Aquaman (watched December 10, 2018)

I got to attend a very early screening of another HIGHLY anticipated superhero origin story... and it was absolutely amazing. As most of the world is, I am a huge fan of Jason Momoa and genuinely hoped he would breathe new life into the DC movie world. Well, Aquaman does just that and MORE. In general, Aquaman is a lot less dark than its DC movie predecessors, such as Batman vs. Superman and Justice League. Those films seemed to have been made with a sort of sadistic, twisted take, perhaps to offer something a bit different from Marvel; but, it often times came off as forced and disingenuous. That is not the case here.

Aquaman tells the history behind how Aquaman came to be born and then why he chose to live on land despite all of the power he wields when under water; but, it does so without painting an overly bleak depiction of his surroundings or situation. In fact, Aquaman comes off as being completely at peace with sharing beers with his dad and community fans of his, whenever he’s not helping save lives from underwater tragedy. But, it is an unknown part of Aquaman’s past that brings him to confront exactly who he is and what he represents to the great, “lost” people of Atlantis. With the help of the beautiful Mera(played by Amber Heard), Aquaman finally dives into his past, in a series of events and scenes that feels so reminiscent of the Black Panther story in the sense that we see an already established “super powered” protagonist evolve into a “hero” in the most traditional sense, while the ride the audience is taken on along the way is incredibly entertaining. The audience grows to understand Aquaman as a person because we are literally brought along his journey, which is full of laughs, thrills and, naturally, a LOT of spills. And even before we ever see Aquaman as he is usually thought of, Nicole Kidman steals the hearts of everyone in her introductory role as his mother Atlanna throughout the first twenty minutes of the film.

The fight scenes (which come soon and often) are spectacular, just as the graphics and CGI are. Despite being a beefy 2 hours and 20 minutes long, no scene seems unnecessary or of the filler kind, although it may not seem so at the moment, because everything is tied together so neatly in the end. Definitely stick around for a post-credits scene, which seems to set up the sequel. This film is an easy 3.5 reps out of 5; and, I will be seeing it multiple times, just as I did when Black Panther finally released. To get the full effect, definitely watch this one in theaters at least once.