Aquaman is a film which comes directed by James Wan who some may know as the director of The Conjuring (2013) or Fast & Furious 7 (2015). The film stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Temuera Morrison.
Aquaman is the latest film to be released which takes place inside the DC cinematic Universe of films and it’s also the first film ever to be made for the Aquaman comic book character who first appeared in 1941.
Before going in to see Aquaman this year, I was mostly excited about what the film could be. I always enjoy watching a new superhero get their own film on the big screen and while Aquaman has never been a character that I followed at all back when I used to regularly read comic books, I was still keen to see what could be done with the character on film. James Wan directing this is a big plus for the film as he’s consistently directed entertaining films in recent years. I’m happy to say that once I came out of the Aquaman screening I attended, that I felt that things were rather good.
The plot of this film follows a similar structure to what you’d expect from most superhero films. We are introduced to a reluctant hero, we see him come to know his power and abilities and struggle with a villain who threatens his world. In many ways I felt the plot of Aquaman was a little predictable, but mainly it’s more to do with so much superhero content that gets released at cinemas now that it’s becoming quite easy to see a pattern to films in this genre. There’s nothing really wrong with the Aquaman plot at all, it’s just that there’s so many other films released in recent years with very similar storylines.
The Aquaman character is certainly likeable and much of that is from Jason Momoa’s performance. We did see a little of this character during the release of Justice League. But what this film did was give us the personality and the character building that probably should have been done before Justice League was released.
Audiences will be introduced to the world of Aquaman, which is mostly all under the sea. Under the sea there’s a whole world down there and a fairly rich amount of lore that’s introduced to audiences. There’s other kingdoms, different kings and various political factions under the sea and these all cause a lot of drama for Aquaman to deal with. I felt that actually the world of Aquaman was one of the most interesting parts of this film and as something in the genre, it was a lot different to things I’ve seen before.
The sets and the CGI effects are quite nice. All of the water effects and hair effects of every actor under the sea are well done. The overall design of Aquaman’s under water world was quite good and I enjoyed looking at all the different things going on in the backgrounds throughout the film. There are also various under sea creatures, monsters and human like beings that are well animated and designed. For viewers going in to see this film for the special effects, I think they’ll be well entertained when it comes to this aspect.
The acting in the film is a little hit and miss. Jason Momoa is great and so too is Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe and Nicole Kidman. But other actors in the film and many of the minor characters come across for some reason as bad. Most of them are unknowns, but it is a little off-putting at times throughout the film to have such great actors in amongst many terrible ones.
Where the film does shine a little more is in its action sequences. Many cinema attendees will mostly go and see Aquaman for its action scenes. I’m happy to say that these are quite good and Jason Momoa certainly does deliver in each of his action sequences. I’d like to also mention that having fights underwater was something really new on the big screen that I haven’t seen much of before so I enjoyed seeing that. It’s the ending of the film and final few sequences which really do put things over the edge, with the film ramping things up quite a bit towards the latter half and to be honest with you all, it was great! I’d say that if you’re going in to see this one purely for action sequences Aquaman won’t disappoint.
Overall Aquaman is a decent superhero film, but delivers a similar story to what we’re used to seeing from the genre for many years now. Where it shines though is when it does something different such as under sea fight scenes and hair that moves under water. What’s also impressive is the world of Aquaman and the rich amount of lore for the world that exists under the sea, there’s a lot of potential within Aquaman’s world to expand on should the filmmakers create a sequel. Jason Momoa delivers a likeable performance and we get to know the character of Aquaman quite well by the time it all ends. Aquaman delivers a good amount of action and will please many people looking to see an action film at the cinema this weekend. Happy to recommend seeing this one at the cinema this weekend.
