Aquaman (December 21, 2018) (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

 

[Malcolm R]

With over $331m, Aquaman has now passed Batman vs. Superman to be the #2 film in the DC Extended Universe franchise domestically, behind Wonder Woman.

 

[JimmyO]

My queen shall not be dethroned by thine tattoo ridden waterboy!

Or something like that.

 

[Malcolm R]

My queen shall not be dethroned by thine tattoo ridden waterboy!

Or something like that.

No, no danger of that domestically with WW about $80m in the lead and Aquaman nearing the end of its domestic run. The tattoo-ridden waterboy has nearly doubled WW's international gross, however, leading it to over $1.13 Billion worldwide so far.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I had no interest in seeing this movie, and skipped it in theaters. But tonight I had a couple hours to kill and a 75-cent promo code for Redbox, so I figured, "What the hell."

I liked it more than I thought I would. Like most James Wan pictures, it's visually inventive. Building the narrative around a Sword in the Stone quest anchors the story in a way that some of these CG extravaganzas haven't been. Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman have surprisingly good chemistry as Arthur's parents. The first six minutes or so had me completely under their spell. And then the fish soldiers with plasma guns burst through the walls and lost me again.

The dynamic between Arthur and Mera is one of the better love interest couplings in these kind of superhero movies. One of the few areas where DC has a better track record than Marvel. I loved how Arthur learned about the underwater world from Mera, and Mera learned about the world above the surface from Arthur. There was real give and take in their relationship.

I didn't even recognize Dolph Lundgren as Mera's father, Nereus; I'm so used to him playing thuggish brutes with Eastern European accents. Julie Andrews popping up as the voice of the leviathan was a lovely surprise.

Still too much CG for my tastes, and most of the mythology still felt a bit too cardboard-y.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

One other thing that Warner Bros. does better than Disney: Giving us the full IMAX frame instead of just the conventional theater framing on Blu-Ray. I thought it was really interesting how the scenes on the surface were scope while the scenes under the sea were in IMAX.