Spoilers Aquaman - Grading and Discussion

[dahj]

The movie already opened in China to impressive numbers and audience scores, it opens this week in (parts of) Europe and South America before finally landing in the US and elsewhere next week so it's time for a good old grading and discussion thread.

The review embargo lifts later today, so critics reviews should be coming in soon if you're into that sorta thing.

Once you've seen it kindly give your opinion of the movie in question, in the form of a fish pun if you must...

 

[dahj]

For those waiting for reviews the offishal(sorry, so sorry, my first and last fish pun in the thread) critics consensus is in:

Aquaman swims with its entertainingly ludicrous tide, offering up CGI superhero spectacle that delivers energetic action with an emphasis on good old-fashioned fun.

Sounds neat, I'm booked for Saturday, see you on the other tide side.

 

[thribs]

Apologies for creating the other thread. I didn’t see this one. Just the pre release one.

“Could have just peed on it.” My favourite line as I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I saw it a couple of days ago, and loved every minute. Very likable characters (perhaps a little too much so in the case of Black Manta), an epic story and amazing, imaginative visuals.

 

[Jax]

Very good and another example of what happens WB, when you let the Director do his/her thing just like Wonder Woman. Aquaman looks amazing, the action pieces were well put together and the underwater setting for large parts must of been a real challenge to the vision of James Wan to pull off and I thought the cast especially Jason really did a good job with the material handed to them.

This movie made me wish even more that WB had done more standalones before the team up's and it really needs to keep it's focus there and build up it's heroes before going back to attempt any Justice League/Darkseid follow up from the financial disaster and critically mixed 2017 JL movie.

I was pleased that the finale didn't have Aquaman slay his brother because there's potential there for those to have Thor/Loki esq relationship in future movies. Also who would of thought you could of pulled off the character and the look of Aquaman and make it look dam cool

I do think the current 70%+ on RT won't hold come US reviews next week as DC isn't allowed to have flaws and this is a Phase 1++ film, when compared to MCU at the same stage, so there's polish needed still, which I'm sure the future sequels will have.

 

[John Clark]

Just back from seeing it. I enjoyed itand thought it was a lot of fun.

 

[dahj]

Saw it this evening, had a blast.

If I had to sum up the review in one word it would be:

I'll type some more words tomorrow.

 

[dahj]

I promised more words, the thread is marked with a Spoiler tag, but I'll say it again just in case.

THERE BE SPOILERS HERE

The story is basically the standard hero's journey, it doesn't deviate much form the usual traditions... it has a bad guy that kind of has a point(which is a always a plus if they aren't just bad because they're bad), but chooses a method that's a bit of an overkill, which sends our reluctant hero on a quest to stop him that leads across several trials and exotic locations to achieve that goal and realize that the true hero was hiding inside all along.

If one were to look at it simply as a story it's nothing we haven't seen a thousand times, but it's wrapped in a fun, borderline cheesy packaging(it even has villains using the line "Call me [villain name]" and it's glorious! ), it builds an immersive world, the action scenes use imaginative camera work and thankfully no shaky cam or quick cuts for some impressive sequences, it's never boring, always bonkers and a joy throughout.

Bottom line is, it's a fun adventure fantasy epic spectacle with some wonderful cinematography, it doesn't try to be anything more than that, and it's very enjoyable for what it is.

A few additional short remarks:

That. Kiss. Worth the price of admission alone.

Julie freaking Andrews kicking ass. I love it.

Atlanna was channeling her inner Oliver Queen there with the bow and arrow being trapped on The Lost Sea.

 

[EmoBorg]

It opened in Singapore as well. Well overall an action packed adventure movie. Nicole Kidman is still hot. Jason Momoa looking good. Big fan of him since SGA.

I am not a fan of Amber Heard.

Two different type of bad guys. One King and one Pirate, both hating the small town raised hero. What's not to like.

 

[Jax]

Box Office numbers a very good so far...

$261 million oversea's so far and the early screenings DC's took in $2.9 million, surpassing last year's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle at the same stage.

 

[dahj]

It's gonna be hilarious if Aquaman becomes the highest grossing DCEU movie, and possibly the first to break the billion mark.

 

[Jax]

I don't see Aquaman having the legs of a WW movie even though Christmas movies do seem to go on & on sometimes after string starts. I feel it will beat JL and could beat SS and hopefully WB will stick with building up the world around a core main of characters. WB seem a little aimless at the moment as they are just greenlighting spinoffs before they do the core stuff.

WB just take your time, comic book movies are not going anywhere.

TBF they could focus on solo movies full stop and let us get Aquaman/WW/Flash trilogies and move onto Batgirl instead of Batman and even Supergirl over Superman.

I want Green Arrow too

 

[Captaindemotion]

As someone who has liked but not loved most of the DCEU movies, I enjoyed this one and would rank it alongside MOS or DOJ as the best.

Momoa is a likeable, fun reluctant hero. Nicole Kidman kicks ass and is gorgeous (as someone who was around for superhero movies in the 1990s, I feel a little old when I think that the female leads from Batman Forever and Judge Dredd, both from 1995, are the screen mothers of Aquaman and Superman respectively!) while Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison and Patrick Wilson are all reliable. Amber Heard’s character is a damsel who is thankfully not in distress and who rescues Arthur more often than he rescues her but she gets lumbered with some awful dialogue.

The visuals are gloriously OTT, in the same way that eg Thor: Ragnarok or Doctor Strange are but have their own visual style. I’d like to see the drumming octopus become this year’s flame-breathing guitar!

The film is a little overlong and some scenes could’ve been cut. The Manta Ray story could’ve been kept for a sequel. The plot isn’t particularly original - a mix of Black Panther, Thor and King Arthur (or Splash!) but it works nonetheless.

I vote B. Disclaimer though - my friend who I saw it with hated it. He liked Momoa and the dry land stuff but hated the whole look of the underwater stuff. FWIW, he and I both liked DOJ & MOS, both hated WW and he hated Suicide Squad while I thought it was an enjoyable mess.

 

[Forbin]

Dang, Can't imagine hating WW. But then again I hated MoS and most of DoJ, so, ya know, to each his own.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I just came home from seeing it. I loved it! I grew up a DC fan but Aquaman never did much for me. But everything worked for me. The casting, the visuals. Oh boy the wonderful visuals!!! I always hoped and thought Aquaman and Atlantis would work better in movies than comics because of the potential of the beautiful cinematic ocean imagery. This surpassed any expectations on that. Great adventure film and well shot action scenes.

 

[The Realist]

Surprised there isn't more discussion of this. Saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it, more so as it went along and its worldbuilding and ambition seemed to grow (and grow, and grow). It's a grand-scale sensory overload of a movie. I still need to digest it further (and likely see it again), but I think it may be my favorite DCEU entry after Wonder Woman. It's just that fun.

My pleasure was perhaps enhanced by the fact that I have little experience and less investment in Aquaman as a character, and I wasn't altogether enamored of Momoa's "Whoo-hoo!" take in Justice League. So I was able to appreciate the film without much in the way of expectations or preconceptions. (Thankfully, despite what the trailers led me to fear, Momoa does employ actual words in the movie, not just hoots and hollers.)

One thing that I like about the DCEU as it's developed is the way it's gradually revealed all these hidden wonders in its world. Apparently, before Superman's public appearance, it was superficially a fairly mundane place much like ours, and the public was generally unaware of anything beyond that (except perhaps the urban myth of the Batman). But as the series has unfolded, especially with the various flashbacks and histories that have been revealed, we've learned that it was a world that already harbored Amazons and Atlanteans and the ancient magical beings of Suicide Squad. And the populace has become aware of these things too. It's like Superman opened a door, and in just a few short years, all these wonders great and terrible have poured forth into public view. What an existential game-changer all this must be for the ordinary person in that world.

 

[Jax]

From Box Office Mojo...

Performing almost exactly as expected, WB's release of Aquaman easily took the #1 spot at the weekend box office with an estimated $67.4 million over the course of the three-day weekend and a cume that now stands at $72.1 million once you include the $4.7 million in grosses from pre-weekend Amazon Prime showings. The film is now expected to deliver around $105 million over the course of its first five days, which ends on Christmas Day, routinely the busiest day at the box office all year. The film received an "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences and played to an opening weekend crowd that was 55% male and 58% aged 25 years or older.

Overall, the performance ranks as one of the top ten December openings of all-time, though it is sixth largest debut within WB's DC Extended Universe. That last note, however, will be an interesting stat to watch as Aquaman has enjoyed some of the best reviews of the franchise from audiences, who seem to be enjoying it to the tune of an 86% audience rating on RottenTomatoes.

Worldwide, the film is the #1 release at the global box office for the third week in a row, bringing in another $91.3 million overseas this weekend from 70 markets for an international cume that now stands at $410.7 million and a global tally totaling $482.8 million. Comparing to all overseas markets in release, WB reports Aquaman is tracking as the highest grossing film in the DC Universe (+22% higher than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, +52% higher than Justice League and +86% ahead of Wonder Woman). The film's top market remains China with an impressive $232.8 million, which ranks as the seventh highest grossing imported title in the market all-time. The film also debuted in South Korea this weekend with $9.9 million along with openings in France ($6.2m), Germany ($4.2m), Spain ($2.8m) and Hong Kong ($2.7m). The film will open in Australia on December 26 followed by openings in Italy (Jan 1) and Japan (Feb 8).

 

[Pauln6]

Visually stunning but a bit cliché. The politics of Atlantis were a bit infantile. I'm sure regicide carries some sort of criminal sanction. The absolute power of monarchs who have a single advisor and a couple of guards if they're lucky does look like it belongs in a fifties comic.

Once again, the women are primarily wives/mothers and girlfriends. Strip them out and the only other women are princess who gets one line, a little girl who puts a coin in a wishing well, and an old lady with no lines at all. Compare that to Black Panther, that's shockingly poor.

 

[Tosk]

Out of curiosity, how many male characters are there if you remove all the husbands/fathers and boyfriends?

 

[Jax]

Just remove all the people with gender(s) and people with arms, legs and eyes and then you've just got...

Fish?