Friday, March 1, 2019

Aquaman (2018, PG-13)


Aquaman came out at the same time as too many other movies for me and so I didn’t prioritize seeing it, especially once Oscar season started up.  Luckily, the film was successful enough that it stayed in theaters until I was able to get out and see it.  I’m glad I could – I’ve found the DC movies to vary wildly in quality, but the Aquaman trailers looked neat, and I was rooting for it to be good.  Plus, I was happy to support DC’s first solo venture for a PoC hero.

Although Arthur Curry was raised on land by his “surface-dwelling” father, he has the sea in his veins – he’s the illegitimate son of the former queen of Atlantis, half-brother to the underwater kingdom’s current rule.  When King Orm prepares to unite Atlantis’s different factions under one banner to consolidate his rule and wage war against the surface, an Atlantean noblewoman named Mera seeks out Arthur for help.  He resists her entreaties for him to challenge Orm to the throne, arguing that the Atlanteans will never accept a surface-dweller of mixed Atlantean heritage as their king, but can he ignore his destiny?

It’s very much an underwater legend of King Arthur (if the name wasn’t on-the-nose enough, there’s also a mythical trident that can only be wielded by the One True King,) with some shades of Black Panther and Thor thrown in – to be fair, I understand that Aquaman’s comic predates those of the other two, so this movie isn’t cribbing story elements from them, but the elements are familiar.  We’ve also got a classic reluctant hero who initially refuses the call but discovers the king inside himself over the course of the film.

So no, the basic story isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but 1) it generally tells it well, and 2) it tells it against a pretty spectacular backdrop.  Arthur is a nice variation on the heroic anchor for this story, a rock ‘n’ roll superpowered legend of seafaring towns who doesn’t want to be held up as a hero despite his continual penchant for saving people.  When Mera finally convinces him to come to Atlantis, he’s in some ways in the kingdom he was born for, the home of his mother and the place where his Atlantean abilities can be used to their best advantage.  But at the same time, it’s also a place where he doesn’t know the customs, where his own brother rejects him, and where the people mistrust someone like him.  In amonst the wild sea battles and crazy visuals is a cool story about a guy caught between two worlds trying to find his place in both.

Did I say crazy visuals?  I mean that in the most awesome way possible.  Director James Wan and the visual effects team have a tall enough order just making all these human actors look like they’re realistically spending large chunks of the film talking underwater, but it doesn’t stop there.  Clearly, a lot of work and creativity went into making Atlantis a feast for the eyes, and it doesn’t disappoint.  We’ve got royal guards riding giant seahorses.  We’ve got an octopus playing the drums.  We’ve got Mera wearing a ceremonial dress accented with bioluminescent jellyfish.  Nothing else looks like this movie.

Nice work from the cast all around.  I liked Jason Momoa back on Game of Thrones, and he’s funny and charismatic here in the lead role.  He plays well off of Amber Heard’s Mera, who’s a little bit “no-nonsense female lead trying to keep the reckless male hero in line” but who also gets some good chances of her own to shine.  Other notables include Patrick Wilson as King Orm, Willem Dafoe as Arthur’s former mentor/Orm’s current advisor Vulko, Nicole Kidman as Arthur’s fierce mother, and Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett, and he voiced Moana’s dad!) as Arthur’s father.  We also get a brief appearance from the always-fun Randall Park in a role that looks like it might be more prominent in the sequel (way to go Randall Park, getting a foot in both Marvel and DC franchises!)

Warnings

Comic-book violence, language (including racial slurs,) drinking, and thematic elements.

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