An imperfect but wildly enjoyable ride

Rating: 7/10 (24 December 2018)

What's it about?
The latest attempt by DC to right the course of their up-and-down cinematic universe, Aquaman, directed by big-name horror director James Wan (Saw, Furious 7), tells the story of the titular character (played by Jason Momoa), mostly referred to by his human name-Arthur Curry-as he reluctantly begins to accept his destiny as the heir to the throne of Atlantis. Amber Heard co-stars as Mera, an undersea princess trying to guide Curry, while Patrick Wilson plays Orm, the main villain, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Black Manta in a secondary villain role. Willem Dafoe and Dolph Lundgren also play smaller but important roles, and Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman round out the list of stars as Curry's human father and Atlantean mother respectively.
What works?
Given that much of the action takes place in Atlantis and other varied undersea kingdoms, the visuals were where this movie was going to live or die. Fortunately, this is an absolutely spectacular movie to look at-there's hardly any cracks in a really impressive CGI façade, and the use of color and other visual elements to build an engaging, real-feeling setting is equally impressive. In short, this movie is game-changing in the scope and effectiveness of its visuals; for me, someone who's never read an Aquaman comic, who's never really thought about what Atlantis should look like, this was a wholly convincing depiction of the undersea world. Even the character movements, gliding and hovering through the water, felt mostly natural, and the dialogue was given just a hint of the normal distortion you'd hear underwater.
While the visuals were necessary to make this movie work, there's more to making a good movie than just pretty imagery (most of the time). Especially with a superhero action movie, something trying to connect with a very wide viewer base, the movie has to check a few more boxes. Fortunately, it also does a pretty good job with its characters, especially Aquaman himself. The character is written in a slightly unusual way-he's not a classic Superman-type, saving the world because it's the right thing to do, but neither is he a broody anti-hero type. He's free-spirited and energetic but likes to maintain a lower profile in the surface world; he's goofy but motivated and confident. This, of course, makes it the perfect role for Jason Momoa, who plays the role with a perfect sort of cocky charm (he also spends a decent chunk of the movie shirtless, and he's a hunky man). He's also allowed to be a funny character, mostly played as a loose-cannon fish-out-of-water (groundhog-off-the-earth?) relative to the rigidly hierarchical, traditional, rule-bound undersea peoples. It's a line of humor that could easily grow tiresome, but one which is used sparingly and therefore effectively. It's also worth pointing out that the undersea world doesn't come off as too stilted or outdated-it gets some satisfying chances to push back on his behavior in places, which also happens to allow for some solid character development moments as Aquaman tries to learn his place as someone with powerful ties to both the undersea and surface worlds.
The other characters are also mostly at least solid. Amber Heard's Mera is probably the next most important of the heroes. She plays the role well, but it's an unfortunate inevitability that a good chunk of her dialogue is just exposition, given that her role, especially in the first half, is explaining the rules of the undersea kingdoms to Aquaman. But in the latter half of the movie she gets a couple moments to shine, moments which she takes full advantage of. Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman are good in their own ways as Aquaman's parents. One standout is Willem Dafoe's Vulko, an advisor to the Atlantean throne and former mentor to the young Aquaman. His character has some interesting moments and good twists along the way.
But as is the case with most superhero movies, the true test of its quality is going to be the villain(s). I was worried going in that Patrick Wilson would not be a good choice for Orm, the primary villain, but he is intensely compelling both as politician and warrior, bringing a quiet ferocity in his dialogue-heavy scenes but a vicious confidence in his action ones, building a very strong primary villain, and one who even gets some good character moments. Plus, he looks great in the full Ocean Master armor, once he breaks that out.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is also solid as iconic Aquaman villain Black Manta, though it sometimes feels like his character isn't necessary. He has a commanding screen presence, especially in the excellent opening sequence, but when he's allowed to function as a true villain, he often comes off a bit monologuey and underwritten, though a powerful enemy. He really shines, though, when he's allowed to take off the helmet and do some real acting, giving the character more depth and weight than it needed. I'm also really glad the decision-makers behind the movie were willing to eventually go all-in on the big, comic-accurate Black Manta helmet.
The plot is mostly just adequate and generic, but it hits several of its emotional beats with resounding force. The ending is of particular note-without giving anything away, it takes a cliché framework and plays it really effectively before breaking it off in an unexpected manner, one that leaves the viewer startled by some unusual but effective emotional questions.
One last crucial selling point for any superhero movie is going to be the action. Here, again, Aquaman shines. The massive-scale undersea battles are impressively constructed, being sure to maintain some semblance of tactical order while keeping a character-focused perspective, but the CGI overload does tend to wear by the end. The real selling point, however, is the close-quarters combat. Even the opening's expositional setup has a beautiful long-take fight sequence, and it only gets better from there. The fighting is often done with tridents, and the choreography and execution is superb, fast-paced but feeling realistic and visceral, and it always utilizes superb camerawork. James Wan is a director who likes to play with his toys, and the sheer joy of creating some of these sequences is beautifully evident on-screen. Even the slow motion is handled with both care and obvious excitement, showing off some great moments while never becoming quite gratuitous.
The music also deserves a mention. Rupert Gregson-Williams, who also scored Wonder Woman, is in solid form here. Several moments in the score are notably strong, and there are no obvious missteps. He might not be ready to supplant John Williams or Hans Zimmer quite yet, but he's definitely deserving of more attention and work.
What doesn't work?
As I mentioned a few paragraphs before, the plot is mostly just generic fare: find the magic item, beat the bad guy, become the chosen one you were always meant to be. Part of the problem is that this is a movie that had to do a lot of things-develop its main character, establish a massive and complex world, introduce and develop two villains, and give their villainous plots enough weight to feel like a threat to the hero. With all that going on, it's no wonder that the core plot was going to be a little simple. It's not quite Justice League-levels of simplisticity, but it probably is ultimately more of a weakness than a strength, even if it was an inevitability given the volume of other details and characters and subplots surrounding the main narrative.
Another problem with a movie trying to do as much as Aquaman is that there is bound to be some tonal inconsistency. The main chunk of the movie feels like an amalgamation of a mainstream superhero movie, a Lord of the Rings-style fantasy epic with Game of Thrones-style fantasy politics, while also bringing sci-fi action and worldbuilding of the sort we should have gotten from the Star Wars prequels. That core combination, though, works surprisingly well. It's when the movie starts dropping in scenes reminiscent of Indiana Jones or Journey to the Center of the Earth that things start to feel like too much, or when it takes a brief detour into otherwise-effective moments straight out of the rom-com or horror genres. Each of the bits, taken on its own, works at least fairly well (especially the horror bit), but there are some inevitable jarring tonal shifts.
With any movie of this scale and ambition, there are inevitably going to be at least a couple weak points in the visual effects. While, again, the effects are almost uniformly astounding, there are one or two odd points-an unsatisfying movement here or there, a giant CGI monster that doesn't feel entirely present. An early scene in an aquarium has some uncanny-looking sharks. But really, that's it, and that's just nitpicking.
But is it any good?
It is! It's not a perfect movie by any stretch, but it does a fair job with most things, and it does a couple of the big things-visuals, action, main character-exceptionally well. Even the problems are mostly inevitable byproducts of bold, exciting decisions elsewhere in the film that end up mostly outweighing the costs of the unintended consequences. On the whole it's probably not quite on par with Wonder Woman (though there might be an argument in that direction), but it's definitely in the same ballpark-another clear winner for DC and a definite step forward for a universe that finally seems to be finding its feet.