Official Website

Plot Summary: Aquaman balances his duties as king and as a member of the Justice League, all while planning a wedding. Black Manta is on the hunt for Atlantean tech to help rebuild his armor. Orm plots to escape his Atlantean prison.

Director: James Wan

Writer: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, James Wan, Jason Momoa

Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes

• Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman
• Patrick Wilson as King Orm / Ocean Master
• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta
• Nicole Kidman as Atlanna
• Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin
• Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry
• Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus

Review by: Samuel

The DCEU comes to an end. Not with a bang but with a whimper.

What I Liked

• Black Manta’s outfit in this film was spectacular. And if anything lives on from the film, I would hope it is that costume. I am hopeful that my favorite cosplayers take on the the task on recreating it.
• Black Manta and Aquaman had an incredibly choreographed trident fight in the 3^rd
• Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master had a surprising amount of good character development. In fact his arc across the 2 films was more interesting, better written, and more captivating than even Aquaman’s was. Also, he is the only person in the film who felt like an actual character.

What I Disliked

There is a lot to dislike in this movie…a lot. I do not know how much of it is due to all the behind the scenes drama involving both the studio and actors, but it was apparent that this wasn’t a film that was taken seriously.

Let’s start with the star. Jason Momoa is naturally charming. He brought a badass vibe to the role making Aquaman “one of the bros.” In Justice League, he was part of an ensemble so that type of energy didn’t take over the screen. In the first film he balanced his “dude mentality” with seriousness as he actually had some emotional hurdles to climb. But in this film, it all goes out the window.  He is cracking jokes the entire time to the point it actually doesn’t feel like Aquaman is on screen- it feels like we are just watching Momoa walk around the set. What’s worse is his jokes get old quick so it’s not entertaining and in the moments when he tries to act serious, you just cannot believe him. There’s a scene that was supposed to be sad involving a kidnapping and when he plus the other cast members let out a scream of agony…I cringed. It looked so fake and so melodramatic that it would even belong in daytime soaps.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it were revealed that Momoa improvised 905 of the lines here. We crossed into “Thor: Love and Thunder” territory with the ridiculous amount of cheap laughs. Oh, and apparently Momoa didn’t work out for this role. He’s naturally ripped so it’s not like it’s even noticeable but it says something that he didn’t want to put in that work for this project.

Next, the pacing of the film wasn’t bad- it was never slow-but the narrative was just so boring, terribly written, and terribly acted that this 2 hour film felt like 3.  Scenes seemed to just happen. It is VERY apparent that reshoots occurred just based on something as simple as scene transitions. One minute we’re in Atlantis having a conversation and the next we are in a jungle or desert continuing said conversation. It was a choppy mess; and  I’m certain James Wan did not want it to leave the editing table – this had to be a studio decision. And speaking of choppy messes- Amber Heard. You may have heard she was stripped from the film and yeah – it’s obvious. Her Mera is there…then goes away…then comes back…and goes away. It is particularly jarring because this is supposed to be a movie about family but the matriarch is unexplainably absent for a majority of it.

This reminds me, I haven’t really gotten into story details. Why? Because this story is absolute garbage. Black Manta is done a disservice and the fans were tricked. We thought this was a tale of Manta’s revenge but he’s barely even registered as a threat and instead our main bad guy is some ancient spirit working through him that wants to get a thing that will allow him to rule the world. It’s so lazy and so underdeveloped that you honestly won’t even care about Manta while he’s on screen, and you also don’t care about the villain working through him because it’s wants and desires are so shockingly vague. For a majority of the run time this is just something you look at, not something you understand.

So, this movie is a chase for a macguffin combined with a buddy cop comedy (which actually works for the most part with Wilson and Momoa) that’s also and action that’s also speaking on social issue (it’s an absolute mess). The social issue in question is climate change- and they can’t even get that right. A movie like “The Abyss” form James Cameron ultimately had a message for us. In Aquaman they just say thing like “humans have caused global warming” before going about their business. It’s not profound and comes across as preachy. It was a half baked message that felt like it came from an AI.

The action and CG stink too. MCU complaints may be valid, but the VFX in this film are outright disrespectful. The camera zooms in on the characters A LOT in this film so it’s almost like they weren’t trying to hide it- as if they are giving us a middle finger. Because the obvious green screen, obvious CG characters, and obvious fake water was almost insulting. There was a moment in the very beginning when they showed chains that looked like they came out of a PlayStation 2 videogame. The action is not much better. Look- Aquaman is actually COOL! Seriously go read his Rebirth comics and you’ll see- he uses his powers creatively. But even the ONE power everyone knows- he talks to fish- is barely put to use. Momoa is just a strong man recklessly punching, shoving and stomping his way through the film. There are no special abilities put on display. He is honestly just like Vin Diesel in the Fast franchise.