Arthur Curry, also known as Aquaman, debuted in DC Comics in
November 1941. He was a founding member of the Justice League in the Silver
Age, and featured prominently on the Super Friends 80s tv show. Much maligned as a superhero, he was often
belittled for his water powers and ability to talk to fish. Lately, an effort has been made to re-make
Aquaman as more of anti-pollution sea champion, tougher and angrier, as he
appeared on the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. A version of the character also appeared on
Smallville, played by Alan Michael Ritchson as a bit of a surfer dude who only wore orange and green.
Jason Momoa debuted his version of Aquaman briefly in Batman
v. Superman, and then played him in Justice League, but he gets his full
stand-alone treatment here. The story
begins with Tom Curry, a Maori lighthouse keeper in Maine (what?) finding a
lady who looks like Nicole Kidman, but dressed in mother-of-pearl armor, washed
up on the rocks outside his lighthouse.
He takes her inside, she eats one of his goldfish, and they fall in
love. Eventually, they have a son,
Arthur. When Arthur is about 3 years
old, soldiers from her home come to try to take her back. She’s Atlanna, the
queen of Atlantis, and was fleeing an arranged marriage. Afraid they will eventually hurt her husband
or son, she heads back, and gets “sacrificed to the beasts of the trench” by
her own people. Arthur is raised and
taught to fight by Vulko, eventually learning the truth about what happened to
his mother. Furious at Atlantis in
general, he’s fine bumming around the oceans, fighting pirates and polluters.
In Atlantis, Orm (Arthur’s half-brother) is currently ruling
as king, but has decided to unite the kingdoms of the ocean to wage war against
the surface, and become the Ocean Master.
To do this, he partners up with King Nereus. Nereus’s daughter, Mera, heads up top to try
to get Arthur to come back and claim the throne to prevent the war. Apparently, in order to do this, Arthur and
Mera have to go find a long-forgotten trident, from a previous king, hidden in
a secret ocean, and guarded by a leviathan with Julie Andrews’s voice, past
the ‘beasts of the trench’. Hijinks and undersea battles ensue.
Listen, it’s all a bit confusing, but it’s brightly colored
and action-packed. James Wan has managed
to create the first movie in the DCCU that is fun to watch (second, I suppose –
most of Wonder Woman was fun). The ocean
folks and creatures are beautiful, and Atlantis looks amazing. The action is
wonderful. And wow, the costumes look
just like they are pulled out of the comics – huge props to Wan for this as
most directors insist on changing the iconic looks. Wan insisted they stay true
– which is wonderful! Momoa is
incredibly charismatic, and he really does a great job embracing the
absurdity. When he does start talking to
creatures, it is done exactly the same way he did it on the cartoon in the 80s,
and I loved it. I will say that the
pacing, score, and story were all a little weird. The score stood out, and not in a good way,
it had some weird 80s synth moments that made no sense. The movie was far too long, and as awesome as
Black Manta was, he felt forced into this story, and really needed his own
movie. I will say that the cast all seems
to be having a great time.
- Jason Momoa is a dude who is living his best life. He seems to love being Aquaman, and it shows on screen. He is charismatic and fun, and welcomes the audience into the movie.
- Amber Heard plays Mera, and while she and Momoa have zero chemistry, she does just fine with her crazy wig and awesome costume. I enjoyed her hand to hand combat sequences.
- Willem Dafoe plays Vulko, and essentially is relegated to the exposition-duty character. He’s there to tell us what has been, what is going on, and what needs to be accomplished – all while wearing a fancy undersea man-bun.
- Patrick Wilson plays King Orm, the OceanMaster, and honestly, he does a great job and the costume is fantastic. He’s there to unite everyone by whatever means necessary, and take his giant army to war with the surface world. His reasoning is sound, he is sick of the pollution and weapons of war that the surface is using to kill the oceans. His demonstration of his power with one tidal wave makes it clear how quickly he could wipe out everyone.
- Nicole Kidman plays Atlanna, and I will say, I was a bit surprised by how much fun she seemed to be having. She gets an awesome sequence where she beats up a bunch of bad guys.
- Dolph Lundgren plays King Nereus, who is conned by Orm into joining his ambitious quest. He’s convinced he’s doing the right thing, even when his daughter, Mera, cautions him against it.
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Black Manta, and he was definitely awesome. He was so awesome, that I almost wish he had been introduced in a post-credits sequence in this movie, so that his origin and story could really get its due. He and his father are pirates, and when Aquaman lets his father die, he swears vengeance with the help of Atlantean weaponry. That’s simple, straightforward, and Abdul-Mateen has the skill to carry a whole movie with that villainous storyline – he’s really shortchanged here.
- Michael Beach plays Manta senior, and is very cool for the time he has. He and his son clearly have a bond, and a career as pirates. In fact, Beach does such a good job setting up their relationship, that when Aquaman lets him die, you almost want to side with team Manta!
- The incredible Temuera Morrison, who is “just a simple man, trying to make his way in the universe”, plays Tom Curry. He gives Tom kindness and determination, plus a whole bunch of fun when out drinking with his son. The scenes of him going to the end of the pier at sunrise every morning just in case Atlanna comes back were lovely.
- Randall Park plays Dr. Stephen Shin, a man who is convinced Atlantis is real and angry and coming after us. In the post-credits bit, he seems to team up with Black Manta.
Overall, the movie is fun. It is way too long, and it is choppy
and uneven, and man, the score is bizarre – but, it is entertaining and there
are plenty of stunning CGI ocean-creatures.
Hey – some of them are riding sharks! Momoa is having so much fun, it’s
hard to resist having fun with him, especially when he shows up in the iconic
orange and green comic outfit.
6 out of 10.
I hope black manta gets his own movie! The kids loved the movie, but it was like 45 minutes too long.
ReplyDelete