Movie Review: Aquaman - *Spoilers Included*
Hey Steem Movie Fans
I'm back again with another movie review and boy oh boy was this one a doozy. Seeing as I'm a major DC fanboy, I was pretty keen on this movie. I normally give Marvel movies a harsh rating because of this bias, which some people are starting to find merit in with Marvel formula fatigue setting in. But that's a story for another post so back to the movie
I always thought the Great Pacific garbage patch was the greatest threat to our oceans, but this piece of hot garbage has to take its place at the top of the pile.
Honestly, after watching this movie, I feel as if DC should just give up and reboot the entire franchise, they've completely lost the plot trying to play catch up with Marvel which I feel they did not have to, but Warner Brothers Execs only see $$ signs not reason, I suppose.
Poster for Aquaman: Source IMDB
What is Aquaman about?
The story centres around one of the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis. Ruled by the power-hungry King is now an underwater kingdom due to an experiment went awry. Atlantas is nation now divided with no one at the throne, but Orms plans to become an all-conquering king of Land and Sea
The only thing standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. To do so, Aquaman must embrace his destiny and retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and defeat his brother to become the true defender of the deep
Trailer for Aquaman
What I thought of Aquaman
The cynical, hard-drinking muscleman we saw in the Justice League movie actually seems like a compelling idea for a modern version of Arthur. A lone wolf who has been in self-imposed exile from the world due to his hella mommy issues and mixed race background.
Arther sees his dad suffer due to race relations and grows a distinct disdaine for his heritage. I mean who among us brown men didn't fall for a white girl only for her to pull that my family ain't gonna like you, so I'm going to ghost you now play. It's pretty relatable if you ask me.
He is fragile but powerful and serves as the embodiment of as a protector of the Earth’s most fragile environment, but ultimately its most powerful. That's what I thought I was walking into after seeing the trailer.
But what I actually got was far from it. I will break this down with as few spoilers as possible.
The story
The plot and script are awful, its so generic and basically steals concepts from other popular movies, National Treasure, Indiana Jones and any chick flick with Matthew McConaughey as the lead. Alright, alright, alright! The story plays out as a really bad chick flick with special effects.
Aquaman” imitates Marvel’s “Thor” to an embarrassing degree. Ironically, the half-man, half-aquatic being predates the Norse god in the comic books by some 20 years, but in cinematic terms, this brawny superhero is late to the party. Change a few names and locations in the plot synopsis, and “Aquaman” could have been a “Thor” reboot.” Instead, it’s a maritime riff on the same old song.
A lot of “Aquaman” suffers from logic gaps, even on its own slippery terms:
- Why does a normal flare work underwater?
- Why are their waterfalls under water?
- Why does lava only hurt you if you touch it but you can come within an inch of it?
- Why can you fall out of a plan but not get hurt but fall off a rooftop and you do?
- Why is Black Manta even in this film?
- How is he a super genius engineer that can basically hack alien tech?
- How on earth does a gun transform water into beams of “energized plasma”?
Audiences keen on pure escapism won’t bother with such distracting quandaries, but they reflect the lack of care for developing a fully realized world, but to a fan like me, these are sins I cannot forgive.
The cast
As for Momoa himself, the actor simply lacks the material to turn the character into much more than a heavy metal punchline. Regularly gazing over his shoulder as his flowing hair makes room for his eyes as if his every woman's dream guy.
Nicole Kidman as William Defore are naturally on their A game, but grossly underused in the film and should have had more screen time. Patrick Wilson while not known for being the bad guy did really well as Orm and made a believeable antagonist of his character.
Amber herd is her average stale self as per usual much shouldn't be expected of her in general. Which sadly says alot when even Dolf Lungren executed all of his lines and expressions with such ease and fluidity.
The score
I don't often mention the music of a film because well if it's done decently you hardly notice and if its done amazingly well or terribly you will. This movies score is by far the most distracting and random selection of sounds to go along with footage I've seen in well forever. It's all over the place, it's like a parody of an actual film score at times.
The visuals
The movie is a visual delight on the senses and the camera work is pretty much on point apart from some shoddy editing here and there which can be forgiven. The underwater environment, the detail, special effects, fight scenes, the action is all done really well both below the sea and on land. It is the one strong point where the movie excels.
It rivals the likes of Avatar and Guardians the galaxy when it comes to crazy visuals we've not yet seen before and really takes advantage of the CGI we have today.
I don't know why this movie was labelled as 3D, there were zero 3D effects worth mentioning and If you are to see it, check it out in 2D, save your money and watch something better or get that extra snack to hold you over.
One thing I also have to mention is the suit. Aquaman has always been the butt of many jokes for how shitty his suit is with that yellow and green spandex like his kickass but wow this reimagined suit on Mamoa is simply bad ass. He looks like a superman of the sea, props must go out to the costume team, with Ocean Master and Black Manta looking equally as epic.
One thing I also have to mention is the suit. Aquaman has always been the butt of many jokes for how shitty his suit is with that yellow and green spandex like his kickass but wow this reimagined suit on Mamoa is simply bad ass. He looks like a superman of the sea, props must go out to the costume team, with Ocean Master and Black Manta looking equally as epic.
My rating
I wanted to like this movie and give it the benefit of the doubt, I really wanted to. This was the first movie DC has made in the series where the backstory of the character is not familiar to most of the audience. It was their chance to take a risk and break away from the formulaic style they had with the previous instalments and perhaps realign the franchise and position it differently. It is as if they tried to take the Marvel movie formula and jack it up to 11 and think that would make it better, but it doesn't it really makes you seem desperate and unoriginal.
Allas this movie only served to make BVS and Justice League look like masterpieces and drop the DCEU even further behind Marvel.
The IP you're using is one of the best in the world if not the best and they're pulling out all the stops to make it an absolute shitshow.
I give it 5 fishes out of 10 and they are lucky to get that!
Have a say?
Have you seen Aquaman? What did you think of it? Whats your favourite DC movie? Let me know in the comments
Let's connect
If you liked this post sprinkle it with an upvote or resteem and if you don't already, consider following me @chekohler
Get Daily Upvotes With SmartVote
Trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Doge or Dash for STEEM instantly
Check out blocktrades to quickly exchange popular cryptocurrencies for STEEM, STEEM power or STEEM Dollars or trade your STEEM, STEEM power or STEEM dollars for popular cryptocurrencies
Yet another great review from @chekohler! Loved your writing, and again I am amazed by the level of details you notice as you watch a movie!
I totally agree with you comparing Aquaman to Thor, and I got to say, Aquaman will never be as cool and great as Thor.
I had a great time watching the movie, but it wasn't an experience I will hold on to for a long time. As a result, Aquaman didn't manage to bring new life into the DC Comics universe (even though is was way better than Batman v. Superman), but I guess the weight of the DC Comics universe is on the shoulders of Wonder Woman, as she is by far the best character of them all!
Lol thanks, I was actually talking to a friend about that, like why i'm so critical of movies. If I pay to sit in a darkened room without my phone and any distractions from whats in front of me you have my full attention and perhaps thats why movies get critiqued so harshly lol but when they're good wow its really something
I agree, it kinda sucks, because I love DC and I want to see my favourite characters get the same treatment on screen that marvel does but sadly it's just not coming together. Its like WB know they will make money regardless because we love these characters so much
Hi, @chekohler!
You just got a 4.6% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 12 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 5 SBD worth and should receive 251 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.
I am
TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
TrufflePigCongratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by cesc04 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
Hi @chekohler!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 3.493 which ranks you at #6439 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 126 places in the last three days (old rank 6565).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 240 contributions, your post is ranked at #154.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server