Aquaman

p to the e · 14-12-2018 12:56pm

Not the worst I've seen. As others have said it has it's flaws but it has some decent scenes aswell.

Positives:

All of the cast give it their best especially Patrick Wilson who seems to be having a ball.
Good to see Dolph Lungdren back in a big movie.
The trench scenes were particularly good.
Julie Andrews doing a voice over was unexpected.

Negatives:

The whole black manta sub plot didn't really do it for me.
Once again for DC it's the script that seems to be the problem.
Nicole Kidman's face scares the **** out of me. I've seen more wrinkles on a window.
It was a bit overlong

Some notes:

Maybe it's been explained somewhere but I'm too lazy to search. Why does he keep referring his mother's weapon as a trident when it has 5 prongs?
When I saw that Nicole Kidman was playing mother to Patrick Wilson and Momoa my immediate thought was they can't be too far apart in age. For anyone interested Kidman is 51, Wilson is 45 and Momoa is 39.

corkie · 16-12-2018 12:49am

Watching Graham Norton!

This is what I think of when I hear Aquaman!

Hope the New Film doesn't SUCK?

ThePott · 16-12-2018 11:23am

Probably the definition of a mixed bag for me. Won't see it again or anything.

Positives:
- Cast is pretty good, even Heard who I was skeptical of
- It really goes for it and doesn't avoid weirdness
- Some of the action scenes and the simpler fight scenes work
- Land sequences are lots of fun
- Some cool visuals

Negatives
- This movies tries to do waaaaay too much, there's so many things going on in this movie and it comes off as unnecessary when trying to tell a simple story, convuluted and dragged the movie a bit. It felt long.
- Some of the dialogue was pretty atrocious, lots of exposition too. I also found it odd that at least 3 dialogue scenes were interrupted by an explosion, it felt like they didn't know how to end those scenes so they put in an action beat.
- The cheesy moments really clashed at some points, it was admirable that the movie went out on a limb but makes it hard to take things to seriously when necessary.
- Obviously the movie needs lots of CGI but at times there was so much it was hard to get invested in it especially the battle scenes, they seemed so hollow and artificial.
- Predictable, also if you've seen the trailers you kinda know everything that's coming. It's weird for a movie that makes some bold creative choices to feel so pedestrian at times.

Probably middle of the road for the DC films.

p to the e · 17-12-2018 11:13am

ThePott wrote: »

I also found it odd that at least 3 dialogue scenes were interrupted by an explosion, it felt like they didn't know how to end those scenes so they put in an action beat.

Forgot about this. Thought that was hilarious. Hmmmm. How can we drum up a bit of excitement? Let's blow a hole in the wall and have bad guys jump through it..... on three separate occasions.

ThePott · 17-12-2018 11:19am

A guy on another site made a list of the times it happens apparently:

1) Mera expository dialogue about the trident to Arthur: Atlantians bust through the wall and attack
2) Father expository dialogue to Black Manta: Aquaman busts through the roof to attack
3) Orm expository dialogue to Dolph Lungren: Submarine blows up the wall to attack
4) Vulko expository dialogue to Aquaman and Mera: Atlantians blow up the wall and attack
5) Aquaman expository dialogue to Mera: Black Manta blows up a statue and attacks
6) Mera and Aquaman sailing: Trench sneak attack the ship
7) Even the final battle is Aquaman bursting out of the ground to sneak attack both armies!

On further reflection I think I like this film less.

brianregan09 · 17-12-2018 7:04pm

May want to spoiler that

restive · 17-12-2018 9:41pm

I did not think this was good. No tension. Ovrrblown CGI. Some of it even reminded me of the phantom menace. No real link to the wider DC universe.

ThePott · 17-12-2018 11:49pm

brianregan09 wrote: »

May want to spoiler that

Why?

I thought spoilers were allowed post release, there's nothing that spoilery in it anyway.

dublinman1990 · 18-12-2018 2:28am

This movie is definitely one supreme feast for the eyes. I cannot believe that the Visual FX & CGI in this movie looked so damn good on the big screen. The scenes of Atlantis, the surface world & Aquaman's official suit; oh my word; Wow! The shots that were included in this movie were incredible. When you're seeing scenes of Atlantis underwater; the bright colours pop out in more ways that you cannot believe from first hand samples that were given from traditional media journalists & so on. It is that bloody good. What you will get from the online screenshots will be beaten by what you see in these scenes by watching them in the movie theater. If you ever get a UHD Blu-ray copy of this incredible film sometime in 2019. Get it while the going is hot. You probably will never be disappointed with the eventual results on your HT at home.

I didn't get any weird vibes from the soundtrack. I thought it sounded fine for me throughout the whole movie.

The acting from all of the cast in this movie were really great. William Defoe was really good through all of it. He really sounded like a real authoritative figure throughout the most important parts of it. Princess Mera was excellent. She looked real hot in her teal blue costume within the later parts of the film.

The jokes & gags in it were cleverly put together by the scriptwriters & by everyone else involved in the whole process.

Overall it was a really good movie to watch if you're into the Visual FX. They definitely do deserve to be nominated for the big awards like The Golden Globes & an Oscar for it's incredible efforts. If you haven't seen in the theater yet; go into see it before the Christmas rush hits you. Prepare to be amazed as it is a visual feast that will leave you with plenty of surprises along the way. It is simply a film of creative genius for making the visuals work brilliantly on the screen.

PhiloCypher · 18-12-2018 2:21pm

This was an overlong mess imo

My thoughts :
*They could have cut out the black Manta stuff entirely and made a much tighter film. Just set him up in the post credits Scavenging Atlantean tech after the battle at the end.
* The flashbacks were both jarring in placement and execution.
*The De-aging CG was 'Cavills moustache' awful and in the case of Kidman unnecessary .
* Momoas AquaBro-ness grates after 2 and a quarter hours of it.
*The Bladerunneresque synths worked in the establishing shots of Atlantis but less so elsewhere. The less said about the pop song used in Sicily the better.
*They clearly used up most of their CG budget in the Atlantis v Brine battle as the Desert scenes looked like a matte painting and the de-aging CG wasn't a patch on Marvels.
*I found Orm a fairly sympathetic character up until

he killed the fish King

. His hatred for the surface world for polluting their ocean and Arthur for being the cause of his Mother being

executed

were, in the context of a superhero movie, sound reasons.

titan18 · 20-12-2018 12:32am

For the DC films, it's not bad. Not as good as Wonder Woman but better than Justice League, Batman vs Superman etc.

I think they could have learned a lot from Thor Ragnarok for it though. I think Aquaman and Momoa can work as DCs Thor/Hemsworth type character, so it's a shame that the script was so weak and the comedy so forced that they blew it a bit there.

Thinking about it too, and the

journey to make him King

felt very rushed. Think it would have worked better if one film was

The origin story, return to Atlantis but his brother welcomed him whilst supplying Black Manta with Atlantean tech to kill Arthur and that being the last big fight then

and then the next film had

Arthur's discovery of his brother's attempt to kill him and him and Mera going off to get the trident and the last big battle to defeat his brother.

As it was, it's like they tried to cram too much into this one film, and I think it suffered for it. It looked great

bar the Sahara bit

, I think the performances were generally done well enough to not let the film down and action scenes were good (although probably a bit too much of them) but script and pacing really struggled.

pixelburp · 21-12-2018 10:20pm

I think I might have hated this more than Suicide Squad. And while the former gets some slim sense of a pass by dint of being truly ruined in the editing room, this felt like an ostensibly competent movie, simply missing the mark at every turn. Overlong, overcooked and often unintentionally funny.

It also contained some of the worst FX I've seen from a tent pole blockbuster in years; the constant green screen noticeable and kinda slapdash. A simple scene at a lighthouse ruined by needlessly fake backdrop or unconvincing de-ageing FX. Mixed with that was the inevitable noisy battle scene that had no impact, no weight (narrative, emotional or physical), this resulted in 2+ hours of cinematic visual vomit. I don't think I've watched a film this distractedly "fake" since Attack of the Clones.

The pace was obnoxiously aggressive, careening around at 11 at all times, never letting any scene a chance to breath before wedging in ANOTHER loud explosion filled scene. It happened so often I started waiting around for it to happen, never being disappointed.

Brief_Lives · 23-12-2018 1:13am

I just saw it.. Great first 90 minutes.
Mamoa is very likable.. So charismatic. He saves the movie.

HandsomeBob · 23-12-2018 3:58pm

Walked out after just about over an hour. Not that it was necessarily bad, more so because I've no interest in what remains of the DCEU.

Dumbed down beyond recognition to appease the masses.

Chris_Heilong · 27-12-2018 8:18pm

An epic adventure, surprised Jame Wan pulled this off because something as fantastical as Atlantis is a hard thing to put to film, the story is a mess but very much in the vein of 80s action adventure, likable characters and over the top silly moments all make for an entertaining romp. 7 out of 10.

santana75 · 27-12-2018 11:52pm

This the the Spinal Tarp of super hero films. It made me laugh. A lot. Although im sure I wasnt meant to be laughing so much. The stuff with the ray guns on the beach was hilarious. Some lad pouring water into what looked like a giant Nerv gun only for it to blow up a small mountain.......comedy Gold. And the dialogue poor Patrick wilson has to sprout? I like patrick wilson a lot. He's great in everything he does. Even here he manages to pull some semblence of respectibility out of the most awful dialogue this side of the star wars prequels. But even he being as good as he is, cant stop some of his lines being unintentionally hilarious.
Jason momoa is very good and likeable but Amber heard is shocking. I like her and all, I think theres a decent actor in there but she just seems bored and like shes reading her lines directly from a strategically placed sandwhich board. It goes on forever too. Even the kids beside me, who lap super hero movies up like strawberries and cream started chatting amongst themselves after an hour or so.
So all in all its over long, boring, but unitentionally very funny. Go for the laughs.

JP Liz V1 · 27-12-2018 11:53pm

It seems to be doing very well at the Box Office

pixelburp · 28-12-2018 12:44am

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

It seems to be doing very well at the Box Office

Don't normally care too much about the box office - plenty of low rent stuff does very well and I wish them well - but something about Aquamans success is rubbing me up the wrong way. It's not just another sloppy, messy DC film, but this time I felt actively insulted by the constant exposition-explosion double act and brain dead script. It was a horrendously stupid film.

Agree about the intentional hilarity, it made me laugh so much, particularly the very last shot and the "hero pose".

HandsomeBob · 29-12-2018 3:51pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Don't normally care too much about the box office - plenty of low rent stuff does very well and I wish them well - but something about Aquamans success is rubbing me up the wrong way. It's not just another sloppy, messy DC film, but this time I felt actively insulted by the constant exposition-explosion double act and brain dead script. It was a horrendously stupid film.

Agree about the intentional hilarity, it made me laugh so much, particularly the very last shot and the "hero pose".

Tbh I've given up trying to figure out what constitutes a film performing well at the BO. I mean Venom is a similarly poor brain dead effort yet I recall a pretty soft reaction to it on here.

pixelburp · 29-12-2018 6:37pm

HandsomeBob wrote: »

Tbh I've given up trying to figure out what constitutes a film performing well at the BO. I mean Venom is a similarly poor brain dead effort yet I recall a pretty soft reaction to it on here.

Simple really: it's figured that for a blockbuster to break even, it needs to make 2x the budget, as that doesn't usually include marketing and other ancillary costs. To be fair, boxofficemojo's site has a comprehensive list of per-country takings.

As to Venom et al, I think when something gets savaged by critics, there's always a bounce from audiences, if only out of curiosity to see if the thing is as bad as they say. Mark Kermode remarked as much in his latest vlog, noting how he figured his ranting caused more people to see Sex and the City 2, if only out of carcrash curiosity after seeing Kermodes review.

Avatar MIA · 31-12-2018 3:12am

Ah, I want to see the movie Dublinman1990 saw.

The version I saw was monumentally stupid. I can only think it was aimed at spongebob squarepants fans or younger. The CGI was embarrassing. The storyline... Just sigh.

Thought Jason did an okay job considering the mind numbingly cringy lines. From the very start 'permission to come aboard?' FFS, that's carry on movie level, at least it set my expectations.

And it did great at the box office. Oh, I liked Suicide Squad

Mrs Shuttleworth · 01-01-2019 9:13pm

Has anyone seen this in the 4DX in Cineworld?

martingriff · 02-01-2019 9:49pm

So just saw the movie and I liked it yes there were some bits like Black Manta off have him at the start and then the end credit scene but I did like the fight but it rushed everything else. The scene

of the Trench creatures

was good. I think Meera and Arthur were great in a lot of bits but there were some where it was not needed. The creatures were not great and more has to be done in any movie with the underwater stuff.

AS for the box office everyone is different, there a now a lot of people who will shy away from spoilers and reviews and just go to the movie and regardless if they like it or not the money is made

bkrangle · 02-01-2019 10:38pm

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Has anyone seen this in the 4DX in Cineworld?

Just saw it there....... The water sprinklers got a good workout!

It worked pretty well overall - I think it's one of the films where the 4DX aspect adds to the experience (others I saw where this was the case were Jurassic World and The Meg)

Sabre0001 · 03-01-2019 12:16pm

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Has anyone seen this in the 4DX in Cineworld?

Yep, as above the sprinklers get plenty of use! My clothes were damp when I was leaving!

There's a storm scene at the beginning and you really get that miserable feeling brought to life

It's certainly novel - first time ever going to a 4DX screening. Seats get a good bit of motion (including for some sweeping camera pans, which is a little odd), some back impacts based on the action, the lemony fresh smell of the ocean...and Italy. But the main effect is the water.

pixelburp · 03-01-2019 12:28pm

That sounds like an utterly horrendous experience. As if blockbusters weren't already de-facto themepark rides. Call me an old fogey but that sounds far, far outside my sphere of interest.

Tony EH · 05-01-2019 6:15pm

Agreed. Sounds like an uber William Castle gimmick.

I'd just be annoyed at all of that nonsense.

JP Liz V1 · 07-01-2019 12:19am

pixelburp wrote: »

Don't normally care too much about the box office - plenty of low rent stuff does very well and I wish them well - but something about Aquamans success is rubbing me up the wrong way. It's not just another sloppy, messy DC film, but this time I felt actively insulted by the constant exposition-explosion double act and brain dead script. It was a horrendously stupid film.

Agree about the intentional hilarity, it made me laugh so much, particularly the very last shot and the "hero pose".

It is now the highest grossing DCEU film

https://ew.com/movies/2019/01/05/aquaman-box-office-dceu/

dubstepper · 09-01-2019 11:28am

For me it was as if they went for Thor Ragnarok vibe. Bright colours and fun, but missed the mark by a good distance. Two main problems for me; there were too many plot lines and too much CGI.

It had an indiana jones thing going on at one point, an unnecessary extra bad guy, too many chase/battles etc. I left the cinema unsure of what I had seen. The whole underwater CGI battle lacked heft. Where as Thor Ragnarok had plenty of CGI, it also had a lot of character humour. This movie didn't.

TerrorFirmer · 11-01-2019 9:46pm

Horrendously bad film made watchable by some OK performances and reasonable charisma from Jason Momoa, but the script is beyond brain dead. It's absurdly bad, 'The Room' of comic book movies.

I thought Suicide Squad was bad, but this is next level. However, in it's favor, there's a certain charm to its awfulness.... something I couldn't say about Suicide Squad.

Tony EH · 12-01-2019 9:38am

/\

And yet, it's the biggest BO of the DCCU?

I don't know cinema any more. :pac:

Still no interest in watching this. Aquaman is such a dumb superhero (not that any of them make any sense mind you).

dublinman1990 · 13-01-2019 7:33pm

It's official. Aquaman has passed $1 billion in the worldwide BO.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4475

Agent Coulson · 27-02-2019 7:17pm

Aquaman 2 announced and release dated for December 6th 2022.

Edit; Just thinking about this today that they are waiting nearly 4 years with the squeal to there biggest box office hit that seems crazy.

Bacchus · 20-03-2019 11:55pm

Just watched it this evening. Man that was bad... like pretty terrible. How did it do so well. It just had zero momentum or character for me. The script/dialogue was awful in places. Things just sort of seemed to happen. There were some truly weird soundtrack moments. The action was weak too which I thought would be a saving grace.

The one standout scene is the trench. Some of the Atlantis scenes were well done and I really liked the 'Tron' soundtrack. I'm struggling to think of anything else I enjoyed about it though. I'm still not into Aquadude but Moama was alright, as we're most of the cast but it was all just a bit flat, cheesy and safe.

MoS and WW still top of the pile in the DCEU.

Gbear · 22-03-2019 2:04am

Bacchus wrote: »

The one standout scene is the trench. Some of the Atlantis scenes were well done and I really liked the 'Tron' soundtrack. I'm struggling to think of anything else I enjoyed about it though. I'm still not into Aquadude but Moama was alright, as we're most of the cast but it was all just a bit flat, cheesy and safe.

There's a discussion going on in the Captain Marvel thread about it being a bit mediocre, and more broadly about the visual and auditory spark being a bit lacking in some recent Marvel films, but this really make you appreciate that a bit of sparkly lights don't make a piece of dirt watchable.

mikhail · 22-03-2019 6:44am

Gbear wrote: »

There's a discussion going on in the Captain Marvel thread about it being a bit mediocre, and more broadly about the visual and auditory spark being a bit lacking in some recent Marvel films, but this really make you appreciate that a bit of sparkly lights don't make a piece of dirt watchable.

I really appreciated a few scenes for really pretty set design, and like the guy you're replying I enjoyed the soundtrack, but it's not enough to elevate the movie beyond blandly compentent.

I haven't seen Captain Marvel, but I've appreciated some of the points made in that thread too. As much as I generally enjoy the Marvel movies, too many of them are made by journeymen who'll do what they studio tells them, and it shows.

Relikk · 24-03-2019 1:36pm

Terrible movie. A really dodgy script with a cliché-ridden plot that felt really amateurish at times, and that Black Manta helmet is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. Impossible to take seriously. As Bacchus said above, the only time I was interested was during the descent into the trench. That was incredibly impressive, visually.

4 out of 10 movie, and that's being generous.

pixelburp · 24-03-2019 1:43pm

Do wonder what the broad appeal has been that it performed so well at the box office? Easy to be snarky about audiences, but would be curious what it was that made Aquaman of all things such box office gold

IncognitoMan · 24-03-2019 2:15pm

Simple, straightforward, colourful with jokes. It's Marvel phase 1 with a better use of colours on screen.

I'd much prefer sit through a movie that tried something different but that's not what the wider general audience wants.

I expect a similar approach for Shazam.

I thought Aquaman was fairly timid but I knew it would sit better with audiences than the other DC entries.

Gbear · 24-03-2019 4:13pm

IncognitoMan wrote: »

Simple, straightforward, colourful with jokes. It's Marvel phase 1 with a better use of colours on screen.

I'd much prefer sit through a movie that tried something different but that's not what the wider general audience wants.

I expect a similar approach for Shazam.

I thought Aquaman was fairly timid but I knew it would sit better with audiences than the other DC entries.

The script and acting are far worse than any Marvel film I can think of though.

Is it fair to say at this point that Jason Momoa can't really act? Physically he's a fantastic presence, but it always seems like he's a person saying lines when he speaks, rather than actually inhabiting the role.

Himself and Heard are pretty much just eye candy, like the rest of the film.

IncognitoMan · 24-03-2019 4:42pm

Gbear wrote: »

The script and acting are far worse than any Marvel film I can think of though.

Ah it took Marvel a while to get their formula right to be fair, the older films had a few growing pains which are more noticeable looking back.

Aquaman is slightly better I'd say than Iron Man 2, Thor 1 and 2 and Hulk.

By the sounds of what's coming out of Shazam it sounds like DC is going very close to that Marvel formula going forward. (Not good for the genre overall I feel).

Marvel does at least tend to nail the team up films. Avengers 2 being the only kinda boring one.

I don't think we'll get anywhere close to that now with the DC films. I think we could have been onto something fairly different but when Justice League was reworked we lost wherever it was we were going with that universe. To be fair when the mainstream audience isn't responding well you can't do much.

Gbear wrote: »

Is it fair to say at this point that Jason Momoa can't really act?

Can't say he's bothered me to be honest. I thought he was fine here.

Avatar MIA · 24-03-2019 4:47pm

IncognitoMan wrote: »

Aquaman is slightly better I'd say than Iron Man 2, Thor 1 and 2 and Hulk.

Not in this or most other universes I imagine.

IncognitoMan · 24-03-2019 7:03pm

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Not in this or most other universes I imagine.

Nah, really the MCU has spoiled us but going back to those films in the build up to Endgame has been rough, in particular Thor 2 and Hulk. I think they get more of a pass because of the excellent films they lead to in the end.

Iron Man, Captain America and Avengers all hold up but the rest struggle, mostly because they are boring which is the worst trait for a film to have.

Not that Aquaman is brilliant or anything but I'd much rather re-watch that right now over Thor 1 or 2 (thank god for Taika Waititi because Thor needed Thor 3), Hulk or Iron Man 2.

Although I'd be in no hurry to re-watch any of them anytime soon in reality :pac:

mikhail · 26-03-2019 5:04pm

Poor Thor 1 deserves more love. I thought Branagh brought a wonderful Shakespearean seasoning to the hero formula, a bit of heart to Thor's character arc, and Hopkins brought a bit of gravitas to keep the whole thing from feeling silly. And it gave us Loki, the only villain worth a damn in the glut of comic book movies since The Dark Knight.

TerrorFirmer · 26-03-2019 6:46pm

IncognitoMan wrote: »

Aquaman is slightly better I'd say than Iron Man 2, Thor 1 and 2 and Hulk.

Honestly I would say that's an extreme minority opinion.

Iron Man 2 is Citizen Kane compared to Aqua-man, which I honestly thought despite having some charm, was an utterly dreadful film.

I don't even like Thor or Hulk either, but I still consider them better rounded, better acted, and more cohesive films than Aqua-man.

Gbear · 26-03-2019 7:32pm

mikhail wrote: »

Poor Thor 1 deserves more love. I thought Branagh brought a wonderful Shakespearean seasoning to the hero formula, a bit of heart to Thor's character arc, and Hopkins brought a bit of gravitas to keep the whole thing from feeling silly. And it gave us Loki, the only villain worth a damn in the glut of comic book movies since The Dark Knight.

If it wasn't for the Dutch angles it'd be fine, but they really are awful and distracting.

Dunno what was going on there.

pixelburp · 26-03-2019 10:00pm

I think the Phase 1 Marvel movies shave it for me because they were all quite small-scale, personal stories, before 'shared universes' were even a confirmed thing (though arguably Thor was the first to hint at crossovers). They were solid, enjoyable features made by equally dependable directors.

Aquaman was 2.5 hours of visual, aural noise.

Tony EH · 27-03-2019 1:07pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Aquaman was 2.5 hours of visual, aural noise.

And yet, it's that film that does it for the DCCU. People lost their shit over gloomy Superman and "Martha", but 'Aquaman' gets a pass. Fucking 'Aquaman'!

I don't know people any more.

:pac:

Aquaman

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