On 11 January 2019, I visited my local cinema to see the DC Comics Extended Universe (DCEU) super-hero movie Aquaman, the sixth in this DCEU franchise, which was directed by James Wan and released in December 2018.
A decidedly hirsute, muscular Jason Momoa plays the, well, decidedly hirsute, muscular title character of this movie for the third time on film (see later), with Nicole Kidman as his exiled Atlantean mother Queen Atlanna – whose goldfish-swallowing scene unexpectedly recalls Diana from V: The Visitors for me. The storyline concerns a youth named Arthur Curry who is mysteriously able to communicate with sea creatures – but with good reason. For he eventually discovers that although his father Thomas, a lighthouse keeper, is human, his supposedly deceased mother Atlanna was an Atlantean, i.e. an inhabitant of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis, one of seven such kingdoms in existence but all hitherto remaining unknown to our own land-living species.
Atlanna had been rescued from a storm by Thomas many years earlier, and had fallen in love with him, choosing not to go back to Atlantis but to live with him in the lighthouse thereafter instead, and ultimately bearing him a son, Arthur. However, Atlanna was not just any old Atlantean. In fact, she was of royal stock, and when armed Atlantean soldiers had abruptly appeared at the lighthouse one day to seize her, she had been forced to abandon her life on land with Thomas and Arthur, and return to Atlantis, in order to save the two of them from being killed by the soldiers. As if all of this is not already bizarre enough and bad enough for Arthur to comprehend, however, even worse is to come. For he also learns that once the soldiers had captured Atlanna and taken her back with them to Atlantis, she was summarily executed for disobedience.
Furthermore, Atlanna's other son, a full-bloodied Atlantean named Orm Marius (played by Patrick Wilson) and therefore Arthur's half-brother, eventually becomes king of Atlantis, after which, not only in revenge for what he sees as humankind's desecration of the ocean world by way of pollution and the killing of its wildlife, but also to secure for himself the coveted title of Ocean Master, he sets out to unite the other undersea kingdoms and launch a concerted attack upon our surface world and destroy it utterly. One of these kingdoms is Xebel, ruled by King Nereus, who is played by none other than good old He-Man himself, Dolph Lundgen. What a small super-hero world it is!
But who is there to put a stop to Orm's dastardly plans? Why, none other than what he refers to as his hated
half-breed brother – Arthur. Trained by his mother's Atlantean advisor Nuidis Vulko
(Willem Dafoe), who despises Orm and his unquenchable bloodlust, Arthur
becomes a formidable warrior in the hope of saving his adopted terrestrial
world from his power-crazed kin's wrath, and combines his human and Atlantean
talents to such exceptional unified effect that he ultimately becomes known as Aquaman.
He also gains an equally forthright companion in the very shapely shape of flame-haired rebel princess Mera (Amber Heard), daughter of Nereus and betrothed against her will to Orm. But for this initially uneasy, reluctant duo to be assured of success in their ultimate goal of
defeating Orm Marius (and which, incidentally, would then mean that Aquaman would
become the new king of Atlantis), they must also locate the
magical Trident of Atlan, hidden for countless ages, and guarded by a truly
monstrous leviathanesque abyssal entity named Karathen…
At the risk of being accused of hyperbole, I can say without any hesitation or reservation that Aquaman is not just action-packed throughout but also one of the most visually spectacular films that I have ever seen! It is par for the course nowadays to comment upon how amazing the CGI effects are in sci fi and fantasy films, but in Aquaman they are not just truly incredible, eye-boggling, and jaw-dropping, they are also astonishingly, indescribably beautiful, especially the outstanding underwater scenes in Atlantis – and particularly when viewed in all their full-sized glory on the big screen.
Equally, this movie's heady and exceedingly eclectic mix of mythological marine beasts such as hippocampi and merfolk with prehistoric reptilian sea monsters and modern-day underwater fauna writ (very) large like gargantuan crabs, plus the colossal afore-mentioned Karathen (voiced by Julie Andrews!! – I kid you not!!), as well as a hidden world at the Earth's core populated by pterosaurs and diminutive non-avian dinosaurs, means that my cryptozoological cup did and will always definitely runneth over whenever I watch it, and then some!
Moreover, in February 2019 Warner Bros announced that an entire spin-off monster movie focusing upon these spectacular subaquatic life-forms was in development, provisionally entitled The Trench. Bring it on!!
I do wish that most of the principal actors and actresses in Aquaman hadn't mumbled some of their key lines, however, leaving me guessing at times as to what plot-driven exposition or sardonic quip had just been uttered. I can't help but wonder whether there is an exclusive Marlon Brando School of Elocution and Enunciation tucked away somewhere in Hollywood that all movie stars are required to attend nowadays, such is the prevalence of mumbling delivery in modern-day movies.
After a glut of Marvel Comics Universe (MCU) movies lately, it is good to see this DCEU super-hero outing, especially as it stars a character that previously had barely registered upon my comic book radar. A mid-end credits scene suggested that Aquaman would be back for more maritime - and terrestrial – adventures in due course, which is fine by me, as long as there are plenty more CGI monsters to look out for. And indeed, a direct sequel to this present movie is currently in the planning stages.
Also, DCEU fans will of course be well aware that Momoa's Aquaman had already appeared in two previous movies within this franchise – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), as a fully-fledged member of the Justice League's roster of super-heroes. However, his full origin story had not featured in either of these.
To catch a glimpse of the extraordinarily beautiful, exotic undersea realms brought so vividly and vibrantly to life in Aquaman, not to mention action a-plenty and spills that thrill (or should that be the other way round?), click here and here to view a couple of very dramatic official trailers.
And to view a complete listing of all of my
Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly
accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
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