Aquamantastic! Swimming In With Lots of Visuals, Story, and Action. The Right Direction For DCEU

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2018)

In the realm of comic book and superhero movies, DC once sat atop the throne as the champion of the real life, action films about our favorite paper bound heroes. As Marvel studios fell into stride though and secured it's regime, DC has struggled to find the same quality in its work for one reason or another. Despite whatever source of struggles, DC has been limping along from film to film, only shining once with Wonder Woman last year that renewed life. Yet, coming to shore this holiday season, is another beacon of hope in the form of Jason Momoa as the champion of Atlantis Aquaman. With the coming tide of movies, can this film restore faith in the franchise , or does it fall short once more of the glory of superhero films. Robbie K here with a week advanced screening of Aquaman to give his thoughts. Let's get started:
Movie: Aquaman 2018
Director:
James Wan
Writers:
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (screenplay by), Will Beall (screenplay by)
Stars:
Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe
LIKES:
Acting: Momoa's talents as the gruff warrior continue to shine through, only this time much more in your face. It works well, brings the heart of the film in all it's wonder and glory, and really makes for an entertaining hero to watch. As the character develops, Momoa is able to go with it and it works quite well to entertain the masses, plus his abs didn't hurt as the women in my showing were swooning. His sassy partner in crime, Heard did a wonderful job stepping up into the major role, bringing sass, class, and looks that felt in tone with the movie and a great opposite to Momoa's rantings, and again the looks didn't hurt either. The rest of the cast did extraordinary as well, Dafoe's prowess as the vizier and mentor was like something out of a Shakespearean play. Nichole Kidman's performance held regality and love for the time she was in. Patrick Wilson did his job as the grandiose king, extreme in direction, but having enough salt to back up his madness.
The Visuals: Leave it to Wan to come up with his own version of Atlantis and bring with it the same flair that he leaves with his other works. The studio's design of the underwater kingdom is solid, a blend of technology, magic, and biology that may seem a bit stereotypical, but captures the prowess of the mighty ancient realm. Past the city itself, the characters have a unique and fantastic design to themselves as each kingdom gets its own look to show a common origin, but still give their evolution different. Other costumes for the warriors had their own edge to it, and I personally liked Mera's costume feeling it was on point compared to her current modern-day image. And when it came to battle scenes, the effects worked quite well given Wan's flashy approach to his films. It feels like a comic book world brought to life and accomplishes the immersion into the nerd culture we love so much.
The Story: It's the classic Aquaman story that we've come to know, a greedy kingdom filled with headstrong rulers whose focus on the one approach drives their goals, while the other tries to find a way to his own identity. For the most part it works, and this Aquaman has enough features of his comic realm to appease most fans with the introduction of Black Manta, the family dynamics that are almost as warped as Game of Thrones, and the developing relationships Arthur has itself. What I liked the most was that even though it is part of a bigger universe, this film was able to tell its own story and stand alone, without relying too much on the other films that came before it. Again it's predictable and clichÃ©, but the tale should be enough to rope people in regardless of what arc you enjoy the most.
The Action: You saw it in the films and you know this is meant to be one for the big screen before I even wrote these words. Aquaman is all about the fights and trying to imbue it with some diversity to break away from the other films. It accomplished the goal of bringing a variety of styles to the mix that feels part Fast and Furious, Part Game Of Thrones, and Part DC meeting kung Fu. Special effects lit up the theater in a thunderous display of sound editing that had the theater rumbling like an earthquake. I was drawn into most of the battles, and felt that on some of them they hit the target in the center to really have people jumping in their seats. As such, despite the nearly 2.5 hour run time, there is so much action keeping it moving you won't feel to bogged down by the time constraint.

DISLIKES:
The Episodic presentation: Wan jammed a lot of things into this film, and while I appreciated the completeness, I felt the movie was a little too episodic for me at points. Transitions between clues were a little too fast for me, relationships progressing a little conveniently and quickly for my tasted to get the realistic factor. While complete overall, it lacks the polish of story that Wonder Woman held and I think it was because of the action focus of this movie (which I do like, but still do appreciate good storytelling).
Action Scenes needing more depth: Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the action component as mentioned above, however, I also appreciate action scenes that are longer, more developed than what we got. Much of Wan's vision was very cut and dry 5-minute sequences that were impressive, but short lived, or sometimes more running than actual combat. While I loved a few of the battles that really captured the spirit of the combat, others felt too short lived. I agree with some fellow colleagues that there was more choreography needed, but perhaps giving a little more integration could have made these scenes shine for me.
CGI Overuse: We know these movies are all about CGI making imagination come to life, but what we also know is the importance of balance and not diving too far into the realm of artificial imagery. Aquaman's visuals were a little heavier than most, like George Lucas in the prequels, the reliance on CGI made for some cheesier moments than I think intended, where some writing lapses helped amplify the artificial feeling to it. Like the end fight of Wonder Woman, the effects didn't quite add up to the picture I had in mind, and when you get to how fast they skimmed over some of the battles, it left me feeling I wanted a little more though to the battles at hand.
The VERDICT:
I could go on for hours about this, but let's wrap this up. Aquaman is definitely one of the better installments for this reviewer, finally getting out of the convoluted, too focused on darker themes that the DC universe went to and instead getting back to the basics of the superhero film. It is a visually packed joy ride made for the theaters, as this action-packed journey is all about showing off the technological, imagination driven ride Wan is famous for. I had fun in this movie and enjoyed the complete tale, despite how episodic the presentation felt. In addition, the action was very fun, but I wanted a little more coordination and investment to the sequences, so quality vs. quantity. Aquaman has bounced back to the superhero movie quite well, and with a little more balance, it may finally reach the intended levels they set out for long ago. Definitely worth a trip to the theater my friends, and potentially the biggest holiday bash of the bunch.
My scores are:
Action/Adventure/Fantasy: 8.0-8.5
Movie Overall: 7.0