Rousing excitement.

Rating: 7/10 (5 January 2019)

Aquaman is the latest installment in DC's cinematic universe. Their sets of films have generally left me personally, with mixed reactions. I enjoyed Wonder Woman's refreshingly emotional narrative and Justice League's lighthearted chemistry between the main cast. Films like Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad however suffered strongly from overly convoluted stories and unlikable characters. Aquaman luckily succeeds with the adventure formula, presenting a exciting, fun and action packed narrative headed with a charismatic lead actor. When a lighthouse keeper (Temuera Morrison) shares a romance with the Queen of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman) results in the birth of a half blood son, Arthur (Jason Momoa). The Queen is forced to return to Atlantis where she is sacrificed for her treachery. This fuels the hate within Arthur's half brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to wage war with the surface world. In order to protect humanity Arthur is trained and helped by Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and Mera (Amber Heard) to go on a deadly mission to dethrone Orm. A story that has been seen a zillion times in superhero movies I feel. But what makes Aquaman so much fun is it's fast paced energy, charismatic performances, production design and action scenes. Jason Momoa really puts his stamp on the character of Arthur Curry, a drifter who has no will or ambition to become the King. He shares great father / son chemistry with Morrison where the audience really buys their loving relationship. Unfortunately the character becomes less significant as the story gets going. Kidman for her limited amount of screen time shows off prowess, strength and beauty. Patrick Wilson is a competent villain, certainly the best in the entire DCEU, there was potential at the start to make him more than a two dimensional bad guy. Unlike Killmonger this arc feels unfinished and the villain loses the initial interest. However unlike Steppenwolf, Ares, Zod and especially Lex Luthor, there was a actually a sense of threat that functioned about Wilson. His ambition and blood thirst makes him effective but nothing special, he is a standard MCU villain. Willem Dafoe also has great chemistry with Momoa as this mentor figure and it was certainly nice to see Dafoe in a superhero film again. However there also were some let downs in the acting department, Amber Heard is wooden and shares no chemistry with Momoa. I fully understand why Wan decided to cast Dolph Lundgren in this movie, but he unfortunately is an incredibly stiff actor that doesn't even possess this guilty pleasure 1980s charisma (something that Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris or Christopher Lambert perfected). Some of the cgi effects still look unconvincing especially a deaging effect used on a certain actor. The story is contrived and thin and is only supposed to lead from one action scene to the next, from one exotic and interesting location to another. And as this, Aquaman succeeds. Fans of adventure serials and lighthearted superhero movies look no further. For those who look for something with more depth (no pun intended) should perhaps stay away. This is not comparable with The Dark Knight, The Winter Soldier, Logan or Infinity War. But for fans of Brendan Fraser's The Mummy will feel right at home.