A Movie Review for YOU! "Aquaman"

So, I'm definitely a sucker for cheesy comic book/action movies. My absolute favorites are any of the movies from the "DC" Extended Universe (Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, etc). While he is probably one of my LEAST favorite of the DCEU, I figured an Aquaman movie might still have a chance at being pretty good. When I heard that Jason Momoa (from "Game of Thrones" fame) would be pegged to play Arthur Curry's Aquaman, I was like... okay, maybe. When I learned that it was going to be directed by James Wan, who has directed more dark horror story-like films such as the "Saw" franchise as well as "The Conjuring," I was like... okay, so maybe this film might have more of an adult/mature/gritty-like appearance. It is in the same universe as Batman, so okay! I like how this is turning out! Well... not so much.

As previously mentioned, Momoa plays Arthur Curry, a half man/half Atlantean (someone from the underwater Kingdom of Atlantis) who is actually of royal lineage. After spending a lot of time learning his back story, we finally got to the plot. For numerous reasons, we learn that the various underwater kingdoms are about to join together under the evil leadership of Orm, who just so happens to be Arthur's half-brother. All these kingdoms are going to join together in the hopes of starting a war with the land-dwellers and conquer the WHOLE world, not just the oceans. And... of course... the only person who has any chance of stopping this from happening is Arthur Curry, who becomes the superhero known as Aquaman. It's a race for Aquaman, as he must find the long-lost sacred trident that will unite the people in peace before Orm conquers the various kingdoms and unites the people in fear and forces them to fight this battle for him. You know, same old story.



Momoa's portrayal of Aquaman was kind of all over the place. I'd say he was more humorous/silly than not, so it was difficult to take him seriously when he'd be involved in some super-serious battle or intense conversation about how his mother had been sacrificed to the evil crawfish-people of the trench world. Nicole Kidman's portrayal of Queen Atlanna was over the top and campy. Patrick Wilson as Orm left a lot to be desired. I never once believed that here was a guy who was going to be able to stop the super-bulky/muscular/handsome/tattooed Aquaman. Willem Dafoe's character, Vulko, was just this awkward advisor character. I think that's a good way to describe most of the acting in the movie... awkward.

The visuals of the movie were pretty good. The wide-shots of the massive worlds of Atlantis or the various underwater scenery was pretty awesome. The settings as well as the costumes were all bright and captured your attention. The close-ups were a little meh, it was really obvious to see that a lot of the movie were just the actors faces cut-and-pasted onto the digital bodies, with their little hands moving like flippers and their hair flowing in the water. It's hard to take Aquaman seriously as he's doing a doggy-paddle.

The plot/writing of the movie was REALLY simple. The most bothersome part about it was that it seemed to borrow the various parts of the plot from other major movies. Significant chunks of the storyline seemed eerily familiar to movies like Star Wars, Tron, Indiana Jones, Black Panther and the story of King Arthur. Because of that, I found it incredibly easy to pick out parts of the plot waaaaaayyyyy before it happened. "Oh yeah, this is gonna happen..." or "oooooh yeah, I totally saw THAT one comin'."

All of that being said, it'll probably be a surprise to you to hear that I did enjoy the film. For a simple movie to watch, it was entertaining. It just wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for... especially in a movie from the DCEU. I enjoyed the movie, I always enjoy the theater, and (of course) I enjoyed the company. Like I mentioned on Facebook, however, that was definitely a movie that would've been a-ok to watch on Redbox. I tried to keep an open mind and take it at face value. Occasionally, something ridiculous would happen and I'd be like "oh my GOSH! This is lame." Then I would have to stop and re-open my mind back up to it just being a simple, fun movie. Finally, the "big battle" at the end of the movie completely lost me and I was like "nope, that's about it. Not a good one."

With all of that being said, I give the movie a shaky 4 out of 10.