Aquaman (2018)

[wanderingstar]

I saw this the other night, and I actually enjoyed it. Granted, I had low expectations going in, but it was still fun. I thought Jason Momoa did a good job carrying the film. He just seemed very game throughout the whole movie, no matter how silly the proceedings got. I even liked his interactions with Mera. I dunno, I was here for the goofiness of it all. Plus, Willem Dafoe, Willem Dafoe-ing. I dug it.

[snickers]

I didn't have high expectations going into this because my one friend HATED this, but I quite enjoyed it.  I rank this second to Wonder Woman for the DCEU...I mean, Batman vs. Superman was crap and Justice League was very below average....but this was very entertaining and I only thought somewhat ridiculous after he got the master trident LOL

 

The CGI was pretty good I thought and Jason Momoa makes a good aquaman...I could even stomach Amber Heard and I usually can't.

 

Bring on the sequel!

[shrewd.buddha]

It was fun and light, an improvement over the overly serious and dour BvS and Justice League. But it did tip towards being too silly  a few times: the kiss before the battle, the long-running running across rooftops in Sicily. Why did Mera and Aquaman spend so much time out of the water (okay, I know why - it just did not make much sense). 

Also not making much sense was Manta's 'you killed my father' revenge logic - - as mentioned by others. Manta and his pirate father killed innocent sailors but then ask for Aquaman's help?!? I never took him seriously after that.

It felt as if there was too much packed into the movie. When Mera and Arthur had finally finished their scavenger hunt for the mythical trident, I was thinking it was about time for the movie to be wrapping up, but there was a whole battle to get through. The undersea battle felt very rushed = a series of CGI clips. And then Arthur and his brother revisited their fight out of the water ... because.. easier to film? 

Edited December 31, 2018 by shrewd.buddha

[SeanC]

10 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Why did Mera and Aquaman spend so much time out of the water (okay, I know why - it just did not make much sense). 

I’m not clear what you mean here.

Quote

Also not making much sense was Manta's 'you killed my father' revenge logic - - as mentioned by others. Manta and his pirate father killed innocent sailors but then ask for Aquaman's help?!? 

He’s a hypocrite.  That’s hardly unusual for villains.  The movie never suggests that he’s righteous in doing so.

[shrewd.buddha]

After some thought, I would have to say Aquaman is basically like the character: big, fun ... but sort of dumb fun.
There is a lot of comic-book logic going on that would not hold up if given the Honest Trailers treatment. Such as: 

Arthur blames himself for his mother's decisions: "She was killed because of me." That is some self-centered thinking to create self-pity.
The Manta's revenge motive has already been talked about.

Then there is the issue with how Aquaman handled the submarine rescue. Why would a protector of the sea let the sub sink like garbage? (after showing he could lift it to the surface) 
At first, it seemed like a clever way to show how Manta got the sub - - but why would Aquaman leave pirates on the sub and take the sailors away? First, the sub is probably worth billion$$, and leaving the submarine behind did not really thwart the piracy. It's a big loss. Second, if the sub is left to sink, Aquaman is leaving all the unconscious pirates to drown - - not very heroic. 
As others have said - the writing is one of the weakest elements of the movie. 
 

Also, can Aquaman 'fly' underwater? There were many scenes that made him look like an underwater Superman. There did not seem to be any swimming, just aiming towards something and 'flying'.  And I have no idea what undersea laws of physics could explain his lifting the submarine out of the water.

Edited December 31, 2018 by shrewd.buddha

[IWantCandy71]

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 10:19 PM, SeanC said:

The movie is a huge hit.  The sequel is definitely happening.

Unfortunately.

[SeanC]

5 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Arthur blames himself for his mother's decisions: "She was killed because of me." 

That's entirely believable; children whose mothers die in childbirth often struggle with guilt, which is objectively stupid, since it wasn't their fault.  Arthur believed his existence had led to his mother's death -- his feeling guilty about that makes total emotional sense.

Quote

Then there is the issue with how Aquaman handled the submarine rescue. Why would a protector of the sea let the sub sink like garbage? (after showing he could lift it to the surface) 
At first, it seemed like a clever way to show how Manta got the sub - - but why would Aquaman leave pirates on the sub and take the sailors away? First, the sub is probably worth billion$$, and leaving the submarine behind did not really thwart the piracy. It's a big loss. Second, if the sub is left to sink, Aquaman is leaving all the unconscious pirates to drown - - not very heroic. 

Aquaman at the start of the movie doesn't care about saving government property of whatever, just rescuing the sailors.

He states explicitly that he doesn't care about saving the lives of murderers, so why would the unconscious guys be any different from Manta Sr. in that regard?  I'd also expect that a lot of those guys were already dead; he was not holding back in that fight.

[tennisgurl]

Well, considering the plot baiscally made sense, and I understood why the characters were doing what they were doing, its already better than most DCEU movies! Its not as good as Wonder Woman, but it was an enjoyable comic book romp, and not in the Trying Too Hard way that Suicide Squad was, so I will put as my second favorite of the DCEU so far. Really, I think the franchise needs to focus on making these mostly stand alone films, instead of trying to tie things together, MCU style. They clearly are not very good at it, and whenever they try to push everything together and make movies just so prepare for the next movie, it just makes for an awkward mess of a movie. 

But anyway, this was fun, kind of an Indiana Jones under the sea story, with lots of good actors, lovely visuals, and a lot of fun shout outs to the original Aquaman story. The story is rather cliche, but it definitely hits the beats of the Aquaman origin story, and I admit as a comic book fan, its amusing to me seeing people looking at all the stuff that came after Aquman showing up here (Meras little mermaid hair, the Black Panther isolationist warrior tribes, the heroes journey sibling rivalry stuff) and calling it cliche here. Not that I blame them, as most people probably are not familiar with DC comics lore, but its funny to me seeing how much of its legacy has ended up in other things. Jason Mamoa was a fun leading man here, and I admit to enjoying his surfer bro with some nobility in him take on the character. It does make him more unique, and its not totally out of nowhere as versions of Aquman go, so I am interested in seeing where it goes. I also liked Amber Head a lot, and I am glad to see her getting a chance to be in a big blockbuster, as I've always enjoyed her. She was believable in her action scenes, and I thought her scene in Sicility being enchanted by the surface world was really well played and endearing. I also liked seeing Dolph Lundgren showing up as Miras father (I love that he is having a bit of a comeback!) Willem Dafoe doing his thing, as a surprising not evil guy, and Patrick Wilson was a pretty good villain, certainly leaps and bounds ahead of Steepenwolf or whoever that giant yelling guy in JL was. You could understand why he was the way he was (I mean, this surface dweller certainly feels bad about the way we treat the ocean), but was still a threat, but I still bought him bowing down gracefully when his mom showed up, at least for now. It did kind of hilariously seem like mom had busted him,and now he was in trouble. "Young man, you are in BIG trouble! Now go to your room, and think about what you've done!"

I admit to also wanting to see more of the undersea world, now that its been established. I want more of angry Scottish crab people, undersea drama, and poetic fish people! And, of course, Julie Andrews Kraken monster! Hopefully we get more of that next movie, that could be really fun. The CGI was obvious at times, but it was also pretty and inventive, so I didnt mind so much. Also, please tell me that octopus playing the drums was the DCEU version of Topo, Aquamans drum playing Octopus friend from the Silver Age?!?

While the Mera/Arthur romance was quite nice, I was way more into the tragic love of Thomas and Atlanta. Their reunion was the most emotional moment of the movie, even though they were hardly on screen! I also thought that a clever, actually subtle moment, was when they show a shot of The Dunwich Horror on Thomas's table early on. Lovecraft stories have long influenced Aquaman stories (giant monsters from the sea from ancient worlds are pretty standard stories), and that story in particular is about a town where humans mate with fish people and create half fish half human offspring. Of course, its done very differently here than there, but its a nice touch. 

There are some issues, of course. How exactly this fits into a post JL world is kinda weird, I wish we had more time for character development and more time under water, and I thought that Black Manta basically existed for later movies when they need a classic Bad Guy. His story was also one of those plot points you saw coming from a mile away. Like, dad pirate gives son pirate their prized family knife and says how proud he is, I mean come on! The guy might as well have changed into a red shirt and mentioned his upcoming retirement party! And like when the sub attacked the mer meeting between the kings, it was the most hilariously obvious false flag operation in the history of movies. At least Meeras dad admitted later that he knew it was all crap, but had wanted to do this anyway. 

Speaking of, Black Mantas reason for hating Aquaman was pretty rich, like "how dare you hurt my father, as we were minding our own business, murdering innocent people, stealing stuff, and selling high tech weapons that will go onto kill more people! How dare you, sir!" I mean, the guy is clearly supposed to be selfish and a bad guy, and I dont blame Arthur for feeling kind of bad about it later, but come on dude! 

So, a mixed bad, but I had fun, and that was what it aspired to do. 

[Ravenya003]

Saw it last night and there are worse ways to end the year. Ultimately I'd say it's parts were worth more than the whole (or however that saying goes). The plot and characters were hopelessly predictable, and yet the little moments made me smile. I liked that Arthur wins the day by communicating and being humble, I liked his ending voiceover that his parents "saved the world with their love", I loved that he spoke to various people in their native language, that he ate the rose Mera offered him instead of laughing at her - even the selfie montage when he went from grumpy to drunkenly happy with the guys in the bar. 

Mera was also a surprise - granted, she's not in Wonder Woman's league, but do you know how incredible it is that a superhero's love interest got through an entire film without being taken hostage? Or that Arthur ends the movie with TWO living parents?? I admire the movie simply because they did away with those two horrible, tired tropes. 

No one outside of New Zealand will get this, but the biggest laugh came when Temura Morrison offered to make Nicole Kidman some eggs. Jake the Muss has come a long way...

It was also great eye-candy, from grown men riding giant sea-horses, to Mera's jellyfish dress. A jellyfish dress!!

The villains were pretty boring unfortunately, and though they tried to give them personal and/or reasonable motivations, I am SO DONE feeling sorry for a**holes because of tragic backstories. Orm and Manta can go join Kylo Ren and Loki in the "get over yourself" room. 

One thing bugged me though, and it was the same thing that happened in "How To Train Your Dragon 2": the hero (Hiccup and Arthur) spend the WHOLE MOVIE saying they don't want to be chief/king, and...they've kinda got a point. Neither one of them really suits the role of king in personality and temperament. But you know who would? The capable, responsible, intelligent, eager woman standing RIGHT THERE next to him. But nope, the dude gets a crazy superpower (magic trident, domination over dragons) and takes on the job he never really wanted in the first place. 

Okay, so there was no way this movie was going to end with Mera becoming king given the comic books - but I'm still annoyed Dreamworks didn't make Astrid chief instead of Hiccup (Pixar would have done it).

[Scarlett45]

Hi- can someone with comic book knowledge answer some questions for me?

 

1. I noticed two of the Atlantis kingdoms were humanesque and one looked like merpeople while another looked like hominid crabs- can you tell me why?

2. Only highborns can breathe air and water- what makes someone highborn? I assume it’s inherited but why didn’t all of Atlantis inherit this trait? 

 

Thank you. 

[bettername2come]

I was just reading Jason Momoa’s Wikipedia page and discovered he was a marine biology major and has shark teeth tattoos and now I can’t stop laughing at how appropriately cast he is.

[SeanC]

On 2018-12-31 at 10:29 PM, Scarlett45 said:

1. I noticed two of the Atlantis kingdoms were humanesque and one looked like merpeople while another looked like hominid crabs- can you tell me why?

That’s very lightly explained in the movie as them having evolved differently (same with the Trench inhabitants, who “regressed”).

[Lantern7]

Penny Arcade leans into the “How can Aquaman be popular?” curve.

ETA: Readers suggest comic characters teaming with Aquaman for artists to draw. I think my fave is the one with what might be the entire collection of Aquaman incarnations. Shit, I forgot he had a TV pilot with Mercy Reef. I can't forget the Smallville version. "Wet and ready, bro!!!" Just made for that show, you guys.

ETA2: Do you think the Momoa version was inspired in any way by John DiMaggio's take on the character in Batman: The Brave and the Bold? In terms of being larger than life?

Edited January 5, 2019 by Lantern7

[Rum Punch]

Here is a little bit of a double standard.  Read this passage from Wesley Morris' review of Aquaman from the New York Times.

 

"The novelty of Momoa in this part isn’t unexciting. He’s an inspired left-field choice for Aquaman, who in the DC comic books, and the cartoons they inspired, tended to be a slab of Eagle Scout-y blondness.

In another age, Paul Walker would have played him. Now he’s this imposingly big, impenetrably chill, multiracial, biker type, sheathed in tribal tattoos, with a long, dark mane. (Now, only the highlights are blond.) That physique is a draw. You could make a taco with the crease in his back, and his pecs almost whisper for a pillow case. This is to say that Momoa might be the last person you’d pick for somebody named Arthur but the first for a movie in need of a star to plow shirtless from one wet location to another.

But the people responsible for “Aquaman” seem a little embarrassed to lavish Momoa with even a lick of lust. The camera doesn’t manage to take him all the way in until closing time. And after an introduction in which he fights crime in only a pair of dark jeans, he endures a sequence in the desert (please, don’t make me explain) wearing a long-sleeved Henley and linen slacks. (With all due respect to SpongeBob, those are square pants.)

The people who made three “Thor” films never seemed to have this problem. The people who made three “Thor” films also had Chris Hemsworth, an actor eventually allowed to find his hunkiness kind of funny. Momoa, for now, seems stuck. Should he give this part some personality? Should he give an actual performance, as an Adonis or even as an Arthur?"

 

Now, imagine if you will if some reviewer from a major newspaper had opined that "Wonder Woman" did not focus enough attention on Gal Gadot's ass, that she should have spent more time in skimpy outfits, and underscored that opinion with some salacious descriptions of her various body parts.  I dare say there would have been a firestorm of criticism, and that reviewer would have been lucky to retain his job.  But here, nothing.  It is the sort of thing that people always say never happens to men, but in fact it does.  It's just that when it happens to a man, nobody notices.

[Blergh]

Rum Punch,

 

 If Mr. Momoa has seen this review, IMO, he wouldn't be out of line to tell Mr. Morris that he's married and not interested so Mr. Morris needs to terminate any fantasy in that regard!

[SeanC]

On 1/4/2019 at 10:38 AM, Lantern7 said:

ETA2: Do you think the Momoa version was inspired in any way by John DiMaggio's take on the character in Batman: The Brave and the Bold? In terms of being larger than life?

No, I don't see any comparison.  Their vibes are totally different, perhaps even opposite.

[Zuleikha]

Quote

Now, imagine if you will if some reviewer from a major newspaper had opined that "Wonder Woman" did not focus enough attention on Gal Gadot's ass, that she should have spent more time in skimpy outfits, and underscored that opinion with some salacious descriptions of her various body parts.  I dare say there would have been a firestorm of criticism, and that reviewer would have been lucky to retain his job.  But here, nothing.  It is the sort of thing that people always say never happens to men, but in fact it does.

It is much rarer to happen to men, and context does matter. It is novel for male characters, particularly leads, to be objectified whereas it is the norm for female leads. The quoted lines from the review are also a lot more analytical and less lustful. It was noticeable that the movie shied away from displaying Momoa's body, even as Alanna and Mera were in skintight suits (cleavage-revealing for Mera), and it does relate to some legitimate tonal questions.

That said, I do feel mixed about the review. After seeing the movie, I almost made a joke on my FB about how my one problem with the film was not enough shirtless Momoa. I didn't because I know I didn't like when that one critic did basically perv all over Gal Gadot. OTOH, Gadot did actually spend a lot of her time in fairly skimpy outfits in Wonder Woman, although in an (IMHO) very athletic way.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Zuleikha
double post

[Lantern7]

@SeanC . . . I meant being larger than life. I think the first variation on the "traditional" Aquaman was the mid-Nineties "harpoon in the stump" version that was in a few iterations of Justice League (the animated series, obviously). The BatB was just a gigantic ham. I wouldn't use that term for Momoa, but he did bring a bit of cheese to the role.

[Spartan Girl]

Saw it and it was a lot of fun! I guess Aquaman is officially vindicated after so many Yeats of being the butt of every DC superhero joke. Not as good as Wonder Woman, but definitely better than the other movies! Maybe DC is finally learning from their bad choices?

Love Arthur and all, but Mera and Atlanna were BADASS. Maybe they should get their own spinoff and team up with Wonder Woman. Hey, I can dream, can't I? I too loved Mera's jellyfish dress.

The only thing I didn't care about was Black Manta. He was a hypocrite (like all bad guys) and his costume was stupid.

[shrewd.buddha]

On 12/31/2018 at 5:46 PM, Ravenya003 said:

But nope, the dude gets a crazy superpower (magic trident, domination over dragons) and takes on the job he never really wanted in the first place. 

I understand the appeal of rehashing "the sword in the stone" story line with the fantasy of "Hey, maybe even I could be a king!". But the kingdom of Atlantis does not come off as a very advanced society if they are excited to have the winner of a fight become their leader - - someone who doesn't know anything about their culture, rules, or history - - and basically blames them for his mother being sentenced to death. 
And if Atlantis was the type of old-school patriarchy of its original above-ground time, the children of a queen would have no standing. 

It is a bit hard to believe that anyone would think that whatever child a ruler has should automatically be the next ruler. The monarchy system seems like a slightly different version of dictatorship. 

Edited January 8, 2019 by shrewd.buddha

[ribboninthesky1]

I liked it.  Thankfully, I'm no Marvel fan, so no DC/Marvel comparisons came to mind while watching.   It was overly silly in some parts, but mostly likely it was in response to the previous criticism that DC films were too grim and dark. I don't think they can win no matter which way they go with it because DC just isn't well-regarded with their live action films.

Jason Momoa is certainly well-built.  No doubt he trained for this, but it doesn't look like he had to get steroided up for the bulk.  In my single Marvel comparison, I appreciate that he, like Chris Hemsworth, is actually built like he could be a superhero.         

I didn't expect Patrick Wilson to be so...alluring in this.  Dare I say sexy?  I've previously found him milquetoast, but he worked for me here.  And I'm usually all about the good guys.  I thought it was a nice twist that Arthur didn't kill him.  

Amber Heard was fine, but I thought Nicole Kidman came across more fierce despite less screentime.  She had the funniest scene to me, with the puppy staredown and goldfish snacking.  It was cute without being juvenile.   

Dolph Lundgren got the beauty work treatment in addition to Nicole Kidman, though he's still got that strong jawline. 

I enjoyed this more than Wonder Woman, mostly because I've always disliked the judgmental naivete of Diana, which kind of ruined the latter third of the film for me.    

I only know of Aquaman from the animated series and films, but I thought Black Manta was Atlantiian?  He was human in this, so maybe he's either/or depending on who writes the comics. 

On 12/30/2018 at 4:54 PM, Gillian Rosh said:

I saw this the other night, and I actually enjoyed it. Granted, I had low expectations going in, but it was still fun. I thought Jason Momoa did a good job carrying the film. He just seemed very game throughout the whole movie, no matter how silly the proceedings got. I even liked his interactions with Mera. I dunno, I was here for the goofiness of it all. Plus, Willem Dafoe, Willem Dafoe-ing. I dug it.

Ha! I half-expected his character to be evil and go Green Goblin on me.  I was mildly disappointed he had no villainous scenery to chew. 

Edited January 8, 2019 by ribboninthesky1

[SeanC]

2 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

I only know of Aquaman from the animated series and films, but I thought Black Manta was Atlantiian?  He was human in this, so maybe he's either/or depending on who writes the comics. 

In the comics, he's always been a human, at least implicitly -- it was like a decade after his debut before he actually took the helmet off, which was the point where he was revealed to be black (something not part of his original character concept; by the time of the reveal, it was the late 1970s, and they were beginning to push for more diversity, so somebody was like "well, we've got a character called Black Manta and we've never seen his face, so...").

[ribboninthesky1]

Ah, thanks, @SeanC.  I guess I always assumed Black Manta was from Atlantis, and now I'm not sure why!

[VCRTracking]

18 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

Ah, thanks, @SeanC.  I guess I always assumed Black Manta was from Atlantis, and now I'm not sure why!

You're probably confusing him with Aqualad(the Kaldur version on Young Justice) who's his son.

[ribboninthesky1]

No, I hadn't heard of Aqualad before the Young Justice series, and the character just reaffirmed my assumption about Black Manta.  Thinking on it further, beyond my ignorance of his comic origins, I assumed it because I rarely saw Manta without his helmet on, and thought he couldn't breathe on land without it. 

[VCRTracking]

26 minutes ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

No, I hadn't heard of Aqualad before the Young Justice series, and the character just reaffirmed my assumption about Black Manta.  Thinking on it further, beyond my ignorance of his comic origins, I assumed it because I rarely saw Manta without his helmet on, and thought he couldn't breathe on land without it. 

But he mostly wore the helmet underwater in cartoons so why would he need it there if he was Atlantean?

[VCRTracking]

[Lantern7]

Screw Attack is starting a new season of Death Battle. The first match: Aquaman vs. Marvel's Namor. Here's a brief rundown on Aquaman, with zero references to the movie. Just an observation Looks very good. Here's hoping the battle has a better ending than their fight in the mid-Nineties Marvel/DC event. Arthur won by dropping a whale on the Sub-Mariner. Good times.

[Lantern7]

"I'm very disappointed in you, son. I'm gonna need my knife back."

ETA: . ..and here's Arthur taking on the Avenging Son.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Lantern7

[BetterButter]

[Shannon L.]

On 3/19/2019 at 10:08 AM, BetterButter said:

The smolder.  lol!

I saw this today and liked it more than I expected to.  I felt like they tried to do too much.  It was an origin story--they could have scaled it back a lot and still had a good movie.  Maybe even a better one.  I liked the parts out of the water much better than the ones in the water and not necessarily because of the special effects (of which I thought some were really good, some not so much).  I really liked the chemistry between Jason and Amber and Jason and Nicole.  They were all charming together and I really liked the scene of Mera in Sicily,  becoming enchanted with what the land had to offer.  I'd probably put it 2nd to Wonder Woman with The Justice League a very close third.  

[Lantern7]

On 3/19/2019 at 1:08 PM, BetterButter said:

Great Honest Trailer. The guy obviously liked it. Seriously, how weird is it that Aquaman would be at the forefront of DC Comics' recent movies? And that Batman and Superman have been the albatrosses?

[SimoneS]

I finally watched this today. Jason Mamoa is so charismatic and I was enjoying the hell out of it until the underwater battle which was horrendous, the CGI and creatures. I had to rewind to figure who the Brine king was and why huge crabs suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Plus, I don't enjoy watching sharks attacking seahorses or various animals such as whales, etc. being brutally killed. I don't what they were thinking there. I was glad that I didn't go see it in the theater so I could fast forwarded to the fight between Arthur and Orm. 

ETA: I also noticed that the only two Black characters given any screen time were villains. There were no Black Atlantians that I could see. I expect better from DCUE.

Edited April 8, 2019 by SimoneS

[VCRTracking]

[Mellowyellow]

On 1/1/2019 at 9:23 AM, tennisgurl said:

I was way more into the tragic love of Thomas and Atlanta. Their reunion was the most emotional moment of the movie, even though they were hardly on screen!

Me too!!!!!! I totally shipped them and thought they were pretty epic despite the brief screen time they had. Their romance was so well done. 

I spent much of the movie fretting that one of them was going to be killed off and was delighted and teary with their reunion at the end.

[supposebly]

I saw this on a plane. Usually, I'm a lot more tolerant when I watch things on a plane but this was terribly boring and predictable. And way too many posturing shots with Aquaman entering the scene, some triumphant soundtrack and we stand there admiring his, well everything. Not that I mind but it was too much and I was already bored and thus distracted.

[Spaceman Spiff]

On 7/27/2019 at 9:06 PM, supposebly said:

this was terribly boring and predictable.

It was on HBO this weekend, so I opted to finally watch it and couldn't agree more. Everything was predictable, even down to the dialogue. I was finishing the characters lines as they spoke them it was so predictable. The spinning trident young Arthur was being taught by Vulko you knew was the Karate Kid Crane Kick to be used in the final battle with his brother. Mera eating the rose, Arthur stopping the Kraken by using his telepathy, like the predictable scene when he was kid with the shark at the aquarium.

The Black Manta character was pointless as well as the montage of him putting together his villian armor.

The special FX were just so subpar as well. I could blatantly tell every time they were in front of a green screen with the raging ocean behind them. During the battle on land when Mera is running on the roof tops, there was even a few times you could just tell it was the stunt double, like Buffy stunt double obvious. The overly bloated end battle was a huge CGI confusing mess. And don't get me started on the octopus playing the drums.

Aquaman was the least interesting character in the Justice League movie, and the trailer for this movie didn't make me want to run out and see it, because it looked so bad. Glad I waited until it was on cable. This was worse then Shazam, but both of them were huge disappointments in my opinion.

[HunterHunted]

Just watched this. Momoa is very charismatic. Wan's directing was solid overall and excellent in many of the action scenes. However, this is a dumb movie. It's fun dumb, but dumb nonetheless. It would have made far more sense to move the exposition about the fall of Atlantis to when Atlanna was telling young Arthur  stories growing up, but maybe it would have resembled Black Panther too much.

This movie has a very weird travelogue feeling for no good reason. They're in different locals because...I guess they can't make it too easy. It reminds me a little of Crimes of Grindewald. We're in a new location because the script says we need to be and not because there's a good reason for the characters to be there.

The Black Manta setup was unnecessary and stupid. First of all, Manta Sr. was a pirate. He was bound to get killed at some point. You gonna hold grudges when your dangerous job of being a criminal results in deaths. "No! How could you? It was completely expected!" Second of all, Manta Sr. fired on and missed Aquaman. In my book, Manta Sr. got his own damn self killed. They should have kept with the grand tradition of his more recent animated adaptations and given him a grudge against all Atlanteans. He hates Arthur and he hates Orm too.

I love Young Justice. They've only had 3 episodes set in Atlantis, but they do a great job of making Atlantis seem like a real place. For one, Atlaneans never wear shoes. When you think about it why would they. We see the academy of sorcery where Mera is a badass senior instructor. We see the science academy.

That being said, it was a fun enough movie, but hella dumb.

Edited August 16, 2019 by HunterHunted

[ParadoxLost]

I'm ten minutes into this movie.  What is wrong with it?  They are having domestic scenes and Aquaman's Mom and Dad look like they are computer generated (circa The Polar Express).  Is this whole thing shot against green screen with substandard CGI?

PS.  Never mind.  It was a badly executed attempt to make them appear youthful.

Edited August 18, 2019 by ParadoxLost

[VCRTracking]

Favorite moment is definitely early on when Arthur and his dad are in the bar and some tough bikers come up to him asking if he's the "Fishboy" from TV and you're expecting the typical fight but they ask for a selfie instead!

[rmontro]

Just finished watching this, I liked it pretty much.  Nothing earth shattering, but better than the recent Superman movies, Batman v Superman, and Justice League.  I put it about on par with Wonder Woman.  Wonder Woman started out better and really should have been better, but I felt the whole last act with Wonder Woman should have been cut and it weighed down the movie.  Aquaman was consistent throughout, so I'm calling it a draw.

Great job by Jason Mamoa making Aquaman look like a badass, even in the orange costume.  Something once thought impossible.

[Angel212]

I love this movie