AQUAMAN – Review

When you have a character that can communicate with fish, you either tread hesitantly in the shallow end or dive right in and embrace the rocky waters. Director James Wan shows no signs of a fear of water. The world of AQUAMAN is certainly goofy and Wan leans happily into the goofiness and cheese, but as customary with his flashy directing style, there’s a level of cool splashed in as well. The aquatic hero’s first solo film is a bright and bold visual adventure, but it’s also bogged down by an overly familiar superhero story preventing it from standing out from the other fish in the sea.

Jason Momoa plays half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry. After Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) washes up on the shore of a lighthouse attendant (Temuera  Morrison), the queen of Atlantis falls in love with the human world and give birth to Arthur. Flash forward decades later, and the half-merman now spends his time downing beers and stopping hijackers in international waters. Mera (Amber Heard) leaves Atlantis to warn Arthur of his brother King Orm’s plan to rage war on the surface world by uniting the undersea kingdoms (Patrick Wilson in one of several miscast roles). Once Arthur decides to fight for his rightful claim to the throne and stop his brother’s plan, the film shifts into a travelogue, Indiana Jones adventure where Arthur and Mera travel by sea and by plane as they are hunted by the villain Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who is on his revenge-fueled mission.

If you can’t get past fish-people riding atop sharks, just stay away. If you can’t get past a neon-colored underwater kingdom that looks like a cross between TRON and AVATAR, just stay away. If you can’t get past lines like, “That thing will destroy us,” followed by, “We have no other choice!”… then please, just stay away. AQUAMAN is weird and strange and by all normal standards, even plain bad, at times. And yet, it’s strangely captivating. The weirdness mostly works, mainly because it seems like a departure from the other DC films that came before it.

Wan successfully retcons many of the missteps that Snyder and his team took with the character and the overly dark tone of the other DC films. For starters, we’re treated to the classic character suit and Trident. Arthur’s dark, brooding rock star persona from JUSTICE LEAGUE slowly becomes unraveled throughout the film. Unlike other superhero films where a “normal” guy has to find his inner confidence in order to be a leader, here we have a cocky asshole who learns humility as the film goes on, calling to mind the original IRON MAN. By the end of the film, the macho know-it-all has been broken down and we’re treated to more of a dumb meathead that now realizes after being exposed to the real world that he doesn’t have all the answers.

Who serves as his teacher is his female partner. Amber Heard’s character, Mera, may not go through as much change, but at least she’s given agency – a trait not often given to female leads in these types of films. She’s not treated as “arm candy” or the damsel in distress. In fact, she’s the one that’s properly putting him in his place while occasionally saving him from death. While Heard confidently plays the strong and stoic leader, the rest of the supporting cast doesn’t fare as well. Dolph Lundgren looks like he’s playing dress up and Willem Dafoe seems to be reading off a teleprompter every time he’s on screen.

Still, it’s hard not to get swept up in the action, especially a death-defying chase through the streets and across the tile rooftops of Sicily. Jason Momoa’s commitment to the character is felt throughout but especially during these scenes. Having DC hire Momoa turned out to be a blessing that many of us didn’t expect. He may not look and act like the blonde-haired, blue-eyed version from the comics, but that’s not a bad thing. More importantly, the energy Momoa instills in the character has certainly made more of an impact on screen than Affleck’s Caped Crusader. The actor’s Polynesian roots are even incorporated into the film at times through some of his fighting stances, proving he’s more than just a “Wet Thor.” 

Yet, for all its smart choices, AQUAMAN still suffers from an unwatchable final battle. Hundreds of lasers and creatures fly across the screen at every given moment, creating yet another CGI nightmare that may rival even the worse offenders of the superhero genre. New worlds may be explored with great enthusiasm in AQUAMAN, but the same old mistakes are made when it comes to story and connecting audiences with these heroes. Sure, strange and fantastical imagery will astonish audiences, but shouldn’t we ask for more from our superhero films in 2018? After several classics have come out of the genre over the past decade, a director with a confident voice and a film with a unique visual pallet aren’t going to be enough to create a splash when the bar has been raised so high. 

Overall score: 2.5 out of 5

AQUAMAN opens in theaters Friday, December 21st, 2018