Aquaman

There are moments of awkwardness in the movie, but the stroy is engaging and full of intricate details. The visuals are stunning, too. James Wan definitely did an amazing job with the right cast. I can't think of a better actor to take the role of Aquaman than Jason Momoa. I will give it an A-.

As in a movie by Sergio Leone:

The good: 1) excellent special effects; 2) the actors Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison and Willem Dafoe.

The bad: 1) globally average and predictable scenario which does not hold water (ha... ha... ha...); 2) a few jokes barely funny (even less than mine); 3) dialog not very gentle, far away from the Batman trilogy; 4) In a general way, Jason Momoa with a brain within charismatic biceps.

The ugly: in the middle of the film, we may see Aquaman on a boat, with Mera. Aquaman on a boat? Aquaman on a boat?!!!!!? And why not Superman on a push scooter? What a pathetic non-sense!

Synthetically: a middling pop corn movie.

What's with the 10 out of 10 reviews? really?. Sure it's probably the best (or second best) DC Justice league era, but that's not difficult. Like all the other offerings, it's overblown, wooden, one dimensional and over reliant on over the top CGI. As a child I was always a DC fan and I want them more than anything to bring this thing together, but Marvel have certainly laid down a tough marker for how it should be and DC still haven't met that challenge. The main thing missing from the film is charm and simplicity, sure Momoa just about saves the day and I think he can develop Aquaman into a loved character, and the film is a step in the right direction. But 10 out of 10 it most certainly isn't.

There is no reason that I know for why Aquaman turned into the modern CGI version of The Little Mermaid, liberally mixed with Aladdin and The Lion King. I mean, yeah, Black Panther was mostly Lion King, but it was interesting and fun and the world building was not bad. Aquaman feels cartoonish from the start to the very end. The pointless CGI, Heard's horrible wig, all the fairy tale characters that seek to show us how they are superior to people on the surface who have grown up reading about single dimensional characters like them, the predictability that one can find in children stories only. To be honest, the feeling I have most about this film is outrage. It is condescending and dumb. It's the Hollywood version of Homer telling Bart he's stupid.

And then there is the cast. Jason Momoa, who I liked in Atlantis, the Stargate one, because he was supposed to have only one dimension. Amber Heard, who hasn't had a good role in ages and sporting that eye soar of a bad wig, Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe getting their paychecks. And Dolph Ludgren? WTF? The main character of this story was Patrick Wilson's, he had the most relevant scenes, he was the only one who actually looked like he gave a damn about his performance. He is the true king of the film!

Bottom line, it was so dumb it was offensive.

There was embarrassing writing, embarrassing acting, and listening to Amber Heard trying to deliver this terrible dialogue with zero inflection was exhausting. Why does half of the population of Atlantis sound like they're from California? The dialogue was never more than cliche with a predictable plot. The "advanced ancient civilization hidden away from the world" trope is already old. There was so much CGI that none of the action ever felt impressive or tense or real. Any time someone said "Ocean Master" with a straight face I wanted to laugh.

This would've been the perfect movie to not take itself too seriously, go for a more lighthearted and irreverent tone like Thor Ragnarok, but they just try so hard. It has none of the superhero charm that Marvel manages to carry over from the comics and thus you have one very long boring slog.

How many scenes did we need where a quiet moment was interrupted by an exploding wall that didn't hurt anybody? I counted three or four. Also, that paint-by-numbers forced romance - "Wow there was a surprise and now we're accidentally holding hands", "Wow there was an explosion or something and I grabbed you " - give me a break. And whoever put together the soundtrack for this film should be summarily executed.