Better than Justice League atleast

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2019)

I always have a soft spot while reviewing and rating comic book movies and this will be no exception. I was one of those who believed Aquaman wouldn't be anything special, and even though it earned over a billion dollar pandering to a select demographic I wasn't wrong.
For every step this movie takes in the right direction, it rewards itself a flaw that in the end brings it back to where it started. Let's start with the story, it is surprisingly an almost faithful adaptation of the "Throne of the Atlantis" without any of the Justice league; and if you watched the Snyder-Whedon travesty you'll know it's a good thing. A linear but enjoyable storytelling that isn't convoluted with exposition heavy dialogues nor peppered with the 90's laugh track. Being a fairly simple plot it enjoys the freedom of incorporating elementary gimmicks that is enjoyable for the whole family but wouldn't necessarily leave a bad taste for movie purists either. And as a result Aquaman doesn't shy away from taking a hearty approach to make the titular character more relatable and lovable. Aquaman ironically worked best when it pandered to the 12 year olds and played its strong suit of heart, emotion and family.
As simple as the storytelling and plot is, the script is indifferent. I would have a hard time believing this wasn't actually written by a 12 year old. You hear a line and if you can't immediately guess the comeback you really haven't been seeing movies much lately. The script has to be one of the most generic stacks of line ever put together in a billion dollar movie.
The jokes are minimal and are not bombarded after every 10 seconds, which doesn't make the J-bombs decent though. Most of the time they're not even funny but you'll still crack a smile a few times because your inner 12 year old is still alive inside you. One thing I have to appreciate is how they don't ruin heartfelt emotional scenes with a joke, which has become quite the CBM tradition nowadays.
I'm not entirely delighted with the cinematography; it's pretty rough around the edges and really hard to believe this was by James Wan. This is a type of movie that could've been made by literally any director and if you didn't know who it is by, you never could've guessed it. Everything about this movie lacks originality and you can't help but feel it quite often. There are some undoubtedly cool shots here and there like the trench diving scene or waterfall scene but those are too few and far between. The awkward camera pans made it feel like a Hindi TV serial at times. Hugely disappointed that James Wan allowed all these bloated mess of a camera work in the final edit.
The score was nonexistent, aside from the Toto remix by Pitbull I can't seem to remember any sound even slightly resembling a theme or tone. CBM's really needs a decent score to pump up the juices, which Aquaman offered none. The pacing as I mentioned earlier is actually quite satisfying, which doesn't drag on and overstay its welcome in the slightest.
This is the part where the aforementioned "one step forward- one step back" quote comes to play. The costume design for Aquaman, Orm and Manta were absolutely impeccable. Emphasis on the word impeccable as I never could've conceived that they could make the corny looking orange outfit so badass on screen, the prop obviously goes to Jason for pulling it off but I'll come to him in a bit. Mera also had her comic accurate leotard on and not gonna lie looked really well on Amber Heard. But for every good costume design there are also few horrendous ones. The white Atlantean suit looked beyond ridiculous and cheap. It reminded me of those henchmen in the old Power Rangers series, and not in a good way. The terrible wig of Nicole Kidman was too bad to ignore, Amber wore her wig better although it's just the longer end of the same straw.
The CGI in this movie was painfully inconsistent; some amazing underwater scene gets totally overshadowed by a stack of utter disgraceful CGI work. I am sure the slow-mo Mera jumping off buildings during the Black Manta chase sequence is a perfect example how rough the edges really were. On the contrary the visuals were actually quite delightful and the backgrounds selected pleasant. The sea creatures looked as good as how bad the CGI looked. The trench creatures played in accordance with James's horror root and looked pretty good.
Some of the biggest surprises I got from the movie were actually due to the acting. You got more renowned actors like Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard and on the other side relative lesser known creds like Dolph Lungdren (not exactly lesser known, but stereotyped), Jason Momoa, and Yahya Mateen. And guess which side did a better job! I always believed Jason Momoa cannot carry a whole movie himself, and he brutally proved me wrong. He practically carried the whole movie for me. If Aquaman was someone other than Momoa I don't think the rating would've been what I gave, it could've easily been far less. He pumped the charisma up to eleven and even managed to rock that goofy orange outfit like a total badass. Honestly though, most of the points I gave are because of Manta, Orm and Momoa.
As for the villains, lets just get it out the way: Aquaman had the best villain adaptations so far in DCEU. Manta was exactly how I know him to be, down to his iconic outfit in a proper adaptation. Although he was fairly underutilized and sidelined I can't wait to see him pop back up in the sequels. Yahya did some sweetass work properly portraying Black Manta and deserves more praise.
Patrick Wilson is silently becoming a household name each year and his role in Aquaman cements his case. He naturally blended in with the character like no ones business, and actually added subtle nuances. Orm looked, behaved and sounded just perfect, where he easily could've been a Luther, an Ares or even a *Honka Honka*. Props to the costume design team for the faithful recreation of the iconic facemask and cowl and finally doing justice to the rogues of DC universe. I am also kinda glad he wasn't made out to be a power-hungry one dimensional stereotype (even though he was sort of) right in his first outing.
Now for the terrible acting, Dafoe wins it by a mile with his most horrendous acting ever, really hurts seeing such a talented actor just be there to cash in. Nicole kidman was a step up but nothing extraordinary. You can blame the script she was given and I'd agree with you. Mera on the other hand was definitely the better among the trio having more screen time and a better script to work on, but as I said, nothing that speaks volume.
For a superhero movie Aquaman doesn't have many fights to showcase. I didn't like any DCEU action sequence other than the warehouse scene in BVS and maybe it's just me but overall it was below subpar. The first Orm Vs Momoa was bland and contained no gravity and the stakes felt artificial. The final encounter was better in every way which unfortunately was abrupt. So aside from the Manta fights there is absolutely nothing that Aquaman offers that begs a rewatch.
For all the highs and lows Aquaman was quite enjoyable to me; more than I thought was possible. It had a good heart and was brimming with a weird innocence that I appreciate. I can't stop thinking how better this movie could've been if they paid more attention to the little stuffs. But I can say for sure this was a onetime movie and really has no merit to secure a second watch. But hey lucky for them, it worked out just fine.
RATING: 6.5/10