Aquaman
Notionally a follow on from last year’s Justice League, this is essentially a standalone story that reintroduces the charismatic Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, in a big, ludicrous, primary-colour adventure that feels like the lovechild of Flash Gordon and the Fast & Furious series.
Premise: Half-human/half-Atlantean Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) continues to protect seafarers as “the Aquaman”, but he refuses to have anything to do with the Kingdom of Atlantis, who he blames for the death of his mother, Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), when he was a child. But when Mera (Amber Heard) warns him that his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) intends to unite the Kingdoms of the Seven Seas to wage war on the surface humans, Arthur has to finally embrace his heritage.
Verdict:
How you feel about Aquaman will probably depend on whether you’re able to embrace the ludicrous, over-the-top and borderline pantomime tone and just roll with it, or whether it’s too much for you. This is about as far removed from the grittiness of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy as it’s possible to get, and is far closer to the larger-than-life theatrics of something like Thor: Ragnarok in comparison (although not as good).
It’s perhaps no coincidence that this film is directed by James Wan, who also directed Fast & Furious 7 – a film that involved sports cars jumping between skyscrapers, parachuting from planes, and fighting military attack drones. The Fast & Furious franchise really hit its stride once it decided to throw realism completely out of the window, and Aquaman does a similar job of embracing the ridiculousness of a superhero who’s a half-merman and who talks to fish, rather than shying away from it.
“…a technicolour, globe-trotting, quest movie…”
Jason Momoa and James Wan chose to lean into the premise – giving us a technicolour, globe-trotting, quest movie complete with armoured sharks, giant sea monsters, mythical tridents, huge undersea battles, and “reverse” diving suits (water-filled suits allowing the sea-dwellers to venture on land). The film even introduces Aquaman’s classic gold-and-green costume from the comics (it’s not a spoiler if it’s on the posters), which is a world away from the muted murkiness of Aquaman’s “Atlantean armour” costume from Justice League. James Wan also (wisely) makes the decision to throw realism out of the window when it comes to speaking underwater – remember how awkward it was in Justice League when it seemed like the Atlanteans couldn’t speak underwater, and all the sound was really muffled unless Mera made an air pocket? Well, all that is completely ignored in this film, with characters talking freely underwater, and the movie’s sound effects are equally unhindered by the underwater setting.
Apart from the spectacle of the Fast & Furious movies, the other film this reminds me of in tone is the 1980 movie Flash Gordon, with its crazy assortment of outlandish characters and ideas. And like Flash Gordon, this is sure not to appeal to everyone. It’s incredibly cheesy, and if you can’t get on board with that, this film is never going to win you over. But if you can get over the dodgy dialogue and preposterous plotting, there is a lot of fun to be had in just going with the flow.
“…not like any DC or Marvel film you’ve seen before…”
Aquaman’s secret weapon is undoubtedly Jason Momoa, who has enough natural charisma to give Dwayne Johnson a run for his money. Momoa is so engaging whenever he’s on screen, that you can forgive a lot of the clunkier dialogue. Amber Heard is pretty good as Mera, who has arguably the biggest character arc aside from Aquaman, although she is hampered by having to deliver most of the exposition throughout the film. Patrick Wilson doesn’t get a huge amount to do as Orm, although he does add some interesting shades and subtleties to that character (although Orm is no Killmonger or Loki in that regard). I don’t think the rest of the cast get much to do (especially Willem Defoe as Vulko and Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna), but they do what they can with what they’re given.
But you can’t help but admire the scale and ambition of Aquaman. Credit is due to James Wan for bringing a real flair to the direction, and putting some genuinely impressive shots up on screen. It’s certainly not like any DC or Marvel film you’ve seen before, and you can see them trying to make all the outlandish concepts work within the context of the film, even going as far as to explain the various sea-creatures in the other underwater Kingdoms, as well as the ridiculously oversized armoured helmet that the mercenary Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) has from the comics.
“…a blast that embraces just how ridiculous it is…”
The film not only doesn’t take itself too seriously, it also has a really fun and subversive sense of humour. There are many great gags along the way (most relying on Jason Momoa’s deadpan delivery), but for me the standout one was the bar scene relatively early in the film.
Ultimately, the film is ludicrous (even by comic-book movie standards), but it’s a blast that embraces just how ridiculous it is. If you can get on board with that, Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry is a great character to spend a couple of hours with – and underneath all of the spectacle and humour, there are some real points that it makes (such as reminding us that “Kings just fight for their nation – heroes fight for everyone”) which keep the film the right side of parody. All in all, an interesting scene setter, and I look forward to seeing where they take the King of the Ocean from here.
