Review of Aquaman (2018) by Mmadnessgames — 10 Feb 2019

It is insane that this film has an average of four stars from users... I liked watching it, but - come on, people - this is absolute garbage of the lowest common denominator.

It's not quite as bad as Black Panther or Superman IV, but it is NOT a good film. It is awful in comparison to Phantom Menace. Having said all that, it is a practically impossible film to make successfully. James Wan did a pretty good job with a ridiculous adaptation of a terrible comic book series. I can't blame him for how the script turned out, because he's only credited with developing the story and everybody knows that DC runs the show... With DC overseeing the project - and the fact that it's Aquaman - it is a pretty good film I guess.

It's ALMOST impossible to make a cinematic masterpiece from the Aquaman IP. But, I don't think it's impossible... 1990's Spielberg would have done a better job, if he had modern technology. Same goes for Peter Jackson, before the Ring destroyed him. James Cameron, in his prime... These guys could have made a truly great blockbuster Aquaman film.

James Wan doesn't have enough power to ensure creative control and (even if he managed to get complete creative control) he's just not that good. He's better than DC running the show, probably. But, with either of them at the wheel, Aquaman is bound to be a bit of a trainwreck.

I'm not even sure Spielberg could make it great, honestly.

Guillermo Del Toro would have done it better.

One of the main problems is: most of it takes place underwater, and the underwater scenes look fake. The characters don't swim. They just fly around under water without moving their limbs... Technically it looks good. But, it's all a bit silly.

Willem Dafoe - with his arms by his side - flying around while talking to a stiff, flying Patrick Wilson... It doesn't look natural. But, at least they had the good sense with these characters to tie their hair back.

The king's (Lundgren) looks ridiculous. His hair flows around like Sully's fur in Monsters Inc.

The main female character with the green clothes and dyed red hair also looks stupid... as does Aquaman when he gets his gold and green costume.

Most of the film should have taken place on land. James Wan is not such a clever director that he can make a great (or even good) film based on a bad idea that is set largely underwater. The technology isn't good enough to do what this film tried to do. It's too ambitious. They try way too hard to make Atlantis look spectacular.

Black Manta is a stupid character. Why are so many black superhero characters, called Black *Something*. Black Adam / Black Panther / Black Lightning / Black Manta / Blackwing / Black Racer / Black Talon / Black Vulcan / Black Goliath... etc?

There's too much CGI and special effects in Aquaman and too little substance. I like Temuera Morrison's character, but they didn't do a lot with him. They spend way too much time focusing on bedazzling the audience. Great blockbuster films do both. You need to develop your characters so the action means something...

Patrick Wilson's character is a cliched one dimensional cardboard cut out that we've seen dozens of times already. Same as Willem Dafoe's character. There is no attempt to separate them - in any way - from their archetype. It's embarrassing seeing them (particularly Dafoe) in this mess of a film. It makes me sad to think that there is no integrity in the industry anymore. Obviously actors don't care about their reputation.

Critics are all cowards, grovelling at the feet of Hollywood.

This film got an average of about 3 stars from critics?!?

The industry sucks now.