Moving on from Wonder Woman, I thought it would be a good idea to continue with another DCEU movie. There are not many of those that I like but I gave this one a chance solely because of Jason Momoa aka Games of Thrones’ Khal Drogo.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Aquaman is the perfect role for Jason Momoa not only because of his looks but because of his comedic timing
- The movie is basically a Disney princess movie with more action
- Literally, everything is over the top: Fire engine red hair, Harry Potter story lines and armored sharks just to name a few
- Once you let yourself get washed away by the amazing wealth of ridiculous elements, it is quite the entertaining ride and truly hilarious
- Aquaman is truly refreshing amidst all the other dead serious, nerve wracking, high-stakes superhero movies
The character of Aquaman was introduces in the Justice League superhero team movie where he fought alongside Wonder Woman and Batman but I can’t account for that because I haven’t seen it. I just know that when Aquaman was announced as a new DCEU addition, many comic book fans had a field day with it because apparently, in the comics he’s a bit of a joke with his colorful suit, and underwater-only powers. Well, that did not keep DCEU’s Aquaman from being a force to be reckoned with. And I credit Jason Momoa with like 95% percent of it.
The Aquaman movie is just as much superhero origin story as it is a Disney princess movie. Just listen to this this brief synopsis and tell me I’m wrong. Star crossed lovers from different worlds – land and sea in this case – meet, fall in love and have a child before the woman, wo is actually queen of an underwater kingdom has to leave to keep the child safe. Child grows up in the normal human world, never quite fitting in but with great hair. Just as they are grown up, the mystical underwater country of their mother is about to attack the human world of his father because his evil brother is in charge. It’s a good thing that they have been secretly trained by a old confidante of their mother’s. They go to challenge the evil one for the throne, find out more about their powers, meet a very handsome just as royal counterpart and fight the big fight to save their worlds (human world from the underwater world and the underwater world from their evil brother). All with an insane amount of good looks, cheesy, colorful I-don’t-understand-this-world stuff and of course, hair flipping. There is no singing, but there should’ve been, really. I rest my case.
So Aquaman aka Stephen Curry has this very typical Disney princess storyline but is portrayed by Jason Momoa and set in the DCEU which is known for having just too much of anything spectacular. This makes for a truly explosively funny movie. I guess that most of it is unintentional but that makes it even more hilarious. If it wasn’t so funny, it would just be a really bad superhero movie. Most of its themes, plot points and characters are copy pasted from other big franchises such as Star Wars or Harry Potter so any proper nerd would find a lot of familiar elements being put to use underwater. The costumes are bright, colorful and cheesy – lest someone forgot the comic book origins of the movie. You do make your peace with them eventually but once Aquaman gets his signature yellow-gold and green look, you do wish for a more reputable color palette for this powerful superhero.
Of course, there is a lot of CGI going on – we are talking cities and battles underwater after all – and most of it is well done. It is just the things that they have CGI-d that are ridiculous: underwater arenas, sharks in battle armor and straight up dinosaurs. Once you let yourself get washed away by the amazing wealth of ridiculous elements, it is quite the ride. And the underwater metropolis is truly everything you could possibly want from the capital city of a mermaid kingdom. There are lot’s of spirals and shells and sea creatures as pets and transport in all the brilliant, vibrant colors of the rainbow. Like any basic bitch, have a thing for all things mermaid, so loved it.
I feel like I have already overstated just how important Jason Momoa was to my personal enjoyment of the movie but I want to stress it again. He is perfect for the role. Naturally, a big part of it is his looking like an angry Hawaiian god. But there is also his amazing comedic timing. I have never seen so many casual hair flips in a superhero movie and he used them brilliantly. As a big fan of Disney princesses I also liked the character of Stephen Curry throughout the movie, however cookie cutter like it was. Aquaman is very selfpossessed in that superhero-way where they know they could knock you out easily but also very noble in his hesitance to claiming the throne. He is also very well complimented by the inevitable love interest Meera (played by Amber Heard in a Ferrari red wig) who thankfully turns out to be much more than that. During the movie, she actually turns out to be a very competent ally with both diplomatic and battle skills that almost make me forgive her hair. There are also a lot of other important and ridiculously overdrawn characters like Stephen’s mother aka Nicole Kidman and a bunch of guys you have seen playing other bad guys playing the bad guys.
The movie does have a lot of epic battle scenes ranging from rooftop chases and underwater spies on land in tank-suits to sea dragons and armies of armored sea creatures battling in the open ocean. Most of these scenes are entertaining especially because of their underwater elements – it’s just something that changes the equation a lot and makes it more interesting. Especially if you are slightly suspicious about the ocean and all that lives in it.
All in all, I hope I have conveyed how truly ridiculous – and ridiculously entertaining – this movie is. It’s so refreshing to watch something this over the top amidst all the dead serious, nerve wracking, high-stakes superhero movies that are the norm these days.
Judge the trailer for yourself here. The movie will be out on BluRay, DVD and digital download very soon and I will be sure to watch it again.
The Overthinker's Guide 