Aquaman was amazing!!! Great job, James Wan

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2018)

James Wan did an excellent job with Aquaman. He he adapted the story from Geoff Johns' Throne of Atlantis and used Aquaman's bad a**ery from the New 52 run and I liken Jason's Aquaman look to Peter David's 1994 run (long hair and beard) and they didn't shy away from the "silliness" of the golden age Aquaman (if you can't tell, I've been reading Aquaman comics for years).
At it's core, Aquaman is a love story of two people who had no business being together but through their union came a product that would bring unity between 2 worlds. Nicole Kidman absolutely kills it; she needs more action roles. I loved the dynamic of Arthur and Mera; Jason and Amber have great chemistry on screen. I love that Mera is pushing Arthur to become the King even if he doesn't take the task seriously at first. Along it with being a love story, Aquaman is also a globe trotting adventure movie, think Indiana Jones/Romancing the Stone. They go around the world trying to retrieve King Atlan's trident andalong the way, their bond grows stronger and I loved seeing it play out on screen.
One thing I'm a sucker for is an empathetic villain...this film has 2. Orm's motivation was understandable. This film actually had an environmentalist's message about how we treat our oceans and Orm was not having it. Patrick Wilson did an amazing job as always but, to me, Black Manta was more compelling. It's ironic that even though he's a villain, I totally understand his motivation for wanting to kill Aquaman; when you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm mad that his role was so small but it was definitely effective; Yahya's Black Manta was a straight savage. Black Manta and Aquaman had some SERIOUS battles over the years in the comics and this film laid some real ground work for that rivalry on the big screen in the first act of the film.
The action scenes in this film is incredible; Queen Atlanna fighting off the soldiers, Aquaman lifting a freaking sub out of the water and taking down the pirates, Orm vs Arthur's gladiator match in the ring of fire, the chase through Italy, the final battle, OMG THE FINAL BATTLE!!! James' use of the camera during these scenes is second to none. Also, the scene transitions are great.
Visually, this is possible the best I've ever seen in a comic book movie; this movie should really be considered for an Oscar for VFX as well as SFX. Atlantis was BEAUTIFUL, the final battle was Star Wars-esque but underwater, men riding sharks with lasers, sea dragons, giant crustaceans and Arthur's entrance in the final battle is my favorite superhero entrance of the year along with Thor's entrance to Wakanda in Infinity War. James Wan leaned heavily toward his horror roots during the Trench sequence; the creatures were truly terrifying as was the depth from where they came. I love the underwater sound FX as well, they put a really cool effect on their voice when they spoke and the "wooshing" sound it made when during the gladiator match.
This film has a little bit of everything; it has heart (I had goosebumps at some parts), the humor was handled well (it didn't overshadow the serious moments), great action. James Wan and company did an excellent job with this one. I'm definitely gonna watch it in IMAX on my next viewing.