"Aquaman" from the DC universe is a fun movie that takes a look at the beginnings of a rough looking yet charming Arthur Curry. Jason Momoa does a great job of bring this, often mocked, character to existence with humour and the idea of a big friendly giant (mostly). He was having fun so I was too. The acting of the other characters were good and the chemistry between Arthur and Mera (Amber Heard) gave their relationship a strong beginning but I felt as if it was rushed at the end. Vulko (Willem Dafoe) was a great character to have by Arthur's side and there were times when I wonder if he was a bad guy (but I was typecasting, sorry) but overall he was wise, listened and you could see what you wanted even if some characters could not. There was a moment when Arthur was young and Arthur was talking about his mother but Vulko's face gave away something we knew but Arthur did not. It was slight but worth it, added texture and realism something that I think would have added to the ending of the film. The ending in term of execution is something I am not a fan of.
The plot is people want Arthur to be king of Atlantis (since he is the first born) so that his half bro Orm (Patrick Wilson) would drown the surface world and make a war. It was a good idea to have the ocean throw back what the surface threw into it but the problem I have with Orm's plan is: he needs the seven kingdoms to join him so he can take on the surface world (and become Ocean Master), this makes sense since having more numbers would be better for them since they do not know what we have (we don't know what we have) but his army goes and fights the crab people army and kills a lot of them so they would join him. He decreases the number. So what? After that fight they would have gained 5 and half more soldiers instead of 1000s before they fought? I don't get it. I know there is death in battle but if you want more soldiers shouldn't you keep more of them alive?
Oh and Black Manta (Yahya Adbul-Mateen II) got an introduction but he was more of a prop for Orm and was more of a B plot. We saw him make his suit and the motivation behind why he wants Aquman dead (Aquaman let his Pa (Michael Beach) die which is not a hero thing to do, yes they killed innocent people and it would've been a lose-lose situation for Aquaman either way, but still.).
There were many great fight scenes such as the one with Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) and the soldiers where the fight, although a bit fast for my liking, was done in mostly one shot with hectic different angles and a smooth camera movements. Arthur's first fight scene was fun and had moments that made chuckles (I think). Last battle of the film as quite epic and it was awesome to see Aquaman use the power that he was mocked for by turning the enemies's sharks against them. It was is ability to talk to sea creatures that let him reach the Triton (which was a pleasant nod to the legend of King Arthur when he pulled it up).
The effects that were used while under the sea added to the scene of magically wonder with the use of light, bright blues. And the over all production design was spot on with Atlantis, the sunken ships and even the light house. However, the some facial effects could have been better such as Tom's (Temuera Morrison) young face which was not that believable and teenage Arthur's (Otis Dhanji) eyes looked... odd, the actor did a good job but the eyes kind of took me out of it. They were done better with the younger version of Arthur (Kaan Guldur). You could definitely see that the three Arthurs were one person thanks to the skin tone, and the hair.
The jump between time periods I felt were done well at times and they were different to the typical 'have text at bottom' mode since you did not know what year which happened because it was not important. The overall film making techniques were good with some of the fight cinematography really shinning. Plus, the colours were used will such as the greens, re of Mera's hair and the yellow of Aquaman's suit. There could be less of a music score thought. The music at times felt as if it was telling the audience how to feel, at others it was a touch repetitive. I mean at the beginning with Aquaman's first fight scene the rock influenced sound (I think) was funny but it grew old.
There were many great moments that stood out such as Tom waiting for Atlanna to come back. And the relationship between Tom and Arthur was pleasant since Arthur is an adult but they did get a long and yu could scene the love between them. Mera was great and she had awesome powers which almost seemed to be better than Arthur's. She did water bending. Another great moment is between Altanna and... the puppy. When she wakes up in Tom's place there is a golden retriever puppy looking at her. They end up mirroring which others movements which would make sense since she has never seen a fluffy puppy and the puppy has never smelt a super fishy woman, most likely, they didn't go into too much depth of the puppy.
The ending felt like it was just going according to a check list: leads fall in love (not grow into it like it was implied while they were in Italy, the huge kiss during the final battle, while the shoot was nice, was unnecessary and I think the peck on the cheek at the end would have been enough and more natural). Half-brothers would now magically get along, Queen Altanna went home to came into a dress since that was important (war wear wouldn't had looked as classy), everyone accepts the new King. I understand that the ending... ends and there is not enough time to go into detail about how some people felt about this random new king but it felt... just... wrapping up... not really anti-climatic but too smooth and too happily ever after. It seemed to rush like the filmmaker just then saw their have reached their run time.
Overall it was a fun movie that has parts that I do not like. But I would see it again. However, I am not sure of its longevity (such as "Dark Knight" which is a game changer) but a part of me does not really care.
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