Aquaman Review

Happy New Year everyone. It hasn't been too long since my last review (which is quite a surprise) so to start the year off I am going to review a film that everyone thought would be terrible but turned out to be a fairly decent and enjoyable action movie. If you couldn't tell by the title its Aquaman DC's latest film in there universe, after Justice League flopped at the box office, the future of the DCEU was very uncertain with movies being added and actors quitting due to other contracts it all looked like a mess and then this movie came along and surprised a lot of people.

The film's plot is set after Justice League as Arthur Curry is told to stop his brother from conducting a war on the surface by obtaining a trident held by the first king of Atlantis in order to become the one true king of Atlantis and stop his brother from making war with the surface. The film also has a strong cast to it with reprising roles from Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/ Aquaman and Amber Heard as Mera. There also many new arrivals such as King Orm/ Ocean Master played by Patrick Wilson, Vulko played by Willem Dafoe, Tom Curry played by Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Black Manta played by Yahya Abdul- Mateen II and Queen Atlanna played by Nicole Kidman.

The film's director is James Wan who is famous for directing horror franchises like Saw and The Conjuring universe and also famous for directing some of the Fast and Furious instalments. So he has experience in both the action and horror genres which shows in the film as there are well-shot fight scenes and a very tense scene towards the third act of the movie.

The things I liked about the movie were Patrick Wilson's performance as Ocean Master as he plays a good villain and we understand his motivation for the war against the surface, The fight scenes were well shot as like the Marvel Netflix show Daredevil it has it in one continuous shot and as a result its the best fight scenes that I've ever seen in a superhero movie. Also the soundtrack by Rupert Gregson- Williams is amazing as you get to feel the mystery and beauty of the world that Aquaman lives in.

However, the problem I found with the movie was that some scenes felt a little rushed such as one scene in the first act where there is a giant wave coming towards Aquaman and his dad and after that, he decides to join Mera and Vulko to stop Orm from making war. The reason I say this is rushed is that it comes out of nowhere and just happens however the scene does not change the plot of the movie that much.

Overall, Aquaman is a decent and enjoyable movie to watch with great performances, amazing soundtrack, impressive CGI for a DC movie and outstanding fight scenes. This definitely makes me want to watch more of this character and am interested to see what the future of the DCEU or Worlds of DC or whatever its called is going to look like with films such as Shazam in April which might be Henry Cavill's last film as Superman although don't take my word on that, and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Movie directed by Todd Philips in October and of course Wonder Woman 1984 next year and possibly the Flashpoint movie the year after that (I know it might actually happen). 

I would give Aquaman an 8/10- well-shot action scenes, great performances, however, some scenes felt a little weird. Also, Black Manta was kinda there he didn't really do much apart from setting up a sequel.