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Spoilers Aquaman - Grading and Discussion

Grade the Movie

  • Total voters
    64
Went in with no expectations and very little enthusiasm. DC movies haven't really been cutting it for me. I'm mostly apathetic towards Man of Steel, though Batman V Superman wasn't that well done at all. I enjoyed Wonder Woman, but Justice League really left a bad taste in my mouth and almost swore me off DC films altogether. As it was, I was having trouble deciding between this and Bumblebee and settled for Aquaman on account of it being on at a more convenient time.

But, damn! This movie completely blew me away. Gripping and awesome, the characters were wonderfully done, and the storyline was equal parts awesome action and effective emotional stuff. Even the villains were relatable and I could kind of see their perspectives on matters. I may actually be so bold as to call this 2018's best. I definitely do not regret choosing this movie at all.
 
I'm surprised at how well-received the film has been. A lot of folks who like it even have the same criticisms as me (the predictable, by the numbers plot; the shallow characterization, etc.), only it doesn't bother them as much.

I felt both Black Manta and Orm were badly cast, with performances utterly bland and devoid of charisma. I saw someone online say the guy who played Manta's father would have been way better in the Manta role itself, and I couldn't agree more.

And while it's not really a criticism of this movie, I'll just add, because I'm dying to express this unpopular opinion: The "full-blood Atlantean but taken in by a human + Tarzan of the dolphins" Aquaman origin is way more interesting than the "just like Namor" version the movie chose to go with. Does anyone else agree? I know that even Keith Giffen, the co-creator of the dolphin stuff, doesn't agree and has called it a mistake. But he's wrong, dammit.
 
I enjoyed this film quite a bit. It's got it's problems. I did feel it went on too long. But it delivered on the action, spectacle, and FX. It was a beautiful ride for the most part. DC did feel like they were going for broke with this film and I can't blame them for over stuffing the film because they were trying to give the audience something, anything, that they thought would appeal to us. Further, I felt that they were not taking a sequel for granted and gave Aquaman fans his two greatest villains in the same film.
 
A saw it a second time. Very likely my favorite modern DC superhero movie. If for no other reason it has the most effective and interesting villains. I have never seen anything James Wan has directed before this. On this alone I think he would make a great Star Wars director
 
Can't believe I forgot to mention, this movie's soundtrack is freaking amazing! I'm not referring to the instrumental incidental music (although that is damn fine itself) but rather the actual songs played through the movie. Ocean to Ocean by Pitbull featuring Rhea stands out as one of the best songs I've heard in a while, and includes as its chorus a really great cover of Toto's Africa. I seriously never thought I would find myself saying anything positive about a Pitbull song. Skylar Grey's Everything I Need is also a damn fine piece of music.
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Agreed! Never expected to hear Roy Orbison’s song “Mystery Girl “ in this.

Yes the actual score is fantastic too. A lot of movies are trying to emulate the late 70s, 80s style and feel. Usually by setting in that period or making references to pop culture of that time. This does none of that but captures that feel better than most.

In addition to the music the visuals of Atlantis. The underwater dark light, day glow wonders remind me of the Enterprise’s journey through V’ger and the style of the original Tron. Actually it better evokes the look and feel of Tron than the actual sequel.

I will be seeing a third time no doubt. I grew up reading DC Comics but had at most a casual knowledge of Aquaman. I read a little of Peter David’s version. Seems that they took the best elements of the characters long history and combined it together. I loved that David gave him long hair and a beard. But missed the bold colors of the orignal costume. So this was the perfect look and Momoa is great in the role.
 
It was okay. Very predictable. Any time it got quiet, something would burst through the walls. Quite literally.
 
Adventure. Color. Fun! More of this, please, DC!

I really enjoyed it. I'd probably still put it second to Wonder Woman in the DCEU, but overall it was highly entertaining, despite a relatively simple and straightforward plot. This movie should have happened before Justice League, but that's an entirely different topic. I also appreciated that Aquaman spared Orm at the end, in contrast to his earlier decision with Black Manta's father (a moment which honestly made Black Manta more sympathetic than he probably should have been), and I'm curious to see if Orm will reconcile with his mother and brother or if he'll remain a villain going forward.
 
Just got out of a screening, and that was a lot of fun.

Like Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman before it, Aquaman found a perfect balance between the seriousness of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman and the sense of fun that has drawn general audiences to Marvel Studios' films without forcing one to "circumvent" the other the way that Justice League - despite being a very good film on the whole - did at times, and, in the process, made itself one of the best "solo" comic-book movies in history (IMO).

Jason Momoa, like Gal Gadot before him, took what he'd done in a supporting role and amped it up to 11, and asking the rest of his supporting cast to keep up... which, thankfulky but not surprisingly, they were able to do. I was particularly impressed with Willem Dafoe, whose performance as Vulko showed that he has the gravitas and range to play more than just the bad guy.

I was also super impressed with the music and VFX, with Pitbull's sampling of Toto's "Africa" and the designs of the Atlantean ships and locations being particularly memorable.

All in all, this film was a ton of fun and a very worthy addition to the DCEU, which I am hoping will be able to continue to flourish without executives bowing to public perceptions and pressure and sacrificing what Zack Snyder set up and the other films continued with varying degrees of success.
 
It was a good movie. Probably my 4th favourite DCEU movie. The score wasn’t that great which is my only real issue with it. Usually these DC movies have memorable scores which this sadly doesn’t.
No post credit scene to connect it to the universe as well.
 
Other thread was closed. Switched to this thread . . .


I enjoyed "Aquaman". I thought the movie was fun. But . . . I thought James Wan's direction was a bit raw and uneven. I can say the same about the editing. And I just didn't like the score very much. I would rank it slightly higher than "Justice League" because the narrative had a better finale.

It was nice seeing Randall Park in his second comic book movie for 2018.
 
Looking forward to seeing this. May have to wait until streaming to see it. With limited funds to see movies in theaters I went with Bumblebee which did not disappoint.
 
Starscream2112 said:
Looking forward to seeing this. May have to wait until streaming to see it. With limited funds to see movies in theaters I went with Bumblebee which did not disappoint.
Click to expand...
Really? I found the Bumblebee movie rather boring. Felt like a TV movie.
 
More good news on the Box Office front.

Aquaman ruled over Christmas Day with a whopping $22.065 million Tuesday gross. That’s a 102% jump from its $10.9m Christmas Eve gross. Its $22 million single-day gross puts it in sixth place among all Christmas Day grosses behind The Force Awakens ($49m on day eight in 2015), The Last Jedi ($27m on day 11 in 2017), Rogue One ($25.8m on day ten in 2016), Avatar ($23m on day eight in 2009), Sherlock Holmes (a $24m opening day in 2009).

It has now earned $105.75m in five days of domestic release, already pacing above Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($100m in five days). Yes, Hobbit opened a week earlier, but that’s still incredibly encouraging.
Click to expand...
 
Tosk said:
Out of curiosity, how many male characters are there if you remove all the husbands/fathers and boyfriends?
Click to expand...

Blimey - far too many to count! That's the point I was making. Literally armies of men, plus male mercenaries.

In fairness, I did forget about the female bartender at the start of the movie so, you know, I don't think she was expressly stated to be a girlfriend or mother, albeit I think all her customers at the bar were men.
 
Pauln6 said:
Blimey - far too many to count! That's the point I was making. Literally armies of men, plus male mercenaries.
Click to expand...
Personally, I don't count CGI hordes as characters. Plus, is it a story point that women aren't allowed in the "army" or is that an assumption? (Real question, I haven't seen it.)
 
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