Review of Aquaman

"Aquaman" was a hard sell from the beginning. Here we have a character that's been the butt of jokes for decades, is relatively unknown by the masses, and was only recently featured in movies that were controversial for their own reasons. Add to that the fact that this was widely understood to be something of a change of direction for the DC comic book movie universe and the expectations were stacked up against it. A massive box office take suggests that the experiment succeeded on some levels as audiences continued to flock to see the movie. I decided to bide my time.

Full disclosure: I absolutely loved what was offered up by the DCEU previous to this. Man of Steel, Bvs: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and, to a lesser extent, Justice League were all films I greatly enjoyed and had unifying themes that made them work as a cohesive whole in a different way than the MCU had shown us with their fantastic output. They were also gorgeously shot, exciting, and tonally coherent even when they had their own style. So, if you disliked those films you may not agree with what i have to say about Aquaman. Maybe, but rest assured that my judgment has nothing to do with what I thought about its predecessors.

You see, "Aquaman" seems to be a patchwork of styles that never quite manages to gel until its final act. Indeed, the film never seems quite sure what it's trying to be and, while you might briefly get wrapped up in the "cool" stuff, I just couldn't help getting knocked out of that blissful cinematic stupor that engaging movies put you in. More often than not, I kept on wondering why they were selling me one tone only to sell me another the next second. One second we're silly, the next we're dramatic (overly so), now we're into full action mode, now we're in a flashback, now we're on an adventure, now we have some predictable romance fluff, and so on.

"Aquaman" also suffers from embracing its roots a bit too strongly. In terms of visuals, the movie can only please longtime fans of the material as it doesn't shy away from even the most ludicrous of concepts. This actually works in its favor, surprisingly, as it makes it an all or nothing affair to watch. HOWEVER, it also takes on the somewhat melodramatic overtures of dialogue that comics are sometimes known for. This results in some pretty abominable exchanges packed with unnecessary exposition and overtures that sound more like high school fan fiction than realistic exchanges even among unrealistic characters as those in the film. There also a marked lack of transitional flow from its comedic aspects to its more serious ones that seemed jarring each time and, honestly, made me look at a lot of stuff as downright corny.

Speaking of transitional flow, things in this movie just kind of seem to happen. It is an incredibly fast-paced movie that would of benefited greatly from garnering some form of anticipation. Alas, most times you just find yourself onto the next thing and then the next and then the next. It's a literal onslaught of stuff that instead of taking you away on a roller coaster just makes you question more and more about certain things. "Wait, how is this guy able to alter Atlantean technology if he's just human? How'd they get in a plane so fast?" Stuff like that usually goes unquestioned in movies like this but this one gives so little meaning to the events that you can't help but wonder.

There are moments in "Aquaman" where they attempt to give you background that, honestly, would of been better in a previous film in the DCEU series so that it doesn't feel so incredibly shoe-horned into this already packed to gills endeavor. Mostly this is done to highlight the binding theme of destiny that the film somewhat haphazardly is held together by. Unfortunately, this also highlights how weak the character growth of Aquaman is. In the end, he always was what he was meant to be and not much changed in him other than he kinda knows it know and he can do a cool twirly move with his trident that really doesn't do much. It was vexing to see how this character was so underwhelmingly presented as one we could root for.

They tried, however. If i have to say one thing positive about the Aquaman character it's that Jason Momoa knows how to play him with a charming bravado that, at the very least, is fun to watch. HOWEVER, when that's all he's got in the bag some scenes just don't vibe with the portrayal. Still, I'll take that over the horribly wooden job Amber Heard does as Mera. Not only is she about as interesting as a calm lake she also is the most generic love interest imaginable. Their love-hate relationship is one we've seen a thousand times before only this time it seems like they went from one end to the other with absolutely no reason to. "I guess they're kissing now," I thought, flustered. The only more unnatural "romance" in a recent big-budget movie I've seen recently was in the Tom Cruise Mummy movie.

Other detractors: the equally underwhelming and horrendous soundtrack/score, some effects work that is far to unrealistic to enjoy, and its cumbersome second act.

So, is there anything good to say about the movie? Actually, yes.

The third act (from The Trench sequence forward) really comes together quite nicely and ended up making me not regret seeing the movie. Here a lot of the sloppy work from the previous acts tightens up and things seem to coalesce instead of "just being". There is also some impressive and exciting camera work, visuals, and character moments. In short, it's an exciting, and engaging portion of the film that ends quite well.

Also, much credit to Patrick Wilson who is consistently good throughout as the lead villain, King Orm and who actually has a decent character arc. It's worthy to note that the action set pieces in this are pretty damn spectacular and exciting to watch even during the films most ridiculous or unengaging portions. Costume design and the better visuals are a treat.

Overall, the film is a major step down from the previous DCEU films. I would call it a stumble but the box office disagrees, so what do I know? I really wanted to like Aquaman. I welcomed any changes as long as the results were good and I feel that it could of been a really fun movie if it would of taken more time to develop certain elements rather than splash them on the screen and move on to the next. Scattershot, unwieldy, and unsure despite a genuinely good ending, Aquaman gets a 5 out of 10 from me.