DC goes full Marvel with Aquaman

Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s not an understatement to say the DC Cinematic Universe — or DC Extended Universe — has not been well-received by comic book movie fans who have devoured the output from Marvel. The folks at DC / Warner Bros wanted to differentiate their filmic universe from Marvel by taking a darker, more dramatic, more adult approach with films like Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Justice League. While those movies made a lot of money worldwide, they’re still not highly regarded. It took Wonder Woman to show everyone how it should be done, bringing a little more comic book tone to the movie.

Well, director James Wan has turned things up to eleven with Aquaman. Of course we’ve already been introduced to Arthur Curry in Justice League, so it was probably wise not to give us a long, drawn out origin story. Aquaman begins with Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison) finding an injured woman on the beach. He brings her back to his house to help her recuperate, but she’s not able to communicate very well just yet. Eventually the pair fall in love and have a baby, Arthur, and the woman reveals that she is Atlanna, queen of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman). They live their lives in peace and harmony until some Atlantean warriors show up to take Atlanna back to her home to br tried for the crime of consorting with a land dweller and bearing a half-breed child. Atlanna vows that she will one day return.

But she never does. Arthur (Jason Momoa) grows up with a bit of a chip on his shoulder but does enjoy being what’s being dubbed the Fish Man, taking on a band of pirates attempting to hijack a nuclear submarine. He encounters the leader of the pirates (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his father (Michael Beach), and he leaves the father to die … creating a new enemy taking the nickname given to his grandfather during his time in the military: Manta, aka Black Manta when he gets his fancy new suit. What Arthur doesn’t know is that Manta is being assisted by King Orm (Patrick Wilson), Arthur’s half-brother, to help stage an attack on the underwater kingdoms so he can have himself named the ruler of the ocean. And on the plus side, Manta also has Atlantean tech to use for his vendetta against Aquaman.

But Arthur is a reluctant hero, manipulated by Princess Mera (Amber Heard) into helping prevent destruction of the land. Arthur’s former trainer Vulko (Willem Dafoe) is also working with Mera while the both of them also act as if they are on Orm’s side (Mera is actually engaged to Orm). But in order to defeat Orm and take his rightful place as the King of Atlantis, Arthur must find a mythical trident that only the one true king can wield.

Aquaman is an immensely enjoyable movie, really embracing the spirit of the Marvel movies more than anything DC has produced thus far — not to take anything away from Wonder Woman. In fact, fans should appreciate the different tones both of those films have, not falling into the cookie cutter superhero mold that some have accused Marvel of churning out. James Wan has imbued Aquaman with a wildly over-the-top visual sense full of brightly colored underwater realms and creatures of the sea. And he’s not shy about throwing in some personal Easter eggs such as a brief glimpse of the Annabelle doll at the bottom of the sea, and a cameo by his friend Leigh Whannell with whom he’s worked on Saw and the Insidious franchise. (And of course Patrick Wilson who stars in The Conjuring films.) The film is truly a visual feast. And you sit there and marvel at the accomplishment of making people appear to be floating and swimming, hair moving and flowing in the water that really isn’t there. The amount of work put into this movie is mind-boggling.

Hardcore fans of Aquaman may have issues with this particular take on the character, but Jason Momoa brings just the right amount of cockiness to the part, not enough to make you hate him though. His Aquaman is not an anti-hero, he’s just a guy who wants to live the life he’s lived since he was born, uncaring about the world below the waves, the one that he believes executed his mother, a man who watches his father go to the dock every morning in the hopes that his love will return as promised. He may not be the traditional comic book Aquaman, but he does a good job at bringing this version of the character to life.

The rest of the cast, including Heard, Dafoe, Wilson, Kidman, are skilled enough to noot treat this as a comic book movie, bringing a more grounded tone to what could have been incredibly silly. And Dolph Lundgren also turns in a very nice performance as Mera’s father King Nereus. Some have called the film silly, but it’s not. It’s wildly over-the-top for sure, but it’s a disservice to just write it off as silly. Aquaman is fun, it’s entertaining, it doesn’t have that oppressive feel of Batman v Superman, and there’s only a very brief passing comment tying the movie to Justice League. It could have been a total disaster, but all of the talent involved should hopefully show the poobahs at DC the path they should take with their films moving forward. Now where’s that Flash movie?

Aquaman has a run time of 2 hours 23 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language.