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Aquaman

Mini Non-Spoiler Review

[December 13th, 2018]

[PG-13, 2hr 23min, Aquatic, Action, Adventure, DC, Fantasy]

Having now watched all of the movies that I wanted to in the cinemas, I should just get the reviews over with. I've been wanting to but since starting it is always the hardest, I shouldn't push it back even more and let you know what I think about them and see if it will help you to decide which one to watch this Holidays.

DC Extended Universe was what it was known for before but after a troubled 2017, they decided to do a soft reboot after Wonder Woman and now Aquaman, successfully giving the outlook much needed facelift in the overall tone and approach in storytelling. While it is far from perfect, James Wan crafts something that is so much fun comparatively and does not take itself seriously and all the better for it! It is an origin story for the titled protagonist to reclaim his throne as the king of the Seven Seas while we follow his journey with Mera to find the fabled Trident. A lot of intrigues and a lot of adventures as we dive headfirst into the gorgeous world of Atlantis while we see the inhabitants are on the verge of war with the landfolks, having the main protagonist as the audience surrogate by being pull into the middle of this as the newcomer that's about to fulfill his destiny. The underwater world and the creatures living in them are so fully realised with vibrant colours and smart designs that I look forward every time they're interacting with each other under and over the surface! I enjoy every second of it despite its flaws because they're having fun with everything, making me enjoying myself in turn!

While Wonder Woman might suffer in the third act, this suffers with a script that is not strong as a whole that really handicaps how well the end product could be. The deft hands in the director and the amount of talents in the cast really help in telling the story despite the drawbacks with the smooth tracking shot in the xyz city and the fight sequence at the lighthouse as a couple of standouts for the former with parents of Arthur Curry surprisingly have quite heartwarming scenes between them for the latter. The arguably flimsy storyline are helped by the heartpounding and excellently crafted action sequences throughout the film and how well the grandiose concepts are actually being adapted despite how preposterous it was on the paper initially. Their whole wardrobe surprisingly translate quite well into real life from their comic counterparts especially with Black Manta and of course the classic golden and green body armour of Aquaman! Humour can feel out of place if it's not being used correctly and in the right place and while it may feel jarring and out of place to some a couple of times in this film, I actually enjoy it since it helps to create a little levity in this quest to thwart a global world war.

I am personally sold with Jason Momoa as a viable talent to lead a big budget feature and their decision to make this as singular of a story as possible without including any other member of the Justlice League helps tremendously to give the limelight all to the half-human half-Atlantian. This new direction to have a looser connection between the films moving forward is something new and in turns exciting and with the Joker origin movie following suit next year, I for once am looking forward to see Warner Bros. start to take risks for once!

-  IMDb - official - RT  - wiki -

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P.S. This new upbeat DC movie universe is something that I can really enjoy. With Shazam! is essentially a superhero Big flick, it's about time to be smiling ear to ear to watch their movies, before being brought down to reality by that Joker ...