Aquaman Movie Review

Major Spoilers are included in this movie review. Please read with caution.

I got around to watching Aquaman last night, and I found it entertaining. The problem? There wasn’t a “Why” to it all. The basic plot of the movie is Arthur Curry trying to reclaim the throne, so he can stop a war between Atlantis and the Surface World. I thought this should’ve been easy to pull off. Hell, Black Panther had a similar plot going on with two men fighting over their right to the throne. However, the CGI was incredibly gorgeous. A lot of people told me this was a good, maybe amazing movie, and here’s why they’re both right and wrong for having that opinion.

Yes, the movie is entertaining. Jason Mamoa plays a great Aquaman and brings the character back to glory by simply having a lot of fun. He gets drunk, loves to fight, and tends to get brutal too. His dialogue also reveals a lot about his character. At first, I thought he was the goofy guy stuck in a serious movie, but maybe it was everyone else who wasn’t aware what kind of movie this was.

Black Manta’s motives were hard to figure out. He wasn’t the only character with issues, but he’s the only one who proved super distracting. Then he suited up, and I thought that fight scene was insane, but my friends and I kept asking out loud, “Why does he want to kill Aquaman again?” Yes, because Arthur killed his father, but what was the reason before that… Why were they after him to begin with?

Mera could’ve been a cool character, but she was mostly there to convince Arthur Curry that he was worthy of the throne. She kept telling him over and over again. I wondered why she she didn’t want the throne for herself. The question of “Why” is all over the place for me. I think the run time was longer than usual because she kept annoying him to want the throne.

I wish they turned the brief flashbacks of Arthur Curry training as a kid into full-on training montages. It could’ve prepared him better for the battle against his half-brother, Orm and explain further how he got so strong plus it could’ve flesh out the bond Aquaman has with his mentor, Vulko. I didn’t get a strong sense of Vulko other than his need to explain things.

Overall, an entertaining movie with lots of issues involving plot and character. For some reason, I enjoyed watching it. Let’s hope the sequel improves on these glaring flaws.