could be an awesome conflict, one that Arthur reflects on later in the film, about how he had a choice and ended up making an enemy. The mid-credits scene set up Black Manta as the villain of the inevitable sequel, but this film gives him such a great set up that when he's only in about four scenes in the whole film, it's a shocking waste of potential, even more so since the one scene that he's actually in the Black Manta suit is a really cool scene. But the film seemingly has bigger fish to fry because despite the great setup, Black Manta takes a backseat to Orm, Atlantis' maniacal, war hungry king who wants revenge on the surface world. And saving the world from Orm is Arthur, who is everything I expected him to be. Jason Momoa's Aquaman was one of my favourite things about Justice League, and while this film does a considerable amount of retconning from Justice League, Arthur Curry is still very much the same wise cracking, hot headed arse hole. An alcoholic, cynical superhero may not be a new concept, but this is the first time I've seen it, not including Into the Spider-verse, but like Peter Parker in that film, this is my kind of Super hero, I like him.

Arthur's journey to the throne doesn't take any massive twists and turns, in a way, it's like Black Panther but in reverse, as an outsider must prove himself as king to save the throne and the world, unlike T'Challa who wasn't the outcast, but still had to prove himself as king and save the world. Though it was interesting how the villain of the film, Orm, has dedicated his entire life to Atlantis, wet is the unworthy king with genocidal intentions. I can also see a lot of progressives becoming confused and siding with Orm in this film thanks to his ultra environmentalist motives, saving the ocean from humanity and its pollution, while Arthur, despite being the one true king, wants to save the surface world, indirectly condoning their pollution of the oceans, but you know what, this is Aquaman, this film has Sharks with laser beams attached to their heads, I think I'm overthinking it just a bit. Arthur's love interest in this film is Amber Heard, who is face meltingly gorgeous as ever, and this is one of those rare examples where the hero gets the girl in the end, since you know that's something that's been bugging me for a few years now. But with all that being said, her ability to bend water is really cool, especially in the fight with Black Manta where she turns wine into spears and throws them at her enemies, but this film doesn't pull a Mad Max and have the hero's female counterpart overshadow him in his own movie, making the inevitable romance feel more genuine and earned as they scour the world looking for the McGuffin. This film also has Willem Defoe and Dolph Lundgren, just in case you didn't know you were watching a film that exists purely to be fun, the very essence of a comic book movie.

That's really what Aquaman is, of the DCEU so far, this film is the most comic book-ish, even down to its visuals, and though it's not even close to Into the Spider-Verse in terms of embracing its inspiration, this film, unlike other DC films, is colourful and light-hearted and fun, even more so than the already colourful and fun Wonder Woman. But like Wonder Woman, my previous favourite DCEU film, it's not perfect. Wonder Woman kind of fell apart in its finale for me, a brilliant build up led to an underwhelming payoff with a corny, over the top duel between Diana and a big CGI metal man, one that completely undermined the moral ambiguity the film had previously and brilliantly established. This film's a little different however, because while Wonder Woman went off the rails at the end, Aquaman takes too long to get on them. There is a point in this film where I really start enjoying it, and that's when they go on their quest for the Trident in the Sahara, but until then, the film's a bit boring if you ask me. That's even with seeing Atlantis, seeing literal sea horses and our villain riding around on an armoured Mosasaur, but even with all that, the film drags until they leave and go on their quest. Then they go on their quest, and this film turns into Uncharted, it really does; they're exploring ancient ruins and solving puzzles and making revelations while rambling expositionally about history, before an action sequence where they're running along roof tops and throwing down in a scenic little Italian town, it's Uncharted. The film really kicks into high gear for me at that point, and the madness has only just begun, as they later have to survive an attack from an army of demon fish monsters in a surprisingly scary and effective sequence, one that shows off James Wan's horror expertise. Not that he's a slouch in the action scenes either, because they're all great too, in fact they're the best in the DCEU, even with the warehouse scene from BVS and the village scene from Wonder Woman in mind. And whereas Wonder Woman fell apart in the end, Aquaman's finale has a huge war between crab people and people with underwater space ships and Sharks with laser beams and giant crabs throwing lava bombs and Orm and his armoured Mosasaur chomping their way through the front line, it's insane. It's so insane in fact that it's kind of hard to believe a film this silly even exists, let alone got made on a $200 million budget, this is Pacific Rim levels of awesome, and there's even a giant Lovecraftian Godzilla monster to top it off. My only issue with it is how cleanly it ends; but to explain that would spoil the film, like I haven't done that already by telling you how awesome the Trench and the Brine are.


I am the protector of the deep
Aquaman is the best film the DCEU has offered so far, having not only dethroned Wonder Woman, but blown it out of the water. The two films offer different things, and as good as the first two thirds of Wonder Woman are, Aquaman's last two thirds give me so much more. Its hero hits a sweet spot for me, as does his love interest, the film takes a bit too long to get going and wastes a perfectly good villain in favour of a tyrannical environmentalist, but the film's outright madness and indulgence of its own silliness is just so much fun to watch. It's got amazing action, stunning visuals, some surprisingly effective horror, and dinosaurs, and laser sharks, and a kaiju, what more could a big dumb man child like me want. Aquaman is a lot of fun and I'd definitely recommend it.