Alright, I fi-nal-lee have a chance to chime in. Been doin' all kinds o' shiz.
This movie's a fkn BLAST. It covers a LOT of ground. It's a much "textured" origin film than most others, especially the much-lauded
Black Panther, and — yes, I'll say it —
Wonder Woman. It's beating WW in a lot of "fave DC movie" lists. I didn't believe, but then I saw it.
Aquaman epitomized the adage "must see on the big screen." That is NO joke. The CGI is fantastic. And they did not skimp. Much of the CGI (like the creatures) isn't meant to evoke hyper-realism — hyper-fantasy, rather. And that's how it wins. There's some glaringly bad CGI in
Infinity War that looks unfinished, and a lot of the CGI in
Justice League's downright atrocious. But
Aquaman does not have that problem. There was times when you didn't know where practical stopped and CG started.
My gawrsh...the action and camera work 99% of the time are just nuts. The action choreography totally dusted
Black Panther. Momoa sells badass way more than a lot of his peers. But Wan's also got his own look down, and we get a lot of great tracking shots and POV shots that really sell the drama. This movie's rewatchability factor is instantly 10/10.
At 143 minutes, some parts felt a tad rushed (don't know what you mean about "slow pacing," TNC, lol), but then other quieter parts were just fine. It's as though this movie's composed of tidal swells that finally tsunami your ass in the big finale. And that finisher's exactly how
Justice League should have landed, but crashed. Some of the jokes didn't land for me, but then others were right in line with Momoa's boisterous personality. The whole cast flat-out rocks. Kidman, Heard, Wilson, Dafoe, Abdul-Mateen — everyone gets their freakin' moments. And there's even a surprise voice actor I totally forgot about, in one of the movie's best scenes towards the end.
I don't want to say more now till Trav watches it. But it's a winner. And Monker's gonna dig it, too.
P.S. Black Manta...DAMN.
The_Noble_Cause wrote:Aquaman tried to be too many different things (origin story, artifact quest story, Ray Harryhausen monster movie,Shakespearean family drama )*.
The pacing was a little slow. Visually, it was immersive and stunning. Wan and team clearly spent alot of time engaging in world building.
Overall tho, I greatly admired what they pulled off. Parts of it had me saying "what the hell am I watching?"
No small feat when comic book movies are clogging multiplex screens.
B+. Maybe an A-. As I've always said, James Wan never makes bad movies.**
*Nah, those are just components of the grand saga.
**You got that right, man. Merry Christmas!