"What could be greater than a king? A hero."
Hello everyone!
I'm actually watching more current movies now, yay me! Haha.
It's one of those things that happen when you're so busy watching everything and anything you can, and occasionally there'll be slips and I'll be caught in some cycle of older movies before regrouping and jumping back into the present.
I'd wanted to see this one from the moment it was announced, but that being said I apparently needed some time to get to it.
DC is lagging a little bit in comparison to Marvel when it comes to their movie lineup; they're trying, but they just can't seem to find their stride and don't seem to have a specific vision or even look they're going for, which shows in the finished product. But it looks like they do VERY well with origin stories, which means that they might even be on the rise.
In all actuality, probably nothing will ever overcome the success that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but DCEU is trying its hardest.
And within that lineup, Aquaman is definitely one to watch!
I was super excited to watch Aquaman, primarily because I've always felt an affinity for the character and the way he's connected to the seas, but also because I'd seen the trailers and thoroughly enjoyed the look of it all. The writers promised us action, humour and some really good Atlantis legends, so I was all there for it!
Our story begins with Jango Fett and Nicole Kidman, who meet and fall in love despite the fact they really shouldn't have - it's told in voice-over by none other than Jason Momoa, by the by.
My father was a lighthouse keeper. My mother was a queen.
They were never meant to meet - but their love saved the world.
Anyway, Nicole portrays Atlanna, the then-princess of Atlantis who runs away from her arranged marriage, falls for a human, has little baby Arthur with him, and kicks some serious butt when Atlantean commandos come to drag her back underwater. After that, she does in fact leave but promises to return to the dock at sunrise ... at some point.
Years pass during which Arthur displays obvious signs of his Atlantean heritage, and is trained by Vulko, the vizier of the kingdom, though it's never actually explained how or why. Namely, a vizier is supposed to stick by the ruler's side, but Vulko spends a whole lot of time with Arthur without seemingly being noticed, and also, did Atlanna send him to train Arthur? Since we learn from him that the Atlanteans executed her after learning she'd had a child with a human, that doesn't seem likely in a working timeline, so this is a mystery never explained, but it's fun to see Willem Dafoe get a role that isn't the bad guy for once.
Arthur is heartbroken when he's told his mother is no longer alive, because he'd wanted to meet her for ages, and misses her. This is the main reason why he turns his back on Atlantis as a whole and sort of just jets around the global seas rescuing people in need of saving.
Like, say, a Russian submarine that's about to be pirated when he pops in and kicks some serious ass, leaves the father of the pirate duo to die stuck under a warhead, and gets his nemesis from the son who swears vengeance on this dude they call the Aquaman.
But hey, he makes it back home for sunrise to go and have breakfast with his father, after which they end up in a drinking game and Arthur takes selfies with his fans.
Heroes need the limelight, right? Right.
The Curry duo spend their day at this diner before Arthur goes to pack his slightly drunk father into the pickup truck to drive him home ... and encounters a lady at the docks.
Said lady is Mera (Amber Heard), come to plead with Arthur to take his rightful place as King of Atlantis over his brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), who is the current king, and who's planning to bring war to the surface because of pollution and other transgressions people have committed against Atlantis. He's allied with Mera's father, played by none other than Dolph Lundgren, and since being attacked by a submarine during this meeting, they're now planning to go for the other two tribes left of the seven that used to comprise Atlantis.
Once this happens, says Mera, Orm will declare himself Ocean Master, and then it's game over.
Sorry, not interested, says Arthur, but he gets interested by the time Orm unleashes a tsunami on the coastline and Mera rescues Arthur's father from death by drowning.
The two go to meet Vulko, who explains that the only way to defeat and dethrone Orm is to find the trident of King Atlan, the first king of Atlantis (conveniently played by Graham McTavish). Atlant's trident, unlike the ones normally used by Atlanteans, has immense powers, being made from Poseidon's steel, and the wielder would be the True King of Atlantis.
Sadly it looks like someone betrayed the little group, because Orm's soldiers attack, and while Mera and Vulko are able to hightail it out of there, Arthur is brought to Orm in chains (although a little longer in those chains and Orm might have gotten his face punched in since it took a whole lot of people to hold Arthur down). The half-brothers are set to fight in a duel, which is an accelerated timeline of what Mera had in mind. Oops?
Arthur gets his butt kicked, but Mera rescues him and the two flee the capital, their vehicle being shot down and them presumed dead while they hitch a ride with a whale to go to the place the Deserter tribe fled to after the Atlantis coalition fell apart.
Where's that?
The Sahara Desert.
Yup.
They find the ancient kingdom AND manage to read the message King Atlan left for his successors, as well as a map at the bottom of a bottle ... which they don't know how to read until they have a little history lesson in a seaside town where Arthur proves to Mera he could be a great king because he's the perfect blend of humanity and Atlantis genome.
That is, their little mini-romantic interlude of eating roses is interrupted by Black Manta, who, along with a team of elite Atlantean commandos we've seen before, attack the duo as per orders of King Orm.
Why?
Well, Orm lied to Mera's father about bringing her in alive, and he also stuck a tracker on her in the form of his mother's jewellery, so he could easily find them. He's also arranged for that initial attack on the underwater meeting to have an excuse to ally the tribes, and is working with Black Manta now, supplying him with weapons from Atlantis to kill Arthur.
That's still easier said than done, because Mera and Arthur manage to escape, though Arthur is gravely injured in the process, and while Orm is under the sea killing rightful kings and moving his battle forces to unite the remaining tribes, Mera patches Arthur up and they head to the Kingdom of the Trench, where unruly Atlanteans (like former Queen Atlanna) get sacrificed to one of the tribes that's gone full-on savage.
The duo manage to fight their way through what look to be Davy Jones rejects and reach a place that John Hammond would have LOVED, with its dinosaurs and tropical spaces. This is also where they encounter none other than Atlanna herself, who survived her execution but has been stranded ever since because the only way back is with Atlan's trident - and that thing's guarded.
Julie Andrews provides the voice of the guardian creature, and whacks Arthur around a little until he speaks with her, something that's a shock since she hasn't conversed with anyone since Atlan's day. She allows him to pass, and he pries the trident from Atlan's grip (apparently, the old King went into exile and sort of just ... faded away and died while sitting there holding the thing).
Emerging as the One True King Arthur leads an army of sea creatures against Orm, who's gone and attacked the last free kingdom lead by John Rhys Davies, but who gets sidetracked when Arthur pops up again.
Observation: it should be noted that Orm apparently stole his sweet ride from Jurassic World, and Arthur got his from Pacific Rim.
Mera begs with her father to stop the attack and ally with Arthur, and soldiers from the battlefield confirm that it's Atlan's Trident he's wielding, which convinces Lundgren to observe and not intervene when (after a parting kiss from Mera), Arthur pulls Orm to the surface for the pair to duel it out one more time in full view of every gathered Atlantean (this including an imprisoned Vulko who was chained up earlier).
Mera begs with her father to stop the attack and ally with Arthur, and soldiers from the battlefield confirm that it's Atlan's Trident he's wielding, which convinces Lundgren to observe and not intervene when (after a parting kiss from Mera), Arthur pulls Orm to the surface for the pair to duel it out one more time in full view of every gathered Atlantean (this including an imprisoned Vulko who was chained up earlier).
Arthur breaks Orm's trident but refuses to kill him, and instead Atlanna comes on scene again, embracing her second son; it's unclear at this point whether Orm's hatred or supposed hatred for his mother was learned from his father, or something personal, but in any event he yields since Arthur managed to bring back the woman he's been missing all his life.
With Mera by his side, Arthur ascends the throne, but in a later, final scene, we see a scientist that totally believes in Atlantis rescue Black Manta, who still hasn't shaken off his thirst for revenge, so there's bound to be more trouble on the horizon there!
FIN
Entertaining, humorous and full of action, not to mention its very own take on the Atlantis legend (in which Atlantis actually figured out the secret of unlimited energy, leading to prosperity and technological advancement far beyond anything the rest of the world has managed even today, and the eventual downfall because they wanted even MORE power), this is an origin story for the ages. I really enjoyed the portrayal of Aquaman, and more than that, I loved the fact that Orm wasn't actually a villain - I never felt he was. Mostly I just felt sorry for him, honestly, and wanted to give him a hug.
Does that make me weird?
All in all, this was a really good movie, even though it did have slight plot holes, like where on Earth was Orm during Justice League, since, you know, Atlantis kind of got wrecked at the time? Mera references this (she should, since she was in the fight), but no one else does, so it's a little bit like a bubble in a way, which is slightly problematic if DCEU wants this all to be connected.
BUT, that being said, this is still an entertaining, awesome movie, one I highly recommend!
xx
*images and video not mine
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