DCEU found out what it wants to be

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2018)

Aquaman is good. Not brilliant, not fantastic, it's good. It might not be the grade it wanted to get nor was it the top it could have gotten, but Aquaman is in its core a good movie. It achieves what it set out to achieve: entertain and dazzle with stunning visuals and great performances.
1) The story. Aquaman is the first movie after the Justice League debacle (in all fairness to the cast and crew, JL was not what it should have been). So, Aquaman had to come up with a story that was not an origin story (yet needed to be one), be a sequel to a movie that disappointed hardcore DC fans and restore their faith, and tell a unique and entertaining story worthy of the first ever live action Aquaman movie. Strangely, it succeeded in all of those fields. The story is multilayered with a more than a few plots intertwining and moving forward simultaneously (as well as the origin story/flashbacks alongside the Atlantis origin/history). This might sound convoluted, but the way the story is told actually doesn't hurt the storytelling. There are almost no plot holes and all characters (with the slight exception of Black Mantis) are given enough time to provide us with their background, philosophy and motivations. Unfortunately, the downside of this is the overall duration of the movie (143 minutes). Even though the movie doesn't feel very long and there are just enough action sequences to keep the dynamic going, there were certain segments that could have been cut a bit short (maybe for an uncut edition later on). It would be unfair to judge the movie by its length, especially because there were many points that needed concluding, but a few more riskier editing choices would have made this movie and its story far superior. Also, because of this, the final battle that is spectacular in all fairness, didn't have that necessary final epic kick this type of movie is known for. Everything blows up and all hell breaks loose, but I found the one-on-one battle afterwards to be much more satisfying and epic (mainly due to Momoa's and Wilson's stellar action performances).
2) The acting. This movie rounds up much of the old school masters (Dafoe, Kidman, Lundgren, Wilson) and a few very promising newcomers (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Heard). Dafoe was given a beautiful little supporting role that he embraced with such joy that it was a delight to watch him. Lundgren, regardless of him being best known for B-movie action roles, executed all of his lines and expressions with such ease and fluidity, in such scholar like style that he actually awed me most of all. Even though erased almost halfway though, Abdul-Mateen II did a decent job. Nothing spectacular, but he set up a good character for the sequel(s). Also, the Sicily fight is one of the highlights of the movie. Kidman was, unfortunately, very bland and unceremonious. Her God-like posture and wooden acting took me away from her character most of all. She also had no chemistry with Momoa or Wilson and her storyline was the one that could have been written and finished better. The almost Deus ex machina ending with her feels way to happy endish and took much from the dark and gritty fight between Momoa and Wilson. On the other hand, another performance for the acting school books is the one executed by Patrick Wilson. His understanding of the character is phenomenal, and his execution spot on. No line is overacted, no expression is unneeded. All of his gestures, the tone of his voice in every scene is perfect to the point of perfection. He, alongside Dafoe, gave the best performance in the movie. Heard was a bit underwhelming. She has a beautiful character to play with but never actually takes her to new levels. She took no risks in depicting Mera and that is a little sad. As she and Momoa lead the movie, and taking into account that his presence simply dominates every scene he is in, Heard should have done more. Like this she is just good. Momoa however had a dual quality. His presence in the movie is breathtaking. He lives and breathes Aquaman with every cell in his body. He has fun while doing it, but he just does not have the same quality of acting as the others (which is quite understandable given he is still a sort of a newcomer compared to the others). Every scene he is having fun and is telling jokes or is fighting or threatening others is a blast (especially when he yells parts of Haka), but when he has to execute high drama like scenes, he simply vaporizes. Put up against Wilson or even Heard, he looses his intimidation as the acting of the other party outdoes Momoa's. But, as all of the DCEU characters, he is the best live action incarnation of Aquaman. Put plainly, he is awesome.
3)The directing. Wan is a superhero! He is a god, a legend, a titan, a master. Even though his specialty is horror, his masterful skill at keeping a movie like this so compact and solid is astounding. He never looses his grip at what this movie is supposed to be. Every scene is fixed, no improvisation, with scalpel-like precision. Certain scenes that seemed to be one take shots were so perfectly developed and performed they literally take ones breath away. Beautifully orchestrated (in every sense of the word) directing makes Aquaman a movie worth seeing over and over again.
4) The music. R. Gregson-WIlliams does a great job. He really got certain characters and their themes, but it is noticeable that he had much more fun and much stronger ideas in creating the villain tunes than the hero ones. Simply put, Aquaman needs a better theme. But a solid job was done altogether.
All in all, Aquaman fixed most of the problems Justice League created. It also created a path the DCEU should follow in a very VERY straight line and not deter at all. This was a correction exam for the DCEU and it passed. Aquaman is fun, entertaining, with SPECTACULAR visuals (even though most of it is pure CGI) and is a pure delight to watch. Certain characters could have had better execution, some story lines could have been omitted or shortened, and the music could have been a bit more innovative. But all in all, Aquaman is simply a good movie that deserves to be watched over and over again in the highest possible quality and it will always deliver exactly what it sets out to deliver - a good time.