However, I do enjoy a good one.
Aquaman was amazing.
The DC movie universe is a special beast. Some of its movies range from lauded (Wonder Woman) to mediocre (Justice League) to laughed at for being terrible (Batman vs. Superman). Again, I know some of these only through their critical reception or hearsay. But it's obvious that their reception has been mixed, even to a casual fan like myself.
It's clear that they're chasing the cinematic universe Marvel's set up, but it's also clear that DC hasn't been quite as successful. DC's take on comics - at least in their films - is darker, grittier, more hardcore. It's a direct response to Marvel's camp and feelgood quips. Or at least, it's meant to be. The execution often falls flat. I often hear Suicide Squad cited as a good music video, but a bad movie. So the aesthetic and intended vibe is there, and people can see that, but it doesn't always follow through into the writing or the direction.
Aquaman is everything the DC universe has wanted to be from the beginning.
What follows could be considered spoilers, although I won't spoil the outcome of any events in the movie, only the general outline of things. Still, if you want to go in blind, don't read further!
First, the narrative.
The narrative is hardly the thing that's at the forefront of the typical superhero moviegoer's mind. It's nice if there's a decent story to be told, but nobody ever really expects more than that. Aquaman is no literary masterpiece, but there is a classic tale to be told here, one that borrows from Arthurian legend of all places.
Let me make one thing clear. The metaphors towards King Arthur are heavy handed and very obvious. There is no attempt at nuance in their representation. Aquaman's name is Arthur. He is named Arthur by his parents because of the legendary king who brought peace to Camelot. There's an added bit about a Hurricane Arthur hitting their home around the same time they're naming him (get it, he's Aquaman and he's a water hero), but the symbolism is pretty much thrown at your face like a brick.
That doesn't make it ineffective or poorly utilized.
We see Arthur grow up as the half-human son of a lighthouse keeper and Queen Atlanta of Atlantis, who I can only describe as Galadriel from Lord of the Rings with a big ass trident and water powers. Which is interesting, because the other Atlantians have like, space age plasma guns and shit instead of swords and tridents. But I'll get to that later.
Early on in his life, his mother is ambushed by said Atlantians. She manages to fend them off like the badass the writers want to portray her as, but decides by her own will to leave her human husband and go back to Atlantis. She fled the kingdom to escape an arranged marriage, and stayed on the surface because she found true love, but comes to the realization that she must go back and accept this marriage if her true loved ones are to remain safe. And so she makes the noble sacrifice of leaving her family.
First of all, it's great that the badass in this situation is the wife, the queen and not the king. It's great that she shows agency and capability from the beginning. I think we need more awesome warrior women in movies, if you ask me.
Anyway, she goes back to Atlantis and has another son with arranged marriage guy named Orm.
Orm is the traditional, super whitewashed, blonde Aquaman we're used to. Right to the throne, son of the king, Atlantian by nature and capable of fighting on water and on land. He even looks like the old school Aquaman. His one goal is to rule all seven kingdoms of the sea, or what's left of them.
Arthur, meanwhile, is played by Jason Momoa, so he's not any of those things except capable of fighting. He drinks a lot, makes quips at people, lives for himself and likes to have a good time. He has long flowing black locks and a devil may care attitude. He could care less about ruling Atlantis, let alone the other kingdoms.
Oh yeah, Orm is also a psycho who wants to wage war on the surface and subjugate the earth. That's why Arthur eventually ends up deciding he has to claim the throne to Atlantis, despite not wanting to at first.
And so the crux of the movie is set in place. Tradition vs. change. Lineage vs. inherent worth. Accepting responsibility for one's place in life.
Those are all portrayed through the conflict between Arthur and Orm. Brother vs. brother is the central theme of the movie, and all other themes and motifs flow from there.
I fucking love this. There's something about a good brotherly conflict that's intensely appealing on an innate level, especially if the antagonist brother is evil, and especially if the antagonist brother is set up to be more capable and in control than the hero brother. Which he is, here.
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| Brotherly rivalry is classic for a reason. |
Behind this conflict is a surprising amount of really cool world building.
The history of this aquatic world is fascinating. The ancient Atlantis that existed above the sea, why it fell, how it fractured into seven kingdoms, how some of those kingdoms fell and others changed and, in the end, only a few were left. How there was an ancient super-king who wielded (what was essentially) a holy trident and ruled the unified Atlantis.
The Atlantians and their offshoots are supremely technologically advanced. They basically wear cool water-themed spacesuits and shoot plasma and wield plasma swords and whips and the like. They have robots and spacecrafts and cities that glow beneath the waves, rife with technology the surface can only dream of.
Each remaining kingdom is explored and plays a role in the story. They're not just background fluff. There's the main kingdom, ruled by Orm. There's the other still human looking kingdom, ruled by red-haired guy. There's a kingdom that became more fishlike and turned to philosophy and academics instead of warfare. There's a kingdom that fell to ruin and became lost in the Sahara desert. There's a kingdom that devolved into mindless monsters. And then there's a... weird crab people kingdom.
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| Red-hair is named King Nereus, but you'd be hard pressed to remember this if you know nothing about Aquaman characters going in. |
Arthur's journey of self-discovery, his journey to defeat his brother and visit the other kingdoms and find the lost trident of the old king, is made extremely enjoyable not only because we are sold on him as a character through Momoa's great acting and the unique take on an established character, but because of the world that he inhabits.
The art direction in this movie is... man.
It's fucking amazing.
When I think of Atlantis, I think of something like this.
The movie fully embraced the DC universe's heavier aesthetic, however. And we were given this.
The luminous cities, the advanced armor, the character design, the vehicles, the weapons, the set pieces of giant tidal waves and huge krakens and battles between underwater armies all feel fully realized and fully unique. They also feel colorful and vibrant and alive, all while adhering to DC's "heavier" feel. It adapts to the new style without compromising the color of the classic style. A job well done on the part of the artists and special effects teams.
I especially love how everything underwater glows with the natural glow you'd see in the depths of the ocean, from the flora and fauna down there. Even the tech in the vehicles looks like that, like a jellyfish all lit up or the end of an anglerfish's lantern. It feels advanced and organic.
If I were to describe the art style in one word, it would be fusion. A fusion of old and new, natural and technical, industrial and organic.
I wish I could touch on the weapon design in this movie in more detail, but seeing as how it just came out, there aren't many ways to capture footage of the arsenals you see the characters in this movie carrying. Aside from the trident(s) the major players wield, everyone else is wielding some sort of Star Wars shit. And it looks way cooler than most Star Wars shit, because it's adhering to an aquatic theme that ends up looking extremely unique.
I'll have to come back and do a post on the fight choreography and weapon design once it's easier to grab pictures of it, because words alone can't do it justice. There's everything from sword fights to aquatic trident-battles with combatants zipping through the water to plasma whips to water-based superpowers to people riding sea creatures to futuristic guns that convert water into plasma. This movie has a lot of fight scenes, and they never, ever feel stale because each one introduces a new form of combat, often in ways you weren't expecting at all.
There's one particular scene with wine bottles that floored me.
The soundtrack was equally amazing.
This isn't even my favorite track, but it shows the fusion between old and new, the heroic anthem mixed with the industrial beats of the modern age, the spirit of a hero not being lost with said fusion, only enhanced. A King Arthur for a new age, in a place where nobody expected to find one. But one that works regardless.
Give the rest of it a listen, it's great. But it's even better in the movie itself. Obviously.
The movie is one of my favorites this year.
The only other DC movies I've seen are Suicide Squad and Justice League. This one felt like it came from an entirely different franchise. It was coherently written, had naturally flowing dialogue, underlying themes and motifs that resonated with me, and a hero's journey that was simultaneously traditional and modern.
I really liked this movie a lot.
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