Aaron Pruett
apruett@lc.edu

Aquaman, directed by James Wan, stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, and Patrick Wilson. I’ll admit that my opinion on this movie is fairly biased, as I grew up reading Aquaman comics and to this day he is still my favorite superhero of all time. So, from the weird cover of Africa by Pitbull to the amazing live action orange and green suit, how does this movie stack up for this long time fan?

There is a lot to love in this unapologetically-cheesy movie, walking out from it you can’t help but feel like you should have been in your pajamas and watching Saturday morning cartoons while eating a bowl of cereal. The side characters are at times fairly one dimensional and over the top, but as long as they get the main characters right it’s no big deal.

Jason Momoa never feels as if he’s playing a comic book accurate version of Aquaman, however, he makes the undersea hero impossible to not like. When it comes to the motivations of Arthur Curry you still feel that weight heavy on his shoulders.

Mera (Amber Heard) acts and looks just like her comic book counterpart, as if she’s the smartest and possibly the most powerful person in the room, even though, Momoa and Heard’s chemistry is sometimes lacking. Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson) is also a very fun character but I wish that we had seen more of his and Arthur’s relationship.

At the end of the day, there’s a lot to love and some to hate. There’s probably twenty minutes that could have been cut, and at times it falls into clichés that have been used for the last twenty years, but there’s also an octopus that plays the drums, and how can you not smile at that?

If this movie were my child, I would watch as it has all it’s toys out bashing them together and being creative and I would smile, because at the end of the day isn’t having fun what it’s all about?