Movie Review: Aquaman

AquamanTech Evening News, January 2, 2019

Times Of India's Rating : 3.5/5

Avg. Users' Rating : 4.5/5

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CAST:	Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, Ludi Lin, Michael Beach, Randall Park, Graham McTavish
DIRECTION:	James Wan
GENRE:	Superhero, Fantasy
DURATION:	2 hours 23 minutes

• Aquaman Movie Review

Critic's Rating: 3.0/5

Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), is the child of lighthouse keeper Thomas (Temuera Morrison) and Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), the queen of Atlantis. She was once washed ashore and Thomas took care of her and the duo ended up falling in love. She later goes back into the ocean to safeguard her son and the man she loves and is said to have been sacrificed as a result of her treachery of living with a surface dweller. Arthur is given combat training by Atlanna’s trusted aide Vulko (William Dafoe) as a teenager. He grows up to become Aquaman, battling pirates, saving submarines from capsizing and well, drinking copious amounts of beer. He’s responsible for the death of a pirate overlord, whose son David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) swears vengeance and becomes underwater mercenary Black Manta with the help of Atlantean technology. Arthur’s half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), the current ruler of Atlantis wants to make war on the surface dwellers. For that, he wants to win over the other kings of different realms and become the Ocean Master. Arthur is approached by Mera (Amber Heard), daughter of Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) and Orm’s fiancée, urging him to stop his brother from his path of doom. She wants him to go search for the lost Trident of Atlan, a magic artifact that once belonged to Atlantis’ first ruler, in order to reclaim his place as the rightful king. Their quest takes them to the Sahara Desert, to Sicily, and to a secret sea, where they battle fantastical creatures and overcome insurmountable odds in the course of fulfilling it. 

In short, Jason Momoa plays an Indiana Jones character, albeit with eight pack abs and plenty of superpowers. Like Jones, the object of his quest will ultimately save the world from destruction. While other actors needed prosthetics to portray physical prowess befitting a superhero, Momoa is buffed enough to go around bare chested most of the film. He also plays his character with a wink and a nudge to the viewer, telling them that they should just enjoy the fabulous scenes that they are watching without investing too much logic. He has enough charisma to pull it all convincingly. It helps he’s paired with the hot, hot Amber Heard. Her Mera has powers of her own and is a fit match for him in all his exploits. The film also has the ever beautiful Nicole Kidman as Aquaman’s mother. She doesn’t look to be his mother from any angle and has some action scenes of her own in the beginning, where she convincingly kicks butt. Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master tries to infuse the right amount of villainy and sibling rivalry in his act. He also looks more like the Aquaman we have been seeing in comics that Momoa. Whether it was deliberate or an oversight remains to be seen. 

The film’s real heroes are the SFX wizards and the production design team. They have really surpassed themselves creating fantastic underwater realms and making them teem with even more fantastical creatures. The best among those is Karathen, voiced by Julie Andrews, a mythical creature that is bigger and better than any fictional sea creature you have ever seen. Aquaman ends with a war sequence that would have fitted right in the Star Wars universe. Director James Wan is known as a master of horror, what with films like the Insidious and The Conjuring franchises to his credit. He shows his versatility here by going off-genre and bringing out a product with enough punch to keep the fans happy. DC haven’t been majorly lucky in their recent feature film outings and let’s hope Aquaman breaks the jinx.

TRAILER : AQUAMAN