Review of Aquaman (2018) by Ben B — 23 Jan 2019

One of the most cheesiest and silliest comic book films ever made but James Wan and Jason Momoa embraces itâ(TM)s childlike innocence and create an extremely scatterbrained and doltish movie which is essentially, a Saturday morning cartoon with insanely brilliant visual effects: this movie is a ton of fun presenting a perfect blend of humour, heart and thrills. Aquaman has always been seen as a irreverent character and his temperament has been heavily made fun of but now we have a film that showcases Arthur Curryâ(TM)s real epicness and his badass nature. Holding the spotlight is Jason Momoa energetic and engaging performance as Aquaman who clearly cares about what he is making and combines his jokey self with the rest of the cast. James Wan impressive chemistry with the cast shines throughout the presentation as the whole cast give dignified performances. Amber Heard and Temuera Morrison gave terrific and underrated performances and Willem Dafoe makes do with his lack of material. The action sequences and cinematography looked awesome. The colours for the underwater world, as well as the surface world, boasted some vibrant and vigorous colours; the fights were very comprehensible and the open wide shots enabled the immersive experience, there were some mind blowing continuous shots throughout the Black Manta action set piece.

Forbye, this film is frequently hilarious and the screenplay was filled with wit and memorable lines. Aside from that, the script also withholds some very bad narrative issues. Black Manta felt shoehorned in and had no use to the plot and because he is such a great character, saving him for the sequel would of honoured his arc, but his first appearance was incredible and weighty. The Ocean Master was very uninteresting and cliche and some aspects of his role felt like a rehash of Killmonger from the Best Picture Oscar Nominee - Black Panther (especially his motivations for Atlantis). However, Wanâ(TM)s friendship with Patrick Wilson is enough to free the Ocean Master from oblivion. The story did feel unfocused at times but there are some outstanding scenes, including the Tsunami segment where Mera is first introduced, and some intentional but great jump-scary moments, e.g. the boat scene with the fish monsters. So overall, the film invariably saves itself, persistently, with outstanding action scenes and a compelling and crowd pleasing performance by leading man Jason Momoa.