REVIEW: ‘Aquaman’ is suitably silly, and better than it should be
Jason Momoa stars in Aquaman, directed by James Wan.
I came across a tweet recently which suggested that the movies based on the DC universe of comics would be received entirely differently if they had come out in a different order. Specifically, what if the films had been released in the way Marvel Studios does: by telling stories about individual heroes and then linking them with a team-up film?
Of course, it’s more of a thought experiment than anything else, and there are parts of the DC movies that wouldn’t make any sense if they were released as is, only in a different sequence. But the overall idea is interesting, and one that applies in any genre, and even to DC competitors like Black Panther – to what extent is our reception of a film shaped by the context of its release?
In the case of the newest DC film, Aquaman, it’s hard to avoid thinking this way. James Wan’s movie follows on the heels of last year’s Justice League, a sloppy - though not completely unwatchable – gathering of favourite characters, pitted against a boring villain and some laughable CGI. But because Aquaman mostly steps around the broader story that occupied the previous film, it becomes more fun as a result. It’s an often ridiculous experience, but charmingly so. We get space-opera-style battles between undersea navies, kaiju-like monsters, and some fleeting examples of chemistry between the cast members. After Wonder Woman, Aquaman is the second best DC movie; admittedly, it’s a low bar to clear, but it proves that there’s still fun to be had in this sandbox.
The Arthur Curry/Aquaman character (played here by Jason Momoa) has long been a subject of mockery, well before the woes of the Warner Brothers film franchise. The idea of a superhero who speaks with fish and aquatic mammals is inherently silly, to the point that it became a running gag on the HBO series Entourage back in 2005. So the tactic was to pick a brawny, brooding star like Momoa, give the character some scaly tribal tattoos, and get Momoa to spout surfer-dude catchphrases like “My man!!” and “Yeah-yuh!”
Nicole Kidman and Temuera Morrison as Tom and Atlanna, Arthur’s parents.
Improbably, it (sort of) works. Aquaman rewinds the story to the meeting of Curry’s parents: Tom (Temuera Morrison) and Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman). Tom, a lighthouse keeper in New England, rescues Atlanna when the Atlantean washes up near his home during a storm. They fall in love, have Arthur, and are building a new life together when Atlanna’s past catches up with her. She must return to Atlantis permanently or endanger Tom and Arthur.
Thirty years later, Arthur is going about his business, saving unfortunate sailors at sea, when he runs into Mera (Amber Heard), who he first met during the events of Justice League. Mera tells him that his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), the current King of Atlantis, is plotting a war on the surface world, in revenge for the humans’ pollution of the oceans. Being that this is the first solo film for a superhero, the expected story beats follow: Arthur tries to reject his role as a leader; the villain compels him to act; he goes on a quest to prove his worthiness and take up the throne of Atlantis.
Unlike any of the three major DC characters we’ve seen in live action movies or TV to this point, Aquaman has a largely blank slate on which to draw its interpretation of the character’s mythology. As a result, aspects of the undersea world, already established by the comics, feel new and even a little unexpected. We see Wakanda-style elite technology controlled by the Atlanteans, like laser weapons and armored stormtroopers, massive glowing cities, and the various races that make up Atlantean society. The film does occasionally feel overstuffed with all these details, but thankfully there’s really only one subplot to worry about. This means the world-building doesn’t interrupt the flow of the story too badly, something that Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad and Justice League all tripped over.
Patrick Wilson as King Orm of Atlantis, Arthur’s half-brother.
The comparison to Black Panther is useful again when it comes to the cultural representation angle. Whereas the Marvel film received a lot of attention for its predominantly black cast and its Afrofuturist concept of a hyper-advanced black society, Aquaman struggles to accomplish the same thing for the Pacific Islander culture. When Momoa led a Māori haka dance at the world premiere, he suggested that his film works in a similar way to Black Panther. But other than incorporating some haka moves into his fight choreography, he doesn’t really have space to relate Aquaman back to Māori culture, at least not in this installment.
And what of the villains in this watery universe? As Orm, Wilson pulls his weight in his scenes, but other than embodying the simmering cruelty of Atlantean society, there’s not a huge amount to fear from him. The mercenary that Orm equips to hunt Arthur, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) has a couple of solid moments, but he ends up feeling like a rather small cog in the machine in comparison to the war that Arthur is trying to stop.
I knew I was on the film’s side, however, when I actually found myself getting excited as Arthur tracks down his ancestral weapon and donning the classic gold and green outfit. Maybe it’s Momoa’s screen presence, and maybe it’s the bonkers visuals, but Wan’s film is a lot more entertaining than a movie with this character and this series’ track record has any right to be. Perhaps the DC cinematic universe isn’t gasping for air just yet.
Aquaman gets two and a half stars out of four.
Stray thoughts
I didn’t expect, and yet appreciated, the Indiana Jones-esque quest that Arthur and Mera embark on.
I wonder whether the filmmakers will find a way to retcon the changes they made to the character design we see in Justice League, like Arthur’s eye colour and that super-suit.
The Pitbull cover of Toto’s “Africa” on the soundtrack was weirdly appropriate and somehow not as awful as it sounds on paper.