Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans on conquering all oceanic people and ruling the surface world as well. Standing in his way is Arthur Curry, Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Arthur must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep if he's going to prevent war between the surface world and ocean dwellers.
The DC Extended Universe went through a bit of a rough patch, and only briefly found its footing with Wonder Woman last year before Justice League squandered the goodwill of many critics, fans, and general audience members mere months later. Eyes then turned towards DC's next batch of projects, curious if any could possibly save the sinking ship and help course-correct the franchise to better compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Helmed by visionary director James Wan, Aquaman seemed like a viable candidate to turn things around for DC and Warner Bros. Wan would have to overcome waves of preconceived cultural stigmas surrounding the character to succeed, but given his track record, it was an obtainable goal. Though the film has its flaws, which I'll address momentarily, Wan dove headfirst into the extensive source material and emerged with an entertaining onscreen adaptation.
I wouldn't say Aquaman is a "game-changer" for DC or even the comic-book genre for that matter, but it will likely bestow audience members with a newfound appreciation for the often ridiculed hero or at least demonstrate that he should be taken more seriously. The script collectively credits David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Will Beall, Geoff Johns, and Wan as being responsible for screenplay and story. Dialogue from Johnson-McGoldrick and Beall is occasionally quite cheesy while the story by Beall, Johns, and Wan frequently seems derivative of other genre-fare.
The pacing and visual effects are also somewhat uneven, as the second act meanders a bit while the color-grading and green-screen work are sometimes shoddy in the brighter environments above water. My impression is that Wan understandably concerned himself with doing justice to the underwater setting that time constraints and budget allocations likely inhibited the visual effects outside the ocean. With that being said, Aquaman relishes in its underwater setting and the darker environments. The visuals are genuinely sensational underwater, and there's a noticeable uptick in quality as the film enters the third act and Wan's able to get in touch with his horror roots. Aquaman really reminded me of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in regards to the third act being substantially better than the rest of the film since everything from the Mariana Trench sequence onwards was absolutely outstanding!
In spite of some sketchy CG here and there, the action in Aquaman is very well-executed across the board. The combat's cool, clear, and easy to follow. What more could you ask for? Also, it's worth mentioning that slo-mo seems to now be a staple of the DCEU, for better or for worse, as it's employed quite often. Additionally, I noticed some clever editing transitions were applied when fluctuating between the past and present via flashbacks. Furthermore, Rupert Gregson-Williams' score was spectacular, utilizing the recently re-popularized futuristic synth-sound. The incorporation of pop-music stuck out like a sore thumb and was quite jarring when juxtaposed against the onscreen events though. Pitbull and Rhea's "Ocean-To-Ocean" which samples from Toto's "Africa" was a particularly dreadful ear-sore.
Jason Mamoa and Amber Heard admittedly aren't the greatest actors and honestly have no chemistry with one another, but they each do their characters justice. It's readily apparent that neither performer was necessarily cast for their acting ability, but instead because they're attractive individuals. To upend the public's perception of Aquaman as a lame character, casting an actor with Mamoa's physique was required. We'd previously only seen Mamoa's Aquaman in small doses and gotten a brief glimpse of his iteration, but Mamoa exudes an infectious charisma and even displays some convincing emotional range in the lead role. Otherwise, Heard made the most of her time onscreen as Mera to leave an impression on audiences as a capable female character. I'm not going to on record saying Mera couldn't have been portrayed by another actress, but I think Heard was fine in the role. In fact, I'll confidently say she amounted to being more than eye-candy, with a vital proactive role in the narrative to boot. I'd say that's a win in my book!
In the depths of the supporting cast, Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison, Willem Dafoe, and Dolph Lundgren elevate their material and help buoy the two leads as well. Kidman and Morrison carry one of the film's few emotional threads and actually had stellar chemistry in their limited shared screen time. It was particularly exciting to see Dafoe acting in another comic-book movie (the most recent being Spider-Man 3 in 2007) and refreshing to finally witness Morrison onscreen again years after the Star Wars prequels where he played Jango Fett and every conceivable Clone Trooper. Not to mention that Lundgren's career is also now on a resurgent hot streak between this and Creed II.
Meanwhile, two oceanic antagonists are meant to swim circles around Aquaman. Patrick Wilson lends greater gravitas to Orm but ultimately flounders as a one-note, power-hungry villain. Then, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Black Manta is a neat addition but would have been better saved for a sequel because he didn't have a natural place in the narrative. Abdul-Mateen and Wilson do well in their respective roles and are at least cool-looking villains, but both characters are underdeveloped on paper and onscreen. Per film, I'd say the DCEU is currently 0-6 in its strong villain department.
Whether Aquaman will be the much-needed rising tide for DC's future ventures remains to be seen, but the Atlantean's already making a splash in terms of international box office and is a significant improvement over Man Of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League in my eyes. It may not measure up to Wonder Woman, but Aquaman successfully stands on its own two feet and spearheads a brighter future for DC!
