This movie needs a sequel.

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2019)

Aquaman was amazing. It had plenty of thrilling action sequences and a decent soundtrack. The casting for both leads (Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Amber Heard as Princess Mera) were absolutely spot-on. Momoa's excitable attitude and mannerisms authentically made Arthur Curry a smug charismatic badass in every right. Jason Momoa couldn't be a better Aquaman and he played the role perfectly. Princess Mera's collected personality and actions complemented his character well (and vice versa) Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Mera proved themselves as compelling characters with rich and meaningful motives to drive their actions and choices forward. The chemistry between them was equally solid. Aquaman built on Mera's perceptive view and helped her learn to not judge a place or person at first glance; whereas she gave him clarity towards his responsibilities and helped him learn how to become accepting of them and his birthright; helping him to understand that he needed to become Atlantis' king despite the mental deconstruction that he received at the colosseum about how a half-breed Atlantean Human wasn't fit to be king. They both taught one another to look beyond the surface and do what they thought was right for them. These characters built upon one another and gave us believability to their partnership. The storyline itself was solid: a good mix of heart and action. Black Manta was albeit a bit driven-thinking with his heart and not his head; but proved himself as a okay done villan with a sort of dramatic vengeance towards Aquaman. Patrick Wilson's Ocean Master proved better and was the right choice for the main villan. His egotistical pride and arrogance combined with his motives of striking against the surface served him well throughout the movie. His beliefs that Atlants was superior to the surface world due to sophistication and his arrogant pride coincided with this and proved again that every great villan is a hero in his own story. Vulko, Queen Atlanna, and Tom Curry were also well written characters; prominent in their own rights. Aquaman's visuals/VFX were a stunning sight to witness and were surprisingly well done. Atlantis and the various types of sea creatures were precisely crafted (especially the monsters of the trench and the kraken at King Atlan's tomb.) The costumes of Aquaman, Mera, Vulko, and others were surpsingly well done and authentic enough to their comic book counterparts; but also modified to fit a fresh and new take of the cast. However there were a few flaws too; being the teenage actor of Aquaman, the unanswered question of how Arthur and Mera got from the middle of the Sahara to Sicily, Italy despite the close proximity of each location. These flaws among others are noticeable; but not too distracting from an overall enjoyable and exciting story. James Wan did an amazing job as did the cast and crew to make a visual spectacle and a story with both action and heart to provide depth to it's ensemble cast of memorable characters. In short, this is a flawed but extremely enjoyable movie that does Aquaman justice.