After Wonder Woman was a success in 2017, the pressure was on for the next solo superhero feature film in the DC universe. Oceanic hero Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) has just the right amount of charisma to charm audiences in Aquaman.Layered with stunning visual effects, the film opens with Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), the queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, washed up on the shores of Amnesty Bay, Massachusetts. She is rescued by lighthouse keeper Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison) and thus begins their love story. They have a child named Arthur, who belongs just as much to the ocean as the land.
It's not long before they are attacked by Atlantis soldiers who are ordered to bring her home. In order to keep her family safe, Atlanna leaves her family behind and returns to the ocean.
As Arthur grows older, royal counsel Vulko (Willem Dafoe) teaches the boy to swim with fish and use his mother's trident.
When Arthur is all grown (abs and all), he goes about rescuing submarines taken over by bad guys. He swoops in, sways his ridiculously enviable hair (I kid you not) and joins his dad at the local bar. He is soon visited by Atlantis resident Mera (Amber Heard), who tells him King Orm (Patrick Wilson) is about to declare war with the surface (i.e., humans). She tells him he is their only hope to unite land and sea.
Obviously, Arthur doesn't believe he is "the one" and dismisses her until he sees the aftermath of Orm's latest havoc on land. So Arthur and Mera sail away to find the King's trident that will help him win the battle.
Aquaman is well done, thanks to the stellar cast and director James Wan. The cinematography and visual effects are brilliant and captivating. No doubt about that. The underwater kingdom is majestic with sea creatures and elaborate sea inhabitants.
Jason Momoa had cameos in the previous DC films as Aquaman, but he flexes his superhero muscles in this one, proving his mettle. He's charming, funny and has a great onscreen presence. Not to mention the abs and great hair. His devil-may-care attitude makes him all the more likable.
Amber Heard, however, felt like a fish out of water. Pardon the watery metaphors. She didn't seem like the best fit to play Princess Mera. The chemistry between her character and Arthur also felt a bit awkward. But the film is not a story about them, to say the least. It would have been nice to see more of Nicole Kidman, who swims in and out of the movie.
Patrick Wilson is a villain I certainly liked seeing on screen. He wasn't a bad guy, as they say, just someone with a different agenda. He is actually quite likable and puts on a great show alongside Jason.
The film is entertaining and DC fans will enjoy the ride. I just wish the film wasn't 143 minutes. That's a tad too long, even for a superhero film. However, rest assured, you'll enjoy the world down under. ~Marriska Fernandes
Click here to watch our interview with Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who play the two villains in Aquaman.
If you have seen Aquaman and would like to rate/review it, click here.
I guess I'll give it a try. Hopefully it's better than Wonder Woman.
Well that was a disappointing venture. Looks like Black Panther under water. Similar in story line and visuals but not like a Marvel film. How hum!!!
Is anything playing in Cinerama on Christmas eve or Christmas day?
I saw it with 3 other friends last night. Even though I LOVE the Marvel movies, I kno wmore about the backstories of the DC characters and still do even after lackluster movies. I think this was better than Wonder Woman movie. I totally agree that Amber Heard was not the right fit for this movie. What I did like is that we all know Jason Mamoa was picked to be Aquamanbecause he's a badass and it really is a good move that studios are picking people with tropic island heritage to portray their lead water film characters (see Moana as another reference) and I have to say you didn't feel like laughing at Aquaman and his powers now. Some scenes are silly and I think the little guitar riff after Aquaman does a wicked fight move then the camera zooms in on his face undermined the whole action sequence I just saw. That added too much cheese factor. And how did he get his iconic orange and green outfit suddenly?!?!?!?!?! Big hole there. Add 5 seconds of screen time where he sees a treasure chest with clothes in it like Mr. Dressup ... And I couldn't believe after mentioning the death and destruction, you add the usual kiss scene..that really could have waited! Otherwise decent story, and a few other plots all connected and actually was easy to follow and the visual were impressive and I did like the balance between underwater and dry land scenes and even underwater in dry areas was nice. The guy who played Black Manta was awesome and I get his motivation, but in the comic and cartoon he was the mastermind pulling the strings between Orm and the surface world, but this worked too. Also, I do like that they showed him as an advanced pirate who did seem like he could reverse engineer tech to suit his needs which gives you the obligatory suit building montage, but this time for the bad guy, not the good guy. We didn't even see how the good guy got his suit! And we get to see the most important part of all, that Aquaman's powers are not jokes. Super strength (did it get weaker on land though..especially n the desert?), and talking to fish was actually cool to watch. Plus the obvious film message about polluting not only our oceans but our land. I wouldn't see it again, but it was a great movie to suspend belief.