A Geeky Viewpoint

Aquaman is a movie that's meant to be old fashion fun, and I understand why a segment of the people who see this movie will feel that way, I am not in that crowd however.   A wisecracking, fish out of water story, starring Jason Momoa in the title role of  Arthur Curry, the Aquaman.   Guided by Princess Mera, portrayed by Amber Heard, Arthur travels to the lost city of Atlantis to begin his journey to find the lost Trident of King Atlan in an attempt to unite the peoples of the seven Kingdoms to stop them from uniting to make war upon the surface.

It sounds like a great comic book story arc, its just not a good movie.  At two hours and twenty three minutes the film is too long for the story they are trying to tell and not long enough for the story they wanted to tell.  At least three times I was so bored and unimmersed in the film that I had to fight off the urge to look at my watch, and I wasn't the only one in the theater suffering from the same compulsion.  When you look around and people are looking at their phones attempt to gauge how much longer they need to watch the film, it is not a good sign.

I enjoyed the interactions between Arthur and Mera, the had good chemistry, but many of the characters were one trick wooden ponies and their acting is difficult to watch.  Willem Defoe as the Grand Vizier,Nuidis Vulko, counselor to King Orm (Patrick Wilson) was almost painful almost as if he was simply reading his lines for the first and only time.   Neither antagonist King Orm, who is Arthur Curry half-brother by his mother Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidmen) nor Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) are given the opportunity to truly appear as Aquaman "equal" or capable of defeating him.

As my son put walking out of the theater Aquaman is simply a bad retelling of the first Star Wars film, with Arthur Curry talking the place of both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, Mera talking the place of Princess Leia and Vulko is Obiwan Kanobi.  Throw in King Orm's Elite Guards as Stormtroopers incapable of hitting any target with their blaster and I think it is a right assessment.  Except the story, acting and VX is no where near as good.

The VX looked half completed.  There are some spectacular shots, moving through the City of Atlantis is an example of beautiful work, but there are dozens of other VX shots that look half rendered, unbelievable.   The scenes depicting the violent sea were incredibly bad.   It is the same problem that has plagued many of the DC Extended Universe films.

I enjoyed the score and the soundtrack to the film.  The work of Rupert Gregson-Williams the score is a clear bright spot in the film.   Gregson-Williams also did the score Wonder Woman another DCEU film.   

In the final battle between Aquaman and King Orm, when King Orm was defeated, you could almost hear a pin drop in my theater, except for the one five year old who was clapping, I think everyone was supposed to be clapping or cheering when that happened, but no one was invested enough in the  film for that to actually happen.

I think there is a segment of people who will truly enjoy this film, even suggest that it is the rebirth of the DCEU into a better form, not that would take much after Batman v. Superman or Justice League.  As I said earlier I am not in that crowd.   I would have preferred that they either added the story to make this two films or shaved the story to make this a two hour film, both ideas would have been an improvement.   Even though I enjoyed the chemistry between Jason Momoa and Amber Heard as the protagonists, the poor script, wooden acting and seeming unfinished VX dragged this movie to the bottom.