In 1941, writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris created the character of Aquaman, the king of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis with the ability to communicate with the various creatures of the sea. Over the next few decades, Aquaman’s role in the DC Comics universe began to grow significantly to the point where he became one of the seven founding members of the Justice League, and he has continued to be one of DC’s most prominent superheroes ever since. But as for his overall reception amongst audiences… well, that one’s a bit more complicated because, despite his long history in the world of comics, Aquaman has been deemed ‘a joke’ in the pop cultural zeitgeist for supposedly being nothing more than ‘the guy who talks to fish’. This was mainly brought on by the character’s roles in his titular animated series from 1967 and the Hanna-Barbera produced Super Friends series that ran from 1973 to 1986. And despite DC’s efforts to work around this image through various reboots and such, shows like Robot Chicken and The Big Bang Theory continue to enforce this long-standing view on DC’s aquatic superhero. As for getting the King of Atlantis on the big-screen, that journey has been just as bumpy. Simply put, it’s truly saying something when the most prominent on-screen appearance of Aquaman prior to 2016… was the in-universe feature film directed by James Cameron in HBO’s hit series Entourage where he was played by the series’ main protagonist Vincent Chase.
But things finally changed when DC began to develop its own cinematic universe a la Marvel. Game of Thrones alum Jason Momoa was cast in the role of Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman and made his first appearance in the DC Extended Universe via a cameo in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. There, he first appeared alongside Ezra Miller’s Flash and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg in a series of videos that Batman had uncovered (and were then subsequently viewed by Wonder Woman) from the files of Lex Luthor’s company LexCorp on their investigations into the presence of ‘metahumans’ AKA the franchise’s term for super-heroes. Momoa was then promoted to one of the lead roles in the 2017 follow-up Justice League, and while neither film fared very well with critics, Momoa did manage to work well alongside his co-stars. But now The King of the Seven Seas finally gets the chance to grace his own solo film with the sixth installment of the DC Extended Universe, Aquaman. Horror veteran James Wan steps in to direct a film that certainly has quite a lot of baggage behind it going in. For starters, like Wonder Woman, it finds itself tasked with getting the franchise back on track after the considerably disappointing critical and financial performance of Justice League. But, of course, as it’s been made clear in this intro, possibly its biggest hurdle is proving that one of the most widely-mocked superheroes of all-time can be taken seriously. And with strong visuals and a well-balanced tone and atmosphere, it can be argued that Wan did succeed in that regard.
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) was born as a child of two worlds. This became the case when his father Thomas (Temuera Morrison), a lighthouse keeper from Maine, rescued a woman from a violent storm in 1985. Little did he know that the woman, Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), is the queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. And as she later tells their son Arthur, he’ll eventually grow up to become the one who will unite their two worlds. However, after she ends up leaving both him and his father to return to Atlantis, Arthur ends up ignoring his Atlantean heritage over the years as he becomes the legendary warrior of the sea, Aquaman. Eventually, though, Arthur finds himself having to finally face his destiny when Mera (Amber Heard), princess of the Atlantean kingdom of Xebel, comes to him and warns about his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), the current ruler of Atlantis who plans on initiating a war against the surface world. Specifically, Orm seeks to gain the support of at least four of the other kingdoms of Atlantis so that he can have a grand army and be granted the title of ‘Ocean Master’. And when it becomes clear that Arthur isn’t exactly prepared to take down Orm with his mother’s trident as his only weapon, he and Mera end up on an adventure around the world to find the trident that belonged to King Atlan (Graham McTavish), the original king of Atlantis. Because as it’s established by Arthur’s mentor Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), Atlantis’ royal advisor, Atlan’s trident is Arthur’s only hope of reclaiming his birthright as the true king of Atlantis.
Aquaman is truly an ambitious entry in the superhero genre as far as its action set-pieces are concerned. This film is full of incredibly elaborate action sequences that feature everything from sweeping camera movements to some very impressive long-takes. And while quite a lot of these action sequences are filled to the brim with CGI creatures in what is usually an equally CG-based environment, the visual effects team clearly brought their A-game to this project. When these effects are combined with Don Burgess’ solid cinematography, it results in some of the most incredibly striking visuals to ever grace a superhero film. Plus, as was the case when the Russo brothers first started to direct MCU films or when Christopher Nolan went from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight, this film’s action sequences show the growth that James Wan has clearly made as an action director after his previous foray into the genre, 2015’s Furious 7. And as far as this film’s tone is concerned, those who were put off by the dour proceedings of Zack Snyder’s DCEU films will be pleased to know that this film is ultimately more in line with the much more successful Wonder Woman in that department. While it does treat the storyline of Aquaman uniting the kingdoms of Atlantis as seriously as possible, the film maintains a fun, light-hearted atmosphere throughout that harkens back to classics like the Indiana Jones films, especially during Arthur and Mera’s journey around the world to find King Atlan’s trident.
From what I’ve gathered, it seems like Jason Momoa’s first major DCEU appearance in Justice League was decently well-received. Some may have been a bit turned off by Momoa giving the character a ‘surfer bro’ personality, but he managed to do his best with the limited material that he was given. Thankfully, though, as was the case with Gal Gadot when she got her own solo film as Wonder Woman, Momoa fares a lot better in his own solo film, as the character development that he didn’t get in Justice League is finally put in here with the conflict of him being a child of two worlds and how he ends up becoming the reluctant hero of Atlantis. All of this is handled very well and it’s clear that Momoa is having a lot more fun this time around as his comedic banter is much stronger here than it was in Justice League. In fact, it even gets to the point where the character’s controversial ‘surfer bro’ persona feels much more natural when compared to his previous appearances in the franchise. Amber Heard also thankfully gets a much more fruitful role here than she did in Justice League as Mera. In that film, she was a blank slate in what was literally her only scene in the damn film when Steppenwolf attacked Atlantis to collect one of the Mother Boxes. Here, she’s a confident, no-nonsense badass who is repeatedly shown to be much more adept than Arthur at practically everything while also getting a nice little arc in which their adventure allows her to gain a greater appreciation for the human world. And thanks to their characters’ strong back-and-forth dynamic, Heard and Momoa have excellent chemistry. They’re then backed by a solid supporting cast that includes Willem Dafoe as Arthur’s loyal mentor Nuidis Vulko, Nicole Kidman as Arthur’s mother Atlanna, whose role in the film is thankfully not just a brief cameo limited to flashbacks to Arthur’s youth, and Dolph Lundgren in another solid turn this year after Creed II as Mera’s father, King Nereus of Xebel.
And then you have the film’s two main villains… who, sadly, are the weakest links in the film despite good performances from their respective actors. First, there’s Aquaman’s most famous enemy from the comics, mercenary David Kane AKA Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). And to the character’s credit, the film does set up Kane incredibly well, with his conflict with Aquaman ultimately defined by one gutsy move that Arthur makes during their first encounter that heavily affects Kane on an emotional level. After that, once Kane puts on his signature suit, it leads to one heck of a confrontation with Aquaman and Mera in what is easily one of the film’s best action sequences… a shame, then, that this is the only key scene in the film with him in the suit. In other words, if you’ve seen any of the trailers for this film, then you’ve seen the bulk of Black Manta’s role in it. Thus, the honor of being the film’s main antagonist instead goes to Aquaman’s half-brother Orm AKA the ‘Ocean Master’. Overall, James Wan regular Patrick Wilson is solid in the role even if it is just him spending most of the time unabashedly hamming it up. Plus, the rivalry that the two Atlantean siblings have due to their shared heritage does provide Orm with some decent character development. The issue with him, however, is that while he does have a more substantial role in the plot than Black Manta, said role still feels very limited due to the film focusing more on Aquaman and Mera. And because of this, Orm ends up being the kind of villain who talks a big game instead of legitimately having one.
Well, with a decent RT score and a box-office total that’s undoubtedly going to go past $1 billion soon, it’s clear that Aquaman has been one of the better-received installments of the DC Extended Universe. And while I wouldn’t necessarily call it the ‘best’ DCEU film to date, it’s still a very welcome breath of fresh air after the highly disappointing affair that was Justice League. Simply put, director James Wan does manage to succeed, for the most part, when it comes to taking one of the most widely mocked characters in pop culture history and giving him a film adaptation that treats him respectfully. After all, in a time where the superhero genre has given us films that feature talking raccoons and heroes who can shrink to the size of insects, I think it’s safe to say that the idea of an ocean-based superhero who talks to marine life isn’t such a ridiculous concept anymore. And his first solo film achieves this by being, to be perfectly blunt, the kind of film that Warner Bros. and DC should’ve been making all along instead of just trying to copy what Christopher Nolan did with the Dark Knight trilogy. Instead of an overly dark and dour drama a la Batman v Superman, Aquaman is a bright and colorful superhero epic with impressive visuals and action sequences that are paired nicely with a solid tone that skillfully balances effective drama with genre-friendly humor. And just like Wonder Woman, this film gives its title character (and his leading lady) the proper character development that they didn’t get in previous DCEU films where they were just one part of a larger ensemble. In short, if there’s one thing that films like Wonder Woman and Aquaman prove, it is that the DC Extended Universe is truly at its best when it isn’t trying to take itself so seriously.
Rating: 4.5/5
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