Superhero swims in fresh water

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2019)

Yup. This is a spoiler review. Sorry, guys.
For those of you who have read some of my previous reviews, you'd know that I really hate the DCEU. Sure, Wonder Woman was fine and all, but all of the other films ranged from pretty bad (Man of Steel) to absolutely unbearable (Batman v Superman). Enter Aquaman- a film that actually managed to be the very first good DCEU film, and the reason why is because it's trying to be its own thing.
What's the story? Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people -- and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.
The best thing that this film has to offer is the visuals. The underwater cinematography, the designs of Atlantis, the creative and energetic action sequences, and, of course, the water effects are extremely innovative and breathtaking to look at. It's a huge step up from the visual effects in Justice League, and it manages to blow Zack Snyder's visuals for DC movies to the water (no pun intended). Another thing that works very well is the heart of the film. Believe it or not, there is actually a lot of very good and well thought-out emotion, way more than you'd expect from an Aquaman movie. There were scenes where I was almost gonna cry. It's hard to make me cry when I'm watching a movie, so that's an impressive move that this movie pulled off. For example, when Arthur's (Aquaman's) dad says that he still waits for her to come back on the dock by his beach house and when it actually happens, the tears start to fall on the floor. If I were to criticize something, it's that we don't get a very good introduction on Mera. It's like, Arthur's dad is about to die in one scene, and all of a sudden- surprise! Mera shows up. She ends up healing Arthur's dad, so it's not like he dies or anything. Also, the story not only takes elements from MCU films like Thor and Black Panther, but later on in the film it just becomes this generic fetch quest where Arthur has to retrieve a trident to become king of Atlantis, and of course, once he retrieves it, it becomes like every other film where everything goes into slow motion, there's Gregorian chanting, and as a bonus, Arthur and Mera end up loving each other. The ending of the film is a bit generic, but it's still a nice ending and the rest of the film plays on well.
In conclusion, Aquaman is not just a really good movie with spectacular visual effects and many heartwarming moments, but it also got me into DC. I know there's two kinds of people who either love Marvel and hate DC or hate Marvel and love DC, but I'm gonna be an exception for this because now I love both. I hope DC continues to make some really great films in the future, because Aquaman proves that even DC can wield a golden trident.