This is not your father's Aquaman. For those of you who remember the lame series The Man From Atlantis starring Patrick Duffy, the new aquaman has a bit more testosterone. Admittedly, I used to watch the Duffy series. Things were different then. But I did have reservations about Aquaman being a quality superhero. He's a fish-boy. It starts with the casting. With Jason Momoa cast in the lead role (Aquaman/Arthur), comparisons to Duffy are like comparing a Yugo to a Lamborghini.
Arthur's dad is a lighthouse keeper, Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison). In 1985, he discovers a woman dashed against the rocks near his lighthouse as he is tying down his shutters in anticipation of a storm. (Aren't you supposed to close shutters in a storm?) The woman is Atlanna, Queen of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman). Atlanna fled Atlantis to avoid a pre-arranged marriage. Her and Tom have a child they name Arthur. After Arthur is born, Atlantians come and try to seize Atlanna. She flees to Atlantis to protect her son. As the boy grows, he discovers he can communicate with creatures of the sea. He is secretly trained to fight by an Atlantian named Vulko (Willem Dafoe). As a man, Arthur finds himself battling pirates, earning a mortal enemy in a pirate called Manta (Yahya Abdul Mateen II). When the surface world is threatened, Arthur is summoned to restore order in Atlantis by challenging his half-brother. He escapes certain death to embark on a journey to find a legendary trident. If he can locate the trident, he may be able to stop plans to destroy the earth's land dwellers.
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall have mostly written for television. They both have a bit of experience writing screenplays, but neither has an impressive resume. Director James Wan has worked with Johnson-McGoldrick in the past, so he must see something he likes in the writer. My impressions are mixed. I enjoyed Aquaman, finding the character to be far more impressive than past iterations, but the film had a long way to go beyond exceptional acting and visual qualities. The story itself was okay, but I was left wanting a bit more. The story was a bit flat at times, although I was impressed with some of the dialogue. I was also surprised that the run time was two hours, 23 minutes. I didn't realize that until I started preparing to write about the film. It didn't feel that long. Which says a lot about the pacing. Maybe my expectations were high and I am trying to sort the gap between my expectations and what was delivered.
I enjoyed Momoa's role in Game of Thrones. I was sad when they killed him off. He was a likable character. I don't think they cold have cast Aquaman any better. He was the perfect choice for anyone wanting to get the stink of Patrick Duffy off the superhero. Willem Dafoe is a perennial favorite of mine. If he is in a film, I will see it. He has been nominated for three Oscars. Personally, I think he should have won for his role in Platoon as well as last year's Florida Project. He was sensational in that under-valued independent film. (If you haven't seen it, rent it). Nicole Kidman is another favorite. She has been nominated for four Oscars, winning once. I recently binge watched Big Little Lies, which was another an HBO television series she was in. She was excellent in that role as well. I liked the casting. There are a lot of familiar faces and even a cameo or two.
Aquaman was careful to aim for a PG-13 rating. They easily earned the rating, making the film far more appealing to fans of the franchise who now have children of their own. There were plenty of kids at the matinee screening I attended yesterday. That's good. I like that films don't always feel they need to tread into dangerous territory to sell a film. There are a few bad words, a bit of drinking revelry and plenty of action and science-fiction violence. Some of it on a grand scale. But all contextual. This film could produce nightmares in younger viewers, particularly with a scene involving the trench dwellers, but it is otherwise a fairly safe film for the family.
I had very high expectations for this film. It delivered in the area of visual appeal. It was stunning. I watched the film in IMax, so I got the full sound and big screen experience. However, there were some scenes that may have been better viewed in 3-D. So maybe that format would have been better. It was not showing in IMax 3-D, or that is the version I would have chosen. It may have inched up a bit in my rating scale had I seen it in that format. I was impressed with the look of this film. The pacing as well. The dialogue was strong and the characters interesting. But some of the characters were too flat and predictable. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I know I wanted more. I won't let my expectations shade my rating. 7.5.
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