Aquaman *** (2018, Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren) – Movie Review

Director James Wan’s Aquaman (2018) is enormous fun, an inventive visual banquet, a DC comic come to life on screen. I loved the way it is so surreal and bonkers, and makes absolutely no sense at all, whizzing from one incident to the next, one fight to the next, without a care in the world, this world or the undersea world.

Logic isn’t ever a factor in Aquaman, which doesn’t really have a story, just characters, places and situations. And that is just fine. How did they fit Sicily, Italy, into the movie? I still don’t know, but am glad they did. I like Sicily. It is quite a long movie at 143 minutes, but it keeps moving dynamically along, giving good, arguably great value. 

Even saddled with a daft character name like Arthur Curry, Jason Momoa is tremendous as Aquaman, or the man who would be king of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, if only his half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson) would get orf his throne. Luckily Arthur has got feisty young Mera (Amber Heard) and grim old Vulko (Willem Dafoe) to help him, though why he needs them heaven knows, because Arthur is a bloke who can really take care of himself. He is a very many man, indeed. It is a bit demeaning that he needs a girl to save his life, but then he soon saves her’s, so that’s all right then, and boy, wouldn’t you know, she isn’t at all grateful!

Eventually, as expected, Arthur and Orm fight it out in a my-trident-is-bigger-than-yours kind of contest, and it is a case of may the best man win. Or perhaps it is a case of may the man with the least silly name win.

How did Nicole Kidman feel about playing mum to both Arthur and Orm, one wonders? The posh actress Oscar winner is kind of slumming, and there will be no Oscar nominations for her Queen Atlanna, but she does it briskly and professionally enough. 

Amber Heard is OK as Mera but it is the Scarlett Johansson role and you miss Scarlett, and Amber is a horse of a different colour, while Willem Dafoe and Dolph Lundgren are kind of wasted and left on the watery sidelines as Vulko and King Nereus. It is good that they are aboard anyway, and they may get more to do in the sequel. Probably Lundgren would have been better cast as King Orm.

The movie is a triumph for its visual effects, with Wan and Momoa also coming off the project with honours. An art work of CGI, their movie is astounding as a moving comic book. 

To save you ten minutes of your life, there is one more – important!- scene after the initial final credits, then nothing else after any more end crawl credits.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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