It has been quite a while since my last post of a major Hollywood movie which was entirely due to my holiday trip with my wife outside Indonesia. I was actually looking forward to see this one on its premiere date, but the movie played while I was away. Anyway when we returned on Saturday evening, we decided to see it on Sunday in my favorite theater with Dolby Atmos sound system. OK, let's move on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa - Braven, Baywatch TV series etc) was the son of lighthouse keeper Thomas (Temuera Morrison - Moana etc) and the queen of Atlantis named Atlanna (Nicole Kidman - Lion, The Hours etc). Being a half Atlantean, he has unique abilities of under water breathing, super strength and good fighting skills, and used it to help people in need, including fighting under water pirates led by David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - The Greatest Showman etc).
Meanwhile Orm (Patrick Wilson - Conjuring series, The Commuter etc) who was the ruler of Atlantis was trying to retaliate the land's people by preparing for war. He tried to enlist the armies of the seven seas including the support from Nereus (Dolph Lundgren - Creed 2, The Punisher etc) who was the leader of Xebel tribe. Orm also got the advice from his counselor Vulko (Willem Dafoe - Murder on the Orient Express, Platoon etc). However, Nereus' daughter Mera (Amber Heard - 3 Days to Kill, Magic Mike XXL etc) was not thrilled with the idea and tried to convince Arthur to fight for his right to become the king of Atlantis and avoid the war.
With the backup from the Atlanteans who supported Orm, it would be a big challenge for Arthur to beat him, not to mention his lack of interest in becoming Atlantis King. So how would the story continue? Find them all in this exciting fun great superhero movie.
End of Brief Story Line
When I first heard that James Wan would be directing this movie, I thought it was a nice choice. He was experienced in making good horror movies (Saw, Insidious and Conjuring series were his best hits) and he was also great in directing Furius 7 which I thought was 1 of the best of the Fast & Furious series. Anyway after seeing this movie I felt that it was a wonderful decision. The movie was greatly done especially during the action sequence and the storytelling was nice as my wife and I did not feel bored even if it had more than 2 hours duration (she could even hold herself from going to the restroom to avoid missing any scene).
As an origin superhero movie, this one was quite complete. It had the early touching scene of Arthur's family background story (which did affect my wife) though the jump direct to his adult life was a bit surprising as it made us felt a bit confused, especially with the references of some history which made us feel like we missed something. But luckily it was covered with some flash backs. I thought the story of how Arthur became the Aquaman with his unique weapon was nice. And the way Jason Momoa portray this character was wonderful. He managed to be consistent with his characterization since Justice League. I admit that I had my doubts of him becoming Aquaman as his physical appearance was a bit far off from what I remembered in comic books (Aquaman had blonde hair) but he did convinced me with his performance. The other characters were also great, such as Patrick Wilson as the villain (his looks was very cool and reminded us of Legolas in Lord of the Rings) and Amber Heard also suit her character as Mera with her unique ability.
The action sequence here were a lot, like really really a lot. Almost after some brief conversations/interactions, there would suddenly be some actions. And what I loved the most were definitely the great camera angle take on most of the scenes. I particularly loved the awesome fight in the beginning (which looked like taken from a single camera) and the best one was definitely the one in Italy. That was truly breathtaking. The special effects were fantastic and really stunning, especially those under water scenes. The way the bodies & hair moved in the water were realistic. Even the effects of making some of the cast looked younger than their age was amazing! The visualization of those sea creatures and the finale fight scene were totally magnificent (my wife literally screamed few times as well). And the sound effects were really put to good use as we were in awe of the water sound, or the loud explosions and etc. This was exactly why Dolby Atmos sound system perfect for such kind of movie.
One more factor that made me loved this movie was it felt quite light which might be a little uncommon for the usually dark tone of DC Extended Universe movies (except for Wonder Woman which probably explained why that movie was a major hit). This movie was fun, enjoyable, had some good (though a bit cheesy at times) humor and the chemistry of the characters (especially Aquaman and Mera) was quite convincing. But there was a pretty shocking kissing scene being cut by Indonesian censorship body which was inconsistent since there was another one of those that was not cut. It kind of ruined the moment I think and personally I thought it was a bit strange. Anyway there were no other scenes that were cut, even in one of the scene where I thought was a bit violent (involving a sword).
Btw, my wife and I waited for the whole end credit scene which was accompanied by 1 song that I thought was nice to listen titled Everything I Need by Skylar Grey. There was a mid end credit scene which hinted something for the sequel, but no post end credit scene.
Overall, I personally felt this one was one of the best superhero origin movie which I think should satisfy the neutral superhero movie fans. It had some spectacular visually stunning special effects, awesome action sequence, few emotional dramatic moments (one scene in particular towards the end was quite touching) and nice chemistry among the characters, with worthy adversaries for Aquaman. Hopefully this would be another hit for DC and could kickstart the more positive DCEU movies performances. So if you are looking for such qualities, you could definitely enjoy this movie (do not worry about the length of the movie, you would not feel bored with it).
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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