Sunday, December 16, 2018

Aquaman (2018): Review

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***some mild spoilers***

I was super excited that I was able to get to see a pre-showing of Aquaman, as I have been looking forward to it and if you know me I love a shiny, big budget blockbuster. I had really enjoyed Jason Mamoa as Aquaman in Justice League (2017) and was hoping for a continuation of his humor and the fun which he brought to a darker and grittier movie universe.  Aquaman is definitely a family friendly movie, as even though it has some of the many troupes associated with the DCEU, it keeps it more light hearted and bright.  This may be as a lot of it is set underwater and that makes it automatically less relatable than the other DCEU movies that are set in the harsher real world.  I would definitely recommend to any one who enjoys these type of big budget blockbusters or the more fun superhero type movie.

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Aquaman follows Arthur Curry, played by Jason Mamoa, after  the events of the Justice League.  Arthur is the illegitimate son of Queen Atlanna of Atlantis, played by Nicole Kidman, and Tom Curry, a human lighthouse keeper, played by Temuera Morrison. When Arthur and Tom lives are threatened, Atlanta returns to sea and her arranged marriage to keep them safe. As they say Atlantians are not know for being forgiving. In present day, Arthur is reluctantly forced to help stop his half-brother King Orm, played by Patrick Wilson, from waging war on the surface world. He is hell bent on taking over and destroying humankind.  Arthur must seek out the trident of King Altan in order to assist him in trying to save the world. He is assisted by Mera, played by Amber Heard and Vulku, played by Willem Dafoe. Also staring Manta, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a man who is focused on hunting down and killing Aquaman.

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I really enjoyed this movie and thought that it was a lot of fun.  As I was watching it I just really enjoyed all that was going on and there wasn't that many distracting things. There was a lot going on in the story and plot with a big problem being that it tried to do too much and cram too many plot points into the story. It basically could have removed the whole Manta side plot. It doesn't add anything to the movie and without it wouldn't have felt like anything was missing or truly different in the movie.  It seemed more about what his plot line set up rather than adding anything special to the movie. Those who are big Aquaman fans may disagree but as I probably didn't even notice or understand half the easter eggs or comic book references, I didn't have any previous emotional connection to the characters, storylines or references.

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It was great how Aquaman showed a bit about the backstory of Arthur and technically it is an origin story about how he truly embraces becoming Aquaman but it didn't feel like it was all a set up movie. I enjoyed the quest,  the reluctantly helping, and battle against his brother.  I have to admit that I didn't realize the King Arthur correlation to Aquaman until it was mentioned to me by one of my friends after the movie and I see many, many parallels between them (I actually feel a bit daft for not putting it together during the movie).

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As I mentioned above, I really like Jason Mamoa as Aquaman and find him very appealing and scrumptious. I liked how he played him as the not serious but truly cares outcast and didn't have any problems with the possible dichotomy of his personality and behaviors. The guys I went with, mentioned that they didn't like that at some points he was dopey and then it was expected that he would be this strong, intelligent about history guy.  This didn't bother me as I saw the it as more of a trying to put on that he doesn't care characteristic but cant suppress who he truly is but just thought I would share this perspective.  The overall cast was fine but no one truly emoted that well, there were lot of black emotions and faces but since it was basically everyone, this may be a directorial decision more than anything else.  I liked the connection between Mamoa and Heard, and Morrison was great in every scene he was in. 

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There was a lot of effort and it is obvious in all the care but into the cinematography and the scope of the sea worlds.  It is blatantly different from previous DC movies as it is bright and colorful not completely muted and very dark visuals that are usually associated with DC.  It also has a lot of destruction to the world per normal DCEU movies but doesn't feel as destructive as it doesn't fell like its set in the "real world." The underwaterscapes were beautiful to look at and how all the contrasting and multiple colors were amazing to look at. Everything was just stunning. The CGI was done well except for when everything on screen was CGI.  It is very difficult to make anything look real when the whole shot is digital.  The most obvious thing was how people looked underwater. The floating wasn't done right but OMG was the hair and the way it moved underwater was done poorly and extremely distracting.  I liked how they portrayed the swimming fast and Atlantian crafts and other aspects of the deep.  

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This movie is definitely a watch if you like family friendly, big budget movies. This creates its own world and feels very other worldly with all the powers, the different species, and how almost no one is human.  It is not a serious or gritty movie but if you go into it expecting some enjoyable fun, you will enjoy the ride that is Aquaman,

My rating: 3-

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