Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (29 December 2018)

The DC movies have, in my opinion, gotten a consistently bad rap from the critics. I thought Man of Steel, Dawn of Justice, and The Justice League were all better films than was reflected in the ratings and I enjoyed each of them. So the "55" metacritic rating wasn't going to deter me when it came to Aquaman. I was prepared to like it. I wanted to like it... I didn't like it.
It seemed not to know if was dark (Batman v. Superman) or light (Justice League) and it was pretty clear after the first 30 minutes that it wasn't going to be aspiring to Wonder Woman-level heights (overrated though that movie was). I've seen every featured actor be solid-to-excellent in other things but the performances were stilted in almost every case. Momoa, in particular, had some painfully awkward dialogue with Amber Heard. It seemed as if they were trying - hard - to force a Hemsworth/Portman-like chemistry that just wasn't there. And above all, it was silly. The theater I was in heard at least a dozen people, myself included, laughing aloud at moments that weren't supposed to be funny.
My 11-year old liked it. To that end, it's perfectly fine. But Marvel and DC have happily raised expectations over the last decade and Aquaman just doesn't make the grade.