Aquaman Review

Aquaman was a fantastic addition to the DC univerise and is a course correction done right. This movie is about Aquaman who must retrieve an ancient artifact to stop his Atlantean brother from going to war with the surface world. Jason Momoa gives an incredible performance. He is very charismatic and sells the dramatic scenes as well as the action scenes. By the end of this movie I could not picture anyone else playing the character.  Amber Heard gives a great performance. She makes her character her own and is never helpless. Her dynamic with Momoa is one of the films strongest aspects.  Patrick Wilson gives a really good performance as our main villain. He had believable motivation and felt like a legitimate threat. Yahya-Abdul-Manteen did a fantastic job playing Black Manta. From the moment he appears on screen, he feels like a threat and is a great foil to Aquaman.  Willem Dafoe and Nicole Kidman also impress in small supporting roles. James Wan did an incredible job directing. He fully embraced the campiness of Aquaman while still having a great story.  The action sequences might be some of my favorite I have seen this year. All of them are filmed extremely wide so you can see everything and feel so energetic.  The script is great, filled with likable and believable characters and a fun adventure story.  The VFX and cinematography are fantastic. A few poor visuals aside, this is one of the most visually unique and beautiful movies of the year. At 143 minutes the pacing is very good and consistent, never feeling too slow or too fast. My only other flaw is there is a forced environmental message early on that feels out of place. Overall, Aquaman was a fantastic superhero movie that I look forward to revisiting many times.

9/10