Film Review: ‘Aquaman’

“Aquaman”, the DCEU’s latest movie, manages to break away from their streak of lackluster movies by being a surprisingly fun and entertaining movie.  However, they still fail to produce a compelling story like their competitors.  

*Spoiler Warning* Minor Spoilers below.

Nicole Kidman as Atlanna holding baby Arthur, saying her last goodbye.
Picture Credit: IMDb

Arthur Curry or Aquaman played by Jason Momoa is a child of two worlds and yet largely unaware of one of them.  He is born to a human father and an Atlantean mother.  The movie starts off with showing how they meet.  His father, Tom Curry played by Temuera Morrison is a lone lighthouse keeper who one day rescues a washed up woman from the shore.  After nursing her back to health, she tells him that she is Atlanna, the to-be queen of the underwater world Atlantis.  She ran away to escape an arranged marriage and somehow ended up washing up by Tom’s lighthouse.  They quickly fall in love and have Arthur.  However, her time away from Atlantis doesn’t last forever.  When Arthur is three years old, Atlantean warriors attack the lighthouse to take back Atlanna.  She returns to Atlantis to avoid drawing danger to her two loves.  From then on, Arthur grows up living in a human world while possessing incredible powers.  Vulko, the advisor to the king of Atlantis played by Willem Dafoe, sneaks out to train Arthur over several years so that he may one day come to Atlantis and take his place as king and see his mother again.  However, during one day of training, Arthur learns that his mother was actually banished and killed, causing him to resent Atlantis for it.  This bit of backstory makes his skills as Aquaman well deserved as well as making his unwillingness to ever go to Atlantis more believable and justified.

As a grown-up, Arthur is generally disinterested in fighting for a larger purpose, instead picking his own battles as a lone wolf super-hero.  Jason Momoa was an excellent choice to play

Jason Momoa as Aquaman
Picture Credit: IMDb

Aquaman.  He manages to bring a sarcastic and comedic side to Aquaman’s uncaring tough-guy persona.  Aquaman has historically been laughed at as being a pretty useless superhero, but Jason’s physique, intimidating stares, and the power he displays makes Aquaman actually seem badass.  On top of that, his sarcasm and comedic side make him more likable.  The action in this movie is also very well done, both on land and underwater.  The submarine sequence during the first act of the movie was especially fun since he was just overpowered enough for it to be cool, but at the same time not make him invincible.

Underwater, King Orm, played by Patrick Wilson, is trying to unite the legions of the ocean and attack the humans on land.  For a long time, the worlds

Patrick Wilson as King Orm
Picture Credit: IMDb

above and below the ocean have lived separately with Atlantis maintaining a policy of isolation from humans.  Orm cites the pollution of the oceans as his reason to break that isolation and to attack those who are damaging their home, but all of that feels more like a smokescreen for his hunger for power and his ambition to become the Oceanmaster.  Mera, played by Amber Heard, finds Arthur to convince him to stop Orm from attacking humans by coming to Atlantis and claiming his right as king.  After a tsunami attack on his hometown, Arthur agrees to go with her.  Mera is also a very well-done character.  She is a very strong and smart woman whose maturity and nobility creates an interesting chemistry with Arthur’s sarcastic and reckless behavior.  Together, they travel off on a typical hero’s journey.  In this case, Arthur is no match for Orm at his current level and the people of Atlantis would not accept him if he cannot beat Orm, so they must travel on a journey full of dangerous obstacles in order to get the mythical trident of the Neptune and defeat Orm, all the while the Black Manta and Atlantean soldiers are on their heel.

Arthur and Mera on their quest to find the Trident of Neptune.
Picture Credit: IMDb

Overall, the only weakness I found with the movie was the plot.  While it was certainly entertaining and, in comparison to previous DCEU movies, is certainly a step up, I found it to be quite predictable.  Much of the plot and its twists are all pretty cliché and were things I could see coming from a mile away.  Instead of leaving me on the edge of my seat thinking about what will happen next, I was left with a feeling of “Of course this happened.”  While the predictability of the plot does make it less thrilling, the movie still delivers a fun experience.  The action is top-notch, the CGI is a huge improvement from “Justice League” (Atlantis looks incredible), and there are a few good laughs thrown in there as well.

Definitely go check this movie out on December 21^st if you want to enjoy a fun, action-packed, superhero movie!