Review of Aquaman (2018) by Anthony H — 02 Jan 2019

FULL SPOILER FILLED REVIEW.

STORY (20).

Plot Development (8).

The scale of this story is actually quite massive compared to what you'd think. Most superhero movies these days have been trying to change things up and give us smaller scale movies that are more focused on plot (Logan) than spectacle. Here, the story succeeds in providing an exciting journey, with many moments reminiscent of the Uncharted games. There was even a little puzzle that had to solve while in Italy; I felt like Arthur was Nathan Drake there. It was a nice, wild journey to reclaim the throne and face a world conflict.

Characters (6).

This goes along with the problem in pacing. There just wasn't any time allotted for character development. Why did Black Manta's father, in the middle of their middle to steal the submarine, whip out his dagger and bestow it upon his son while telling a tale of his grandfather? The other pirates in the back are like, umm, we have a ship to steal. This made the father's death weak, and Black Manta's conviction for revenge feel underdeveloped. Sure, I understand why his character would vow revenge, but it was not built up well at all. Black Manta seemed to hate Aquaman even before he heard of his name. Still, he's a stronger villain than in Justice League Wonder Woman with their one-dimensional Greek gods. Additionally, we did not get much sense as to why Nuidis felt so strongly to train Arthur, or why Mera trusted and fell for Arthur so easily. Sure, I suppose it makes sense he would want to train him to overthrow someone you don't see fit as king, but that feels more like creating a puppet than actually raising and loving someone.

They did not spend much time on what made Ocean Master feel so strongly about starting this war. Sure, humans have been destroying the ocean, but they have been doing that ever since he was born, so what ticked him off to act now? All of these are nice, round characters, but we don't actually see how any of them become who they are. The fight scenes are getting better than just "shoot" and "punch," as our characters have abilities like water-bending and calling upon giant crab monsters. Also, I love Jason Mamoa's grunts while he fights in the submarine. This dude grunts "yeah" and "ooo-right" as he charge-slams bad guys into walls. They nailed this much better than in the previous movie.

Pacing and Tone (6).

Because the movie is on such a large scale, the pacing is extremely fast. It feels like an adventure worth the size of an entire 20 hours video game, or an entire season of a television show, was crammed into 2 hours 22 minutes. Thus, the "slow moments" that were meant for character development were completely lost. On the plus side, the film was consistent in its fast pacing. There was a sense of urgency for our heroes' journey. Oh, and I'm glad the movie was not littered with the awful humor that plagued the trailer and sneak peak. The jokes were eh, but they were not thrown everywhere like they were in Justice League or Suicide Squad. The writers also thought it would be a good idea to include more of that Wonder Woman humor, where a foreigner enters our society and doesn't know anything (Queen eating a goldfish or Mera eating a rose). This was okay, but it's starting to get old now.

VISUALS (29).

Artistic Vision (10).

The colors. The lighting. James Wan brings us on a beautifully colored journey with many different types of environments. I swear, someone in the production team must have played a lot of Uncharted because they knew how to carry us on a journey with starkly different environments. The team created contrast with both the colors, having Mera's red hair stand out in the desert with the pure blue sky. They also nailed the lighting, with moments like the trench scene filling the darkness with the bright red flare. The red versus blue in the battle for the Brine killed it. Then there was the design for the giant creature guarding the trident, mwah, amazing. I didn't even realize I was paying to see something that rivals Godzilla. How is it that one of Justice League's biggest fights takes place in a sewer, and here we frickin have the rooftops of Sicily or a hidden sea at the core of the world?

Visual Effects (9).

The action sequences were on top. They really nailed it right from the beginning when the Queen battles the small army inside the lighthouse. That was a beautiful one-shot that showed us each and every powerful impact, causing utter destruction to the weak walls around them as these gods were battling it out. You just have to watch it to experience it. There's no reliance on cheap shaky cam, and you can see everything that's going on. There also isn't a reliance on slow-mo; they add it at some moments, but each time feels impactful rather than lazy aesthetics. The only negative was the CGI for any above-surface scene that took place during golden hour. I love sunset and sunrise to capture these moments, but the CGI made it so easy to tell they were in front of a green screen instead of actually at a lighthouse or on a ship. Oh, and Mera throwing wine shards at the soldiers was awesome.

Costume Design (10).

Awesome costume design with huge variety. They gave us incredible ancient armors which gave me a feel of God of War and Greek mythology. But then they also gave us these beautiful high-tech power suits worn by the Atlantean army, highlighting how futuristic their technology is. Those white suits and red power suits with the blue lights were just awesome. Then, the final armors, shifting from the ancient to the more modern when Aquaman and Ocean Master are in their final forms nailed it. They looked somewhat scaly, capturing the ocean aesthetic without looking gross. The fibers looked powerful and futuristic. I don't know if the fish people count as part of the costume design anymore because these are all CGI, but the art of these different races of humanoids was on top.

SOUND (27).

Soundtrack (8).

Aquaman definitely took risks in exposing us to several different genres of music throughout the film. Some of it worked, while others were not so great. DC movies, though, have been very good at giving us original music, and Aquaman implements them quite well. The montage from when the duo visited Italy felt weird too. I can tell that James Wan loves a lot of different types of movies, and he tried to mix in everything he could into one. The rom-com moments like this montage felt too out of place. The Black Manta upgrade montage was alright though; I can dig alternative rock.

Score (9).

I have always been impressed by the scores in DC movies (except Suicide Squad, we can forget that movie existed), and the score in Aquaman is just amazing. It is consistently heavy and pounding, and they start us off strong with some of the early scenes with Black Manta. That heavy bass whenever you have Black Manta arrive lets you know shit is going down. Aquaman's score was able to overcome the doldrums that plague the music in Marvel movies. Sure, we have primarily orchestral music, but Aquaman is successfully able to mix in different genres and styles. When that giant wave crashes into the ship that puts Arthur's father in danger near the beginning of the movie, they throw in an operatic choir, making that moment feel immense and epic. When Mera brings Arthur into her dinky ship and they travel to Atlantis, the movie gives us our first taste of mixing retro synth into the pounding orchestra. Thor: Ragnarok attempted this style of music, but it fell short because they included solely retro synth in scenes taking place in Sakaar and ditching it completely for the typical orchestra for scenes in Asgaard. Here, Aquaman diversifies the music the entire film. The only shortcoming with the score, which is why I am taking one point away, is tied in with the pacing issues. The parts that were supposed to be slow moments, such as when our duo is exploring the desert or talking in the plane, felt off-putting and not actually slow. They throw in this weird rom-com music while they are exploring the desert, and it just feels so cringey. Mmm, but Aquaman's theme. When Aquaman first shows up and you hear that guitar riff, you know who it is. Wonder Woman similarly has an incredible guitar riff. This is what each superhero and villain needs; a theme or a sound that is iconic to them. Lex Luthor has that beautiful violin that just sounds so sinister. There's Black Manta with his pounding bass.

Effects (10).

You can say Aquaman is a pioneer of sorts in this department. What other movie has most of its action going on underwater, in the water? Sure, many movies nowadays have been exploring space, giving us incredible sound design of how space ships, laser beams, and whatever would sound (Gravity, Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so much more). But I think this may be the first time we get action underwater that isn't just torpedos whizzing through. There was a unique distortion to all the dialogue underwater. The distortion effects added to everything in general was something you don't ever get, and it was awesome.

OVERALL ENJOYMENT (9).

It was an incredible journey with amazing action and awesome moments. It suffered most in storytelling and character development, but the massive scale and incredible visuals and sound make up for that.

TOTAL ANTO METER: 85%.