James Wan’s Aquaman is the precise injection that Warner Brothers needed after their inconsistent handling of the DCEU; it is an incredibly fun adventure film stocked full of fantastical world building, an interwoven storyline, and a great ensemble that delivers with colorful performances.
Aquaman is everything a comic book movie should be and is one of the year’s most entertaining films.
After years of making a name for himself in the horror genre, James Wan was able to parlay all of his box office earning power and make a film that looks and feels like a film he exactly wanted to make. The picture doesn’t feel as if it is operating within a regimented templated box.
Sure, it’s the hero’s journey, and it is a bit of an origin story, yet Wan is smart with his focus, he gives the audience just enough origin without overstating it or dragging it onward and more so focuses on creating something an audience really has not seen before.
The ensemble is refreshingly unique. Jason Momoa’s incarnation of Arthur Curry is perfect. His whole bro-surfer aspect is pulled off wonderfully, and still remains one of the best parts of the scissor-handed Justice League. Here, Momoa resumes his role and fills out the superhero with maximum confidence and a commanding screen presence. His performance is so unique, that it is impossible to imagine any other actor as Aquaman.
The rest of the cast is populated by a medley of movie stars and auteurs. Amber Heard reprises her Justice League role as Mera and does a fine job as Aquaman’s love interest.
Willem Dafoe, who navigates between blockbuster tentpoles and arthouse films takes on the mentor and is exactly what he should be in the role. Patrick Wilson is just plain awesome as the villain, as he lurks within the antihero territory of wanting to destroy humanity for how they’ve treated the oceans and how they are destroying the planet with war and pollution. He’s not wrong.
And of course, Dolph Lundgren continues his rebirth into cinema this year with his reprisal as Ivan Drago in Creed II, and now as King Nereus, one of the remaining kings of the underwater world, and father of Amber Heard, who Patrick Wilson courts to unite the remaining Atlanteans to wage a war on humans. Dolph is great playing a role that would have once gone to Sean Connery or William Holden.
Where the film truly excels is with its world building. The underwater remains of Atlantis are a show-stopping spectacle. It is as beautiful as it is bizarre, creating a richly detailed world that is reminiscent of the worldbuilding of the Star Wars prequels, in particular, Naboo and Coruscant.
The costumes down to the production design are off the charts and the picture climaxes with an epic underwater battle that might just be one of this year’s best moments in the film.
There is so much to love about Aquaman and little to dislike. Wan is able to deliver a film with a long run time, yet he keeps it engaging and fresh enough for the viewer to not wonder how much time is left in the film.
While the picture doesn’t take any overt risks, it is wild and outlandish enough to make it work and deliver a film that is everything a superhero film should be. Aquaman isn’t a film that is checking boxes to court the Awards season, it’s a big budget extravaganza that might just be the most badass film of the year.
Review by Frank Mengarelli
Summary
Aquaman is a tidal wave of a film that delivers remarkable world-building, a wonderful cast, and the injection Warner Brothers needed to get back on track with building their diverse world of the DCEU.
