I got to see Aquaman during its opening weekend at the box office, and sadly, I will never get those two hours of my life back. This had to have been the worst addition into the DCEU yet, and by far the worst film I have ever seen in theatres. However, I suppose I am obligated to explain exactly what I hated about the film, and I truly hope that DC can do a lot better with their future projects.
The Acting
Despite having a cast composed of some amazing actors (Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, etc.), no one in this movie had a good performance. Every line felt forced and cheesy, and I think that James Wan is at blame for this. I know for a fact that Dafoe and Kidman are acting legends, and with the right direction, they are capable of much more than they showed.
However, Jason Momoa and Amber Heard are not. Aquaman‘s two stars just so happened to be the worst actors in the movie, and I feel like a better casting decision could have been made. Neither of them were acting. Heard was being her stoic, strange self, and Momoa was being the goofy tough guy that everyone knows. Even though most of the story was similar to the Throne of Atlantis storyline, Momoa was cracking random, silly jokes, and went from dark to silly in the snap of a finger.
Not to mention that he doesn’t even look like Aquaman. In every fight scene he was flipping his blonde highlighted hair out of his face and looking over his shoulder to say a stupid one-liner, and that is just not the Aquaman that I grew up with. Someone along the lines of Matt Damon or Charlie Hunnam that actually looks like the character would have made the entire film much better.
Black Manta
Despite debuting in such a horrible movie, Black Manta was not as bad as I had thought he would be. His methods and reasoning behind his actions reminded me a lot of the Marvel villain Killmonger, who received heavy critical acclaim. However, there were so many wasted opportunities in his arch. In the post-credits scene, he was picked up by Randall Park’s character, proposing a team-up for a future installment in the franchise.
Wouldn’t it have been so much better if it was Lex Luthor who pulled Black Manta out of the ocean? The Legion of Doom is currently composed of Lex Luthor and Deathstroke, two of DC’s most menacing villains, and I think that recruiting Black Manta into the fold would have created a lot of hype for the DCEU. While the future of the films is in jeopardy, especially with rumors of Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill leaving their respective roles, setting up Black Manta with a greater role in the future would have given fans something more to look forward to in the franchise.
James Wan
I touched on how I blame James Wan for Aquaman‘s poor performance earlier, but I truly like him as a director. The Conjuring and Saw are two classics of the horror genre, but perhaps that is where Wan should stay. A movie like Aquaman and a director like James Wan have no reason being together. I am sure that he did his absolute best to create the best movie he could, however, that just wasn’t enough. I believe that Zack Snyder, Joss Whedon, or really any other director that DC Comics might have considered would have made a better movie, and it is sad to see a talented director like Wan produce such a terrible product.
Conclusion
All in all, there’s not much I can say, it was just a bad movie. It’s hard to explain why it was bad, whether there was something missing or just too much variation from the source material, but the fact remains that I did not enjoy this film a single bit. To be completely honest, I expected this. I didn’t come into the theatre hating it before it started, but a little part of me was prepared for disappointment. I have not enjoyed a DCEU film since Man of Steel, which was made before a connected universe was even in the cards for DC. Perhaps this franchise just isn’t suited for the type of universe that Marvel has, and I would like to see it go back to just making singular, good movies.