One of the joys of superhero movies is seeing something that you would never have ever imagined seeing before. So, even if the plot leaves something to be desired, the movie still hits that part of your imagination that the kid in you wants to see. This is all to say, that James Wan, the director of some great horror films, the best Fast and Furious movie, and this film, clearly has as big an imagination as any director working today, and will deliver something as fun as a movie called Aquaman should be, because he is as in touch with his inner kid as anyone else out there.
Aquaman’s real name is Arthur (Jason Momoa). Arthur is born between two worlds: his dad Tom (Temuera Morrison) is a lighthouse operator is Maine, and his mother Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) is the Queen of Atlantis, one of the most powerful underwater realms. Atlanna is eventually returned to Atlantis to be arranged married to the king of Atlantis, bearing a son named Orm (Patrick Wilson). When Orm becomes king, he becomes obsessed with waging war with the surface because of the growing pollution. Arthur opposes this, and so does Mera (Amber Heard) and Vulko (Willem Dafoe), who want Arthur to challenge Orm for the crown to keep the worlds at peace.
James Wan was in a tough spot when he took Aquaman. DC Comics is in a state of flux, with their original Justice League flopping miserably. It’s clear the studio wants to pivot away from the irritatingly somber films of the past, and clearly has no style of film it wants to replicate. As such, Wan has to walk a tricky tightrope of paying homage to the Aquaman of the past while finding a new voice for this film. So he goes back to a formula that works: throw tons of eye candy at the audience, and remind them why superhero movies are unlike any other film out there. Wan’s playground is the sea, and he delivers in big and small ways. Wan shoots the underwater sequences with wavy shots across peoples faces and what I have to assume is suspension in air that looks like floating in water, which helps solidify the illusion for the audience. On the grandeur side, the shots of Atlantis are stunning, an underground metropolis of humanoids and fish creatures alike. Sharks are ridden like horses in battle…against Alligators who are also ridden like horses in battle. Don’t worry, seahorses are ridden to for the visual pun everyone wanted. Those battles I referenced? Those are shot in sprawling fashion, sometimes featuring the ridden animals you see, sometimes fighting a speaking crustacean army aided by Dolph Lundgren. Yeah. Ivan Drago himself, fighting literal crabs. Channeling his inner horror boy, Wan also has a chilling nighttime shot of Arthur and Mera under attack by what I have been calling fish vampires that movie and attack like piranhas: in formation, and relentlessly. There’s also a terrifying beast that is teased early on and Wan totally delivers when it finally shows up. Time after time, after I think Wan can’t tickle my senses anymore, he throws some cool creature, costume, or effect in front of us to keep you entertained. And when that doesn’t work, the totally winning Jason Momoa bro charms his way onscreen, into your mouth, turning it into a smile.
Thank goodness the eye candy is delicious, because the Aquaman story is your generic superhero story repackaged under the sea. We start with a Macguffin – a “thingy” the hero needs to keep the story moving – goes 2 levels deep in Aquaman, though it does give the movie a reason to say trident a bunch of times: just a fun word to say and put into movies. Trying to get the trident, our hero learns from the smarter people around him, usually women, that he needs to lead with more compassion and by using his duality as a strength, not a weakness. Why aren’t these women leading the country? Your guess is as good as mine. At least Wan pokes knowing fun at the nonsense on occasion, like putting Oscar winner Nicole Kidman into these crazy outfits and revealing her like Hiccup’s mom in How to Train Your Dragon 2. Or having multiple fights be about which person can break another’s weapon, instead of, you know, to the death. Or a kiss that explodes onto the screen, multiple times. And literally. However, this lunacy and fun bogs down later in the film when the story has to get more serious. I couldn’t unsee a crab talking while a giant fight is taking place. Wan can occasionally use his directing skills to up the stakes, like a killer tracking shot sequence of two people being chased across multiple levels of a city while almost being killed, but then a shark voiced by Julie Andrews starts speaking, and we’re back to the bonkers.
Aquaman should mostly be seen as a hopeful transition film. It’s a rollicking quest of fun and adventure, with so much stuff going on it’s hard to get too bored or annoyed for too long. I do wish James Wan would reign in all his imagination sometimes. Like come on, let’s give Amber Heard something other than low cut Little Mermaid cosplay to wear. She’s the queen!