| Aquaman (2018) | |
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Rating: 6.8/10 (518,662 votes) Director: James Wan Writer: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Will Beall, Geoff Johns Stars: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe Runtime: 143 min Rated: PG-13 Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy Released: 21 Dec 2018 |
| Plot: Arthur Curry, the human-born heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, goes on a quest to prevent a war between the worlds of ocean and land. | |
The DC franchise has been a bit of a mess so far. Each film after Man of Steel has had a stink of reactionary measures to it, and in trying to craft a shared universe approach, and trying to “be like Marvel” the end results have been lacking to say the least. After Man of Steel was negatively received and didn’t score the box office they hoped for, the sequel was swiftly turned into a chance to drop Batman into the mix. BvS ended up being a mess (albeit with a great Batman), with complaints that it was ‘too dark’ and ‘sombre’ amongst the criticisms. So, Suicide Squad was edited like an MTV video on crazy pills, to try to prove that DC can be fun and energetic – it was a mess. Then along came Wonder Woman, the only film that didn’t have a whiff of studio interference, and genuinely felt like a single director’s vision. Despite the rather dubious final act, the film was a positive step for the franchise, and signalled a potential strong way forward. However, we still had Justice League to get through – a film that was planned for two parts, but quickly shrunk down to one part (which director Zack Snyder wasn’t aware of until weeks after the announcement). That film is a story all of its own, and seemed more like a contractual deal to wrap up Snyder’s role overseeing the series of films. Suffice to say, he left, the film was toyed with by Joss Wheadon, and fanboys still insist to this day that they want a Snyder cut despite there not actually being any evidence of a coherent one ever existing (an actor and crew member saying they think there is, and want to see one is NOT proof, folks). All of that, and we haven’t even touched on the constantly changing release plans, and films that keep getting dropped.
So we come to the latest release, Aquaman. The character has been the butt of jokes over the years, considered by many to be a weak character, but recent years in the comics (particularly during the New 52 era) have done wonders to turn that around. His casting and role in Justice League was good enough, but didn’t really tap into the potential. Now, with this film, and comic book writer extraordinaire Geoff Johns (Google him) finally guiding the franchise, we have a film that I would go so far as to say is better than Wonder Woman… even though it is also a complete mess!
Arthur Curry is the son of a lighthouse keeper father and an Atlantean Queen, and being the first-born son he has the right to the throne of Atlantis. However, he has always been more than happy to stay on land with his father. However, his younger half-brother has claimed the throne, and bears a centuries long grudge against the surface dwellers, and is planning to unite all the undersea kingdoms to rise up and destroy humankind. Before he does so he needs to make sure his brother wont return to claim the throne…
Simple enough plotline, and with a few short flashback moments to pad it out, a pretty generic origin story, yeah? Okay, well, why don’t we also throw in another villain at the start, who will pop up in a super suit at the mid-way point, but for no real reason other than to pad out some more action scenes? How about we also have a plot involving the retrieval of an ancient artefact Trident, so the film can pretend to be Indiana Jones for 40 minutes? Obviously the two brothers also need to fight for the throne, yeah? Well, let’s do it twice! Yeah, TWICE! We can also have a love interest who has little to no chemistry with the lead character, but we can just accept they are a thing by the end, yeah? Oh, can we have his mother go missing in a flashback story too? Undersea monsters? An octopus playing drums?
The end result is a film that feel like Geoff Johns got a bit carried away in the pitch meeting, and starting sketching out a whole series of films, but everyone else thought he wanted it all in here, so James Wan shrugged, said, “What the heck!” and just cracked on with it.
But you know what? As sloppy as it all is, as contrived as the plot is, as preposterous as the events are, and as crazy as that drumming octopus is (no, really, a drumming octopus), it is bonkers, popcorn entertainment, and a enjoyable thrill to watch. Momoa is clearly having a blast in the role, and he certainly does it credit. It’s so much comic -book enjoyment that even when he dons the yellow and green costume, you don’t think for one second it looks out of place, but you actually thrill at the sight of it – dramatic poses included. The film wont win any awards, and nor does it deserve to (although, that said, Suicide Squad won an Oscar, so nothing would shock me these days), but who cares when you can just laugh and have fun.
I read somewhere recently that Geoff Johns has decided that continuity between all the different films is a low priority, and no longer will characters be forced to act a certain way just so they fit alongside someone like Batman. Each of the films will be done on its own merit. By doing this, and not trying to link everything together in a Marvel-like way, the DC franchise has potential to really start to deliver. Let the creators do their thing, and let’s see some great comic-book adventure on the big screen. If we take Aquaman as the starting point, the future should go swimmingly (sorry, not sorry).
