Rate and review A Q U A M A N

[harlequinade]

I hear you, man. I dunno, I responded to Jason's take on the character. To me, it felt like he was having fun in the role and brought charisma to it. I'm sure even @harlequinade would agree that Jason's not one of our great modern thesbians, neither is Gal Gadot, but both Wan and Patty made a movie around their strengths. Even in the movie itself theres a scene where Jason/Arthur seemingly acknoweldges that hes nothing more than a "blunt instrument." But I think his repartee with Heard added some layers to him.

But I also think he brought a fun charm to the role and he was badass. Jason's job was to show people Aquaman aint a joke and I think a lot of other actors would've looked silly in that golden fishscale armor swinging around that trident and riding sea creatures. Mamoa, for me, sold it because he was acting like a rockstar while doing it.

One simply cannot drag Jason and stan Hemsworth at the same time. Nope. If Hardy stan wants to do that, sure, Jason is not as good as Hardy. But he is above both Gadot and Heard imho.

 

[Patchwork Man]

I grew up with those too. Most modern day action movies lack of the heart/charm of those you're referring to. They also weren't 2.5 hour big budget CGI spectacles and and were much tighter films so-as not to overstay their welcome. There was also something very signature about all the leads that you purposely went to see - whether it was Van Damme's martial arts or Stallone's and Arnold's eccentricities (not to mention Arnold's out of this world physique).

What's is Mamoa selling? Looking good with one's shirt off is a dime a dozen now with heroes on screen. He doesn't have a special fight technique or a definable accent and he doesn't have an arsenal of one-liners that will be quoted for decades to come. In this one we got gems like "Swamp butt", "I could have just pissed on it" and "I can't wait to kick your ass in the ring of fire!" Watching Patrick Wilson chew scenery as his counterpart really exposed Mamoa as an actor and I didn't walk away from it going "He is so Aquaman!" like I did with example Hemsworth as Thor (I literally can't even separate the two anymore LOL). They created "Aquamoa Man" instead of "Aquaman".

Actually, Momoa does have some good lines, but his best was probably "I'm a blunt instrument, and I'm damn good at it." Now that may not have jumped out at you, but that kind of line exudes simplicity and humility, the latter echoed again in his meeting with Karathen, i.e. the real moment when Arthur Curry finally accepts his destiny.

I think you're selling Momoa a little short there, charisma-wise. Momoa led the film just fine. It wasn't the Black Panther effect where the lead gets blown away by any other actor sharing the screen with him 100% of the time. And Momoa's no-bs fight scenes looked a thousand times better than Boseman's.

 

[harlequinade]

Also Momoa actually matched Kidman in their scene together.

The less is said about Amber when she shared the screen with Nicole, the better....

 

[JtheDreamer]

I hear you, man. I dunno, I responded to Jason's take on the character. To me, it felt like he was having fun in the role and brought charisma to it. I'm sure even @harlequinade would agree that Jason's not one of our great modern thesbians, neither is Gal Gadot, but both Wan and Patty made a movie around their strengths. Even in the movie itself theres a scene where Jason/Arthur seemingly acknoweldges that hes nothing more than a "blunt instrument." But I think his repartee with Heard added some layers to him.

But I also think he brought a fun charm to the role and he was badass. Jason's job was to show people Aquaman aint a joke and I think a lot of other actors would've looked silly in that golden fishscale armor swinging around that trident and riding sea creatures. Mamoa, for me, sold it because he was acting like a rockstar while doing it.

Yes, you're right the directors were creating movies around their strengths, but that list isn't very long for either one of those two. For Mamoa - 2.5 hours of a blunt instrument is a bit much for some people like myself.

 

[JtheDreamer]

Actually, Momoa does have some good lines, but his best was probably "I'm a blunt instrument, and I'm damn good at it." Now that may not have jumped out at you, but that kind of line exudes simplicity and humility, the latter echoed again in his meeting with Karathen, i.e. the real moment when Arthur Curry finally accepts his destiny.

I think you're selling Momoa a little short there, charisma-wise. Momoa led the film just fine. It wasn't the Black Panther effect where the lead gets blown away by any other actor sharing the screen with him 100% of the time. And Momoa's no-bs fight scenes looked a thousand times better than Boseman's.

He has charisma - that's what got him the role. Again, is it the kind that can lead a movie this large in scale and this long? That's where he fails because the longer he goes the more the shortcomings start to reveal themselves. He's a good riff in spots, but it doesn't make a coherent lead for me personally.

Wasn't a fan of Black Panther and you're totally right about Boseman being shown up by another actor in the same movie.

 

[JtheDreamer]

Jason doesn't have 'limited acting ability' but you are entitled to your takes.

Show me a scene Mamoa spit out like Hemsworth trading fury with his father in "Thor" before he's banished from Asgard. It doesn't exist. That's what I mean by acting abilty. Mamoa is just a happy-go lucky guy with great looks and a great physique masquerading as an actor. There's lots of them in Hollywood.

 

[harlequinade]

Show me a scene Mamoa spit out like Hemsworth trading fury with his father in "Thor" before he's banished from Asgard. It doesn't exist. That's what I mean by acting abilty. Mamoa is just a happy-go lucky guy with great looks and a great physique masquerading as an actor. There's lots of them in Hollywood.

Oh God. Ok it's Christmas Eve so I will play nice.

- the scene where he is tortured in Frontier and he finds out what really happened to his family
- the scene where he gives up in the end of Road to Paloma
- the scene where he finds out why he was essentially banished in The Red Road

You didn't see these and I bet you won't see these. But it is your right to write uninformed takes on the Internet.

 

[JtheDreamer]

Oh God. Ok it's Christmas Eve so I will play nice.

- the scene where he is tortured in Frontier and he finds out what really happened to his family
- the scene where he gives up in the end of Road to Paloma
- the scene where he finds out why he was essentially banished in The Red Road

You didn't see these and I bet you won't see these. But it is your right to write uninformed takes on the Internet.

You are taking this way too personally. Thank you for the conversation.

 

[harlequinade]

Yeah merry xmas lol

 

[Patchwork Man]

Oh God. Ok it's Christmas Eve so I will play nice.

- the scene where he is tortured in Frontier and he finds out what really happened to his family
- the scene where he gives up in the end of Road to Paloma
- the scene where he finds out why he was essentially banished in The Red Road

You didn't see these and I bet you won't see these. But it is your right to write uninformed takes on the Internet.

Cool movie.

 

[harlequinade]

Road to Paloma is great, I wish he directed more!

 

[Patchwork Man]

What, no Trench thread? Wait, what are you two discussing?

 

[kguillou]

There's actors that can disappear in roles and impress you with their range and versatility and then there's actors who more or less just act as themselves but their natural charisma makes it enough so that you dont care...like The Rock. People go see Rock movies because he plays himself in every movie just wearing a different hat. This is most definitely Mamoa as Aquaman and I think that might be a make it or break it point for a lot of people. If you dig Mamoa's brash, raucous, rockstar personality it'll go down easy for you but if not...yeah it'll be rough.

But, my argument would be that I think Aquaman as a character, needed someone, if not Jason, LIKE Jason to breathe life and personality into the character as I'm not sure a traditional take on Arthur Curry would've resonated with audiences that much.

 

[JtheDreamer]

There's actors that can disappear in roles and impress you with their range and versatility and then there's actors who more or less just act as themselves but their natural charisma makes it enough so that you dont care...like The Rock. People go see Rock movies because he plays himself in every movie just wearing a different hat. This is most definitely Mamoa as Aquaman and I think that might be a make it or break it point for a lot of people. If you dig Mamoa's brash, raucous, rockstar personality it'll go down easy for you but if not...yeah it'll be rough.

But, my argument would be that I think Aquaman as a character, needed someone, if not Jason, LIKE Jason to breathe life and personality into the character as I'm not sure a traditional take on Arthur Curry would've resonated with audiences that much.

If they were to have done a traditional take - then they would have needed an actor who could lift the material up. Otherwise, yes I see the strategic reason in letting Mamoa be himself in this.

But ya, you reiterated why the role didn't work for me personally. I mentioned in the Orm thread how much more I liked Wilson's performance than anyone else's in this movie.

 

[Mr.T]

Just saw it tonight with the family. It was a decent movie. The first and final acts were good. Final act delivered and was well done. The middle of the movie damn near hit the level of network TV superhero show bad. Some cringe worthy moments and the score was just plain awful during this time.

Mamoa was ok and played the part well. Loved the aqua man suit at the end. Some of the CGI looked weird but overall it was ok. My wife and kids loved it. The general public should as well.

6.5/10

 

[dhandler01]

All fair reviews nice job fam!

 

[writer0327]

Positives: Momoa totally soaks himself into this role. Loved Wilson as well. Kidman and Dafoe were solid as always, those are two of the most professional, A1 actors in the business. Love it overtime I can catch them on the big screen. Was pleasantly surprised with some of the emotion I felt watching this movie, it has little bits of heart that really worked. Visuals were off the charts and I was pretty impressed with the fight scenes and choreography. As far as the story itself, I hear a lot of comparisons to Black Panther, but I didn't see that at all. It was a much different story. A little disjointed, a lot of material was thrown at us and only some of it was relevant, but it totally crushed it at the end. I felt the second half of the film was 10x better than the first half, and honestly the final battle was probably one of the best final battles I've seen since the first Avengers.

Negatives: Heard was ho-hum. Nothing special. The Aquaman/Mera romance also felt really forced....although this romance was done far, far better here, I felt shades of the Clark/Lois romance in Man of Steel. The runtime was a bit long and the script meanders around. The dialog was shaky in a lot of ways. Script could have used another draft to shore up a few of those clunky story beats. But my biggest complaint is that Black Manta was not used nearly enough. A straight travesty..

I saw it in IMAX because I wanted the full effect of the visuals and it was well worth the $15. An absolutely spellbinding movie to look at.

A rock solid film experience, not the best comic book film of the year, but it didn't need to be. Just keep this formula DC and everything will be okay. 8/10

 

[-Arya-]

I really liked it despite some issues with pacing. Sometimes I felt it moved too fast in the 2nd act in order to get to the next set piece. Also I felt like it relied on spectacle a bit too much. I would have rather seen Wan devote more screen time to flesh out the characters instead. Having said that, I totally loved Orm and Black Manta. BM especially was really well done. Jason Mamoa was charming and commanding as Arthur and Mera was good as well. I enjoyed their chemistry. It wasn’t as good as Diana and Steve, but good nonetheless. The most surprising thing to me was the fantastic backstory of Arthur’s parents. Really well done and the emotional moments landed for me. The action is breathtaking and overall I just had a lot of fun. I definitely want to watch it again.

Though I voted a 7 in the poll I’d give it a solid 7.5/10; May end up rounding it to an 8 upon rewatching the movie.

Ever since 2016 when BvS came out I’ve been deflated as a DC fan by the state of the DCEU. So much so that I left this forum until Wonder Woman came along and reinvigorated my enthusiasm. That was short lived thanks to the disastrous reception of Justice League (still haven’t seen it). Now with Aquaman I once again feel my excitement build for the future of DC movies. Bring on Shazam!

 

[Flint Marko]

Though I voted a 7 in the poll I’d give it a solid 7.5/10; May end up rounding it to an 8 upon rewatching the movie.

7.5 is exactly where I landed upon exciting the movie. 8 feels too high but I had too much fun to just give it a 7.

 

[inomilan]

Wilson did the best acting in this film for sure

 

[FunkMiller]

Solid 7/10 for me.

Big, dumb, comic book movie. Nothing less. Nothing more.

Momoa great. Heard weak. Supporting cast very solid. Pacing good. Direction more than adequate.

Not enough story. Too cliched by half. But it all made sense! Character development written by a four year old.

Excellent cgi combat sequences. Great, expansive world building. Everyone clearly having fun.

Enough to just about begin to wash away Snyder’s immature attempts at depth and gravitas.

I’d like more time spent on character in the sequel, and a little less cgi bloat.

 

[Willi Berg]

I really enjoyed the movie! Momoa is in full on beast mode and I like when the fights got brutal, esp. with Black Manta.

Atlantis was wacky af. I liked that Wan went all-out. I liked the Atlantis origin. Sure the adventure/quest was simple, but it was entertaining enough.

I admit I was expecting more political intrigue, and more about the world of Atlantis. But this very much felt like a start, an origin.

The sea battles were spectacular, though they felt somewhat broad and at a distance- there was so much going on. It would be nice to see it in the future be more specific and intricate. Here it was more operatic and grand, everything thrown at you.

But what I want from the future is to get more into the nitty-gritty of the story- the politics, the relationships, the worlds of Atlantis etc. Now they can really delve into all the kingdoms more.

It was great to see Atlantis come to life, though. Amazing. Made me want even more!

I would rate it 8/10.

I am happy that Aquaman/Arthur is all set.

And Mera, another female superhero!

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

I liked it a lot. And I didn't have high expectations.

A lot of shaky moments, from acting to VFX, but what it was doing overall was just awesome.

8.5/10 for me. Favorite DCEU movie for me. More flaws than Wonder Woman, yes, but higher highs throughout.

 

[MaceB]

My reaction is mostly negative unfortunately.

I didn't like the art direction of this movie. I didn't like how Atlantis was a technological wonder. I didn't like the bulky suits that the military enemies wear. I didn't like Mera's ruby red hair. The whole thing came off too much as a cartoon for my liking.

None of the relationships felt authentic and earned. From top to bottom, every single character relationship felt forced.

I couldn't really speak to Momoa's acting ability, but he was pretty one note here, unfortunately. I could see him being used really well as a supporting character in all kinds of roles... but his portrayal comes off more as a caricature than anything else.

This movie was very episodic... you go from one battle moment to the next. The only really connecting tissue was the mother father relationship, which was done fairly well.. but pretty much felt disconnected from the main plot. As such, focusing on Arthur can be hard, because this doesn't feel like this is the story of his path to manhood... he feels like a passenger in all this, and this whole 'accepting your greatness' motivation was appropriate, but never really put center stage IMO. When he gets the throne, I was left thinking, "okay... but is this what he really wants? Is this what's right for him?" The movie kind of assumes we'll think so, but we just don't get to delve deep enough into Arthur to see why he'd want this.

The danger of movies that go all-out-fun like this is that the stakes can feel small, and that was certainly the case here. The hero is cut along his back and leg... but the wound is never brought up again... no one is really under the notion that the good guys could actually lose here. This whole movie feels weightless.

The dialogue and the laugh lines were not great IMO.

On the plus side,

The pacing was good. The action was fun. Black Manta had a cool design and a cool fight scene. I liked the Arthur talking to the monster scene - cool and one of the few heartfelt moments. I like that this wasn't a prequel, but instead, was action that happened after Justice League.

 

[Flash525]

Well I'm giving this an 8/10. It was entertaining, and that's what I went in for. You could argue that if Clark knew Lois was in danger (and turned up shortly after the chaos started) then he should have been able to make it to Italy when fishermen and a red eyed soldier started shooting up the place, but we'll overlook that.

As discussed with friends, there were quite a few comparisons to Black Panther in this;

• Both protagonists were fighting their relation for the throne
• Both protagonists were initially defeated
• Both protagonists offered mercy at the end of their victory
• Both protagonists became King of a technologically advanced city
• Both protagonists wanted to help/save the rest of the world
• Both antagonists wanted to use their would-be position of King to control/destroy the rest of the world
• Both protagonists had an aid that was caught out (Zuri/Valko)
• Both protagonists get a nice new suit
• Many innocents die servicing a false/corrupt King

But there's always going to be similarities with these kinda' films. It'll be interesting to see where the sequel takes us, as I'm sure this made enough money for there to be a sequel. I'd like to see (as someone else has mentioned) the opposite side of what transpired here in that the surface world starts to amass an army to control the ocean world; it's certainly something our powers that be would do.

I suppose we could then get some cameos from the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman and such; these are surface heroes who protect and it would be interesting to see them working with Arthur for peace, though we obviously wouldn't want them in the film too much, and we'd not want them fighting (cause Superman can apparently take Arthur with ease - thanks Zack).

I'm curious too, but (in the comics) have any of the JL members been invited to Atlantis?