Krishna
I think movie studios have caught on to the trend that was demonstrated so successfully by Disney. Making movies about comic book characters with the current technology is a winner and is a gift that keeps on giving.
Since Marvel has disappeared into the giant empire of Disney, the other studios are left with characters from other comic book houses and we have DC Comics as the biggest of them – the house of Superman, Batman and others. Warner Brothers has tried its hand on Aquaman and has done a very creditable job of it overall.
The movie is fun, the storyline is simple enough to follow (I am surely not a fan of the overcomplicated storylines of the present day – some X Men and some Avenger movies come to mind – you cannot remember a coherent story at the end. That is where Aquaman and movies like Black Panther or Frozen stand out). As a bonus, the visuals are simply spectacular. They have imagined multiple worlds (one of sand, one underwater etc) which are brilliantly rendered, not to mention the animals underwater as well as the other inhabitants of it.
The story involves a girl Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) , being rescued by a lighthouse keeper called Thomas Curry. Little does he know at that time that she is a Princess of Atlantis and they fall in love (and he has an adorable dog that is a prop in the first few scenes but disappears later – again naturally because dogs do not live human lifespans). Well, they fall in love and have a child, who is Arthur Curry. When Atlantans come into the house having found her, she destroys the few who came. But she realizes that unless she goes back to Atlantis (and assume the throne after her father’s death as she is his only offspring), her family is in danger and that there is no way out. So, she bids farewell and disappears.
Much later, we learn that she sends her commander, Vulko, to train the boy and teach him the ways of Atlantis – the art of speaking to animals, the art of breathing under water and the martial arts. She also leaves him her own trident.
The boy Arthur grows up to be Aquaman and like all superheroes does voluntary duty of saving the world. In one of the adventures, he stops two pirates – the older and more experienced Jesse Kane is trapped under and his son David Kane pleads with Arthur to rescue his father. Aquaman rejects his appeal and lets the old man die. The son escapes and is now the mortal enemy of Aquaman.
Meanwhile, we learn that Atlanna marries another man and begets a son (Orm) who is Arthur’s half brother. However, Orm assumes kingship and has treacherously banished his own mother to die.
Orm decides to carry his war to the surface people and creates tidal waves and tsumanis – His reason would want many of you to side with the sea folks against our own selves! (Polluting the sea with effluents and garbage and killing off sea creatures indiscriminately) but let us face it, this is a superhero movie and so Orm is evil and humans are good. (It is the law of comic books – unless the battle is against good Americans and evil alien humans, in which case it is the Americans who are good). I digress – Orm is indeed evil in trying to subdue other ocean tribes by force, killing off their kings unless they surrender and also trying to become Ocean Master.
Even fellow ruler, King Nereus of Xebel is convinced and becomes an ally to Orm, while Mera, his daughter who is betrothed to Orm, does not agree. She seeks out Arthur in the surface and pleads with him to return to Atlantis to stake his legitimate claim to the throne. Orm does not even consider Arthur as legal as he is not a true Atlantian and is a Half Breed.
Mera gains Arthur’s confidence by saving his father Thomas from drowning. He reluctantly goes with her mother’s trident and his training by Vulko to challenge Orm but loses and is about to be killed when Mera, in total jeopardy of everything, saves him and whisks him away.
There are fabulous scenes in Italy where, meanwhile David Keane, in an alliance with Orm and with Atlantian super technology, rechristens himself as Black Manta and chases Arthur and Mera with an army of Atlantian helpers. Amazing scenes, great stunts, and totally edge of the seat action.
They (of course) survive that and go to get the original King Atlan’s (yes, father of Atlanna who disappeared with the special Trident forged in a special workshop in an underground world) Trident guarded by the great Karathen (I think Kraken was copyrighted away?) a mythical monster of awesome power and proportions. That would yield the Trident to the only True King.
You can guess the rest of the story with a few surprises. Let us review what strikes you about this.
All studios have learnt that humour works best in storytelling. Here there are quite a few scenes. In one memorable scene, Mera and Arthur are going in a hired plane above the Sahara, when midflight Mera jumps off the plane. The pilot is horrified. “She jumped without a parachute!” he hollers to Arthur who grimaces and says “Redheads! What are we gonna do?” and casually jumps out after her, also without a parachute. A goat nearby is as surprised as the pilot. Nice.
There are also good scenes where Mera pushes Arthur to believe in himself when he is overwhelmed by the odds against him, denies that he is a ‘natural king’ and does not even want the throne.
Sure, you can pick a ton of holes in the story. Why did it take several years for the Atlantans to find Atlanna? How did they find her finally? (We know about the tracking device Mera unknowingly carried but Atlanna?) You can quibble about the fact that suddenly Orm says to Vulko ‘Do you think I don’t know you have been training Arthur all these years?’ Really? Then why did Orm not do anything about it? Why did he wait all these years to get angry? And how did he finally find out?
Or these : Why does Black Manta, with all his technology, settle on a look that feels like a Scuba Diver and a Dragonfly had a baby? Why does he tamely die so soon? (Or does he, really? Is he being saved for a sequel?) Is he not the supervillain?
It is these kind of leaps of logic with no apparent explanation and tiny flaws that make you go ‘Could they not have given a more convincing explanation?’ but overall, these are minor flaws in what I consider a magnificent movie and a superb entertainer.
They do not stint on the visuals. It is absolutely wonderful.
James Wan proves that he can direct more than horror flicks. This one is well done.
8/10
– – Krishna