Post by seahawksraawk00 on Dec 19, 2018 8:11:46 GMT
Alright, here's my review.
Watched it again and it's a very run-of-a-mill story. And as with the other DCEU film, it seems to still prefer style over substance. And that's really the consequence of the last 10-15 years of superhero films and I would even argue superhero fatigue as they're kinda dominating Hollywood right now, so it's hard to find the right nuance for a quote-on-quote, origin story, but also of a character already depicted in a previous film without backtracking completely. And I hate to compare it to Black Panther, but they are both very similar story-wise even though the hero and villain arc are opposite in both films, but also what their role is in relation to their respective homeland and family and where they are in the overarching narrative of both cinematic universes (both rightful heirs to their kingdoms but haven't achieved that yet, i.e. T'Chaka still King of Wakanda in Civil War before his death and Arthur didn't care about being King of Atlantis in JL and resides primarily on land). And Black Panther did do it better. That's not to say I didn't have problems with the film, I do, but Civil War was technically Black Panther's origin film whereas the marketing for Aquaman was selling that we'd we see a lot of Arthur's origin, yet, they really just cut through it all in like a matter of 10mins with a few flashbacks here and there just to bring it forward in time to post-JL, but didn't really commit to it like they didn't find any of Arthur's past interesting.
And that's just one of the "too" many plot threads in the film that they rush to fit it all in the entire film. There's no real focus or depth (no pun intended). On top of depicting an abridged origin essentially, you also have Mera trying to bring Arthur back to Atlantis to take his rightful place as King, then you have Orm trying to unite all the underwater kingdoms and then wanting to declare war on the surface world, then Arthur and Mera having to go find the Trident, while also setting up Black Manta for a future villain (yet another weak and underdeveloped CBM villain). DC just seems like its afraid to tell a smaller story for their solo film. It's certainly ambitious in terms of world-building, with its over-the-top and bonker visuals and designs and costumes for the Atlantean life and creatures which is one of the high points of the film. I'm glad they embraced all that about Atlantis from the comics. But I also think you can have all that to help embellished a smaller story. Orm was a good villain and cold and calculating, but he just felt like another one of those world-conquerer villains that you'd expect the Justice League to all to be fighting, which coincidentally, they did in Aquaman's first appearance of the Justice League animated series. And his motivation was as cliche as it gets, which was really a consequence of being an underwater character and using the usual tropes of water pollution as a plot point. I wished it focused more on Black Manta because I know there's a whole history between him and his father with Arthur in the comics which they just hamstrung in the opening of the film, so you're not invested in Black Manta's quest for revenge after his father is killed because you don't get to know either of them or why they are pirates in the first place and what their real goal is.
In terms of the humor and tone, while it's more lighthearted, it did handle it much better than Justice League and I didn't find it as jarring but it wasn't all perfect. And unfortunately for the rest of the DCEU films, if they continue this cinematic universe, any kind of humor or light-heartedness will feel jarring because Snyder originally wanted everything to be edgy and cool and dark and depressing. And I know this sounds like I'm saying I don't want humor in these films but fine with it in the MCU. That's not what I'm saying. I want consistency, which regardless if not all the jokes land in the Marvel films, they've always been consistent with its tone which allowed them by Civil War and then into Infinity War to change things up and take it a little bit more serious and darker. I always said it's easier to take a lighter tone and slowly progress into darker territories because it still has heart and levity at its core which helps you be invested. That's essentially how plot and character development works, whereas if you have something already dark and serious and then really start shoehorning humor into it to make it more fun and lighter, it just feels really jarring. Jason Momoa does the humor well, though he is essentially playing himself as Aquaman, which is just another consequence of trying to portray him as a cool and edgy character. Amber Heard actually surprised me as Mera and I thought she was really well done and while the romance between the two isn't anything original in a CBM, I do like how Arthur wasn't really actively pursuing her throughout the film and she was more of a partner/guide in his quest.
If I really had to sum it up, I found it both entertaining but ultimately dull as well. Wan definitely knows how to do action (wish we saw some fight between Arthur and King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren)). It was honestly kinda like my experience with Avatar, especially after a few rewatches. Visually fantastic and entertaining (oddly enough, the underwater stuff looked better than the 'land' scenes), but overall, a loose and broken story and characters I didn't care too much for because I wasn't really invested, and it felt underwhelming, so as great as everything looked, it felt empty. It's definitely a film to see in theater if you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy a visual spectacle for 2 hours.
It's a solid 6/10 for me.
Watched it again and it's a very run-of-a-mill story. And as with the other DCEU film, it seems to still prefer style over substance. And that's really the consequence of the last 10-15 years of superhero films and I would even argue superhero fatigue as they're kinda dominating Hollywood right now, so it's hard to find the right nuance for a quote-on-quote, origin story, but also of a character already depicted in a previous film without backtracking completely. And I hate to compare it to Black Panther, but they are both very similar story-wise even though the hero and villain arc are opposite in both films, but also what their role is in relation to their respective homeland and family and where they are in the overarching narrative of both cinematic universes (both rightful heirs to their kingdoms but haven't achieved that yet, i.e. T'Chaka still King of Wakanda in Civil War before his death and Arthur didn't care about being King of Atlantis in JL and resides primarily on land). And Black Panther did do it better. That's not to say I didn't have problems with the film, I do, but Civil War was technically Black Panther's origin film whereas the marketing for Aquaman was selling that we'd we see a lot of Arthur's origin, yet, they really just cut through it all in like a matter of 10mins with a few flashbacks here and there just to bring it forward in time to post-JL, but didn't really commit to it like they didn't find any of Arthur's past interesting.
And that's just one of the "too" many plot threads in the film that they rush to fit it all in the entire film. There's no real focus or depth (no pun intended). On top of depicting an abridged origin essentially, you also have Mera trying to bring Arthur back to Atlantis to take his rightful place as King, then you have Orm trying to unite all the underwater kingdoms and then wanting to declare war on the surface world, then Arthur and Mera having to go find the Trident, while also setting up Black Manta for a future villain (yet another weak and underdeveloped CBM villain). DC just seems like its afraid to tell a smaller story for their solo film. It's certainly ambitious in terms of world-building, with its over-the-top and bonker visuals and designs and costumes for the Atlantean life and creatures which is one of the high points of the film. I'm glad they embraced all that about Atlantis from the comics. But I also think you can have all that to help embellished a smaller story. Orm was a good villain and cold and calculating, but he just felt like another one of those world-conquerer villains that you'd expect the Justice League to all to be fighting, which coincidentally, they did in Aquaman's first appearance of the Justice League animated series. And his motivation was as cliche as it gets, which was really a consequence of being an underwater character and using the usual tropes of water pollution as a plot point. I wished it focused more on Black Manta because I know there's a whole history between him and his father with Arthur in the comics which they just hamstrung in the opening of the film, so you're not invested in Black Manta's quest for revenge after his father is killed because you don't get to know either of them or why they are pirates in the first place and what their real goal is.
In terms of the humor and tone, while it's more lighthearted, it did handle it much better than Justice League and I didn't find it as jarring but it wasn't all perfect. And unfortunately for the rest of the DCEU films, if they continue this cinematic universe, any kind of humor or light-heartedness will feel jarring because Snyder originally wanted everything to be edgy and cool and dark and depressing. And I know this sounds like I'm saying I don't want humor in these films but fine with it in the MCU. That's not what I'm saying. I want consistency, which regardless if not all the jokes land in the Marvel films, they've always been consistent with its tone which allowed them by Civil War and then into Infinity War to change things up and take it a little bit more serious and darker. I always said it's easier to take a lighter tone and slowly progress into darker territories because it still has heart and levity at its core which helps you be invested. That's essentially how plot and character development works, whereas if you have something already dark and serious and then really start shoehorning humor into it to make it more fun and lighter, it just feels really jarring. Jason Momoa does the humor well, though he is essentially playing himself as Aquaman, which is just another consequence of trying to portray him as a cool and edgy character. Amber Heard actually surprised me as Mera and I thought she was really well done and while the romance between the two isn't anything original in a CBM, I do like how Arthur wasn't really actively pursuing her throughout the film and she was more of a partner/guide in his quest.
If I really had to sum it up, I found it both entertaining but ultimately dull as well. Wan definitely knows how to do action (wish we saw some fight between Arthur and King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren)). It was honestly kinda like my experience with Avatar, especially after a few rewatches. Visually fantastic and entertaining (oddly enough, the underwater stuff looked better than the 'land' scenes), but overall, a loose and broken story and characters I didn't care too much for because I wasn't really invested, and it felt underwhelming, so as great as everything looked, it felt empty. It's definitely a film to see in theater if you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy a visual spectacle for 2 hours.
It's a solid 6/10 for me.
Trendy hipster attempt at irony or something. 
