Review of Aquaman (2018) by Luciusmcgibbon — 10 Mar 2019

The best movie in the DCEU, but flawed in many ways. There is finally some meaningful use of color in these movies, and the visual flair is a big part of why this movie entertains. The story is the typical "contender to the throne" fare, but it feels perfectly at home in an Aquaman feature. This movie pretty much makes Arthur Curry the Thor of DC, complete with probably the coolest looking display of full power in his cinematic universe. The underwater half of the movie paints a pretty impressive side canvas, and the ocean is used to very epic effect during those big splashy action scenes, no pun intended.

On the down side, the glue scenes in between all the eye-popping marine hijinx (and a couple of dry land clashes) are a bit of a chore to get through. And in a movie this heavily laden with CGI, it's no surprise that a number of effects are visibly under-cooked. Willem Dafoe and Dolph Lundgren add nothing to this movie, sadly. Not a perfect movie, but by far the most colorful, comic-book-ish chapter in a pile of otherwise soul-numbing dreariness. It's a lot of eye candy and not much else, but for a DC movie, that is a sight for sore eyes.