Aquaman excels as spectacle, falls short on story

Jason Momoa in Aquaman. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

Aquaman has an appreciation for an epic scope, to be something big and robust and oozing bravado. It fashions itself as somewhat operatic in its storytelling, with huge stakes and mythological beings fighting amongst one another for the fate of the planet. While the movie does meet the sizable benchmark for spectacle – the visuals are often bold and grand – it lacks the intellect needed to be as epic as it wants to be. For all of the film's bluster and ray visors, it can't tell the story it wants to tell in the way it wants to tell it.

Following the path laid by fellow D.C. characters Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman, Aquaman tells the origin story of the eponymous hero Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa). Born the son of an Atlantian queen (Nicole Kidman) and a simple Maine lighthouse keeper (Temuera Morrison, sporting nary a Maine accent), Arthur is seemingly fated to serve as the bridge between humans and Atlantis. Despite literally saving the world in Justice League, all Arthur wants is to drink and engage in random acts of heroism as an excuse to punch people. Princess Mera (Amber Heard) has other plans, dragging him into an internal conflict against Arthur's half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), who plans to battle against the humans. As Arthur fights against Orm's plans, he must contend with a new archenemy Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), and his self doubt. Willem Dafoe is around to give Arthur some tutelage, and Dolph Lundgren gets to be mighty as Mera's father.

The battle between Arthur and Orm is designed to be Shakespearean, an epic story about brothers fighting to rule a magnificent kingdom, and in this case all of the sea. Yet Aquaman can't tell its story right because it lacks the intellect to do so. There's no intrigue with Orm and his quest, nothing driving the ambition and drive. He's often cruel for the sake of cruelty, without any true motivation for destroying the world above. He's a blunt instrument, never as clever as he believes himself to be, nor as smart as the movie requires him to be either. Palace intrigue needs cunning and savvy from the characters and the story; Aquaman doesn't want to put the effort into being intelligent.

 

The movie is more akin to its titular character, a big dumb dude who excels at punching. And Arthur Curry punches a lot of people, fish beings, submarines, water, and other punchable things in a lot of time on screen. Even when he dreams of abdicating his duties and following a simpler life, all Arthur wants to do is keep punching, because punching often results in success. Unsurprisingly, the movie is at its best when Aquaman gets to beat on some bad guys or a boat or a dude with a giant laser on his head, in part because director James Wan is comfortable throwing two people (or fish creatures) at each other and letting fists decide the winner. Although the special effects are hit or miss, the action sequences are pretty good, with the right amount of bravado and some surprisingly stunning shots. In terms of action sequences, Aquaman is the best D.C. has done since Zack Snyder took over.

 

Aquaman has a lot of those sequences over the course of nearly two and a half hours, enough to result in audience fatigue because the story can't match up with the action. Between the shots of Aquaman and Mera taking on some bad guys are uninspired plotting and oodles of exposition, resulting in an unbalanced movie. Most astounding is how the movie has almost two and a half hours to work with and such little organic character development. The relationship between Mera and Arthur is not fleshed out to make their eventual coupling believable – an issue exacerbated by the lack of connection between Heard and Momoa. Orm's motivations remain uninspiring, and his redemption at the end is never sold either; he's more of a blank slate than an engaging villain. Arthur is, well, a dude who likes to punch people, which is fun. But his love of punching doesn't make for a great hero's tale, and the movie doesn't develop him enough to make his inevitable quest for heroism work. Aquaman focused so much on being big it missed some vital small things, concepts like plot and characters that make epics memorable.

Review: Two and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 143 minutes

Genre: Action

tl;dr

What Worked: Action sequences, Spectacle

What Fell Short: Acting, Plot, Character Development

What To Instead: Wonder Woman