Silly sequel has our hero Shazam (Zachary Levi) aka Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his hero siblings dealing with some PR blowback as a bridge rescue results in the destruction of said bridge. Meanwhile the daughters of Atlas (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler) have arrived on earth and seek to steal the heroes’ power and use a sacred artifact to turn this world into theirs, a world of mythical dragons and monsters.
CGI overloaded second adventure is again directed by David F. Sandberg from a nonsensical script by Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan. It’s a soulless follow-up filled with dumb jokes and two-dimensional characters be they creature, hero or human. It’s an uninvolving and goofy superhero flick that makes Shazam! look like a complete buffoon and the teen in a hero’s body gimmick that got tiresome halfway through the first movie, is totally out of gas here. It does manage to pick up a bit for the climax, but otherwise is a tired adventure in a series that showed wear by the last act of the very first installment. You know you’re in trouble when the film’s superhero is completely upstaged by a brief cameo in his own movie. One of the worst superhero films since Green Lantern and by comparison that doesn’t seem that bad.
Superhero flick takes place in the fictional country of Kahndaq, which is overrun by mercenaries. They are searching for the Crown of Sabbac to grant their leader Ishmael (Marwan Kenzari) great power. When resistance fighter Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) beats them to it and is cornered, she is forced to unleash the occupant of the tomb in which the crown rested. That occupant is Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson) a former slave who was gifted the powers of Shazam and imprisoned for his vengeful use of them. Now free, the newly dubbed Black Adam violently reacts to his home’s occupation and catches the attention of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who sends the heroic Justic Society to stop him. Now the newly awakened Black Adam must battle Ishmael and fend off the Justice Society.
DCEU flick is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from an uneven script by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. The makers want it both ways, as at times it’s a darker flick in the Snyder-verse vein with Black Adam gleefully killing those that attack him, and comic book fun another with the antics of the Justice Society heroes like the comical Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo). The tone shifts back and forth with it being dead serious one minute and a bit goofy the next. The action sequences are good and plentiful, though once again a DC film chooses a CGI monster as its eventual main villain and in its human form, Marwan Kenzari is a rather dull and routine bad guy as Ishmael. As our anti-hero, Johnson does portray Adam a bit too stone-faced to make him a really engaging anti-hero, although he does convey his strength and power very well. It’s Pierce Brosnan who steals the film as the dry humored and wisely Doctor Fate and Aldis Hodge is solid as Hawkman. Shahi makes a strong heroine as Adrianna, though we could have done without Bodhi Sabongui as Adrianna’s super annoying son Amon. So, while the flick is a mixed bag, it’s not the worst superhero flick in recent memory, though far from the best. Also stars Quintessa (Trinkets) Swindell as Cyclone.
Superhero sequel takes place in 1984 and has Diana foiling a robbery at a mall. Her heroics also uncover a black-market operation dealing with ancient antiquities. Amongst the items recovered is an ancient stone, that literally grants wishes…with a price. Not only does Diana use the stone to bring back her lost love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), but it finds itself in the hands of power-hungry entrepreneur, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), and it transforms the meek and shy Dr. Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) into a predator…literally. But will the price of returned romance, cost Diana the power to stop her new adversaries?
Sequel is once again directed by Patty Jenkins from her script and story with Geoff Johns and David Callaham. While the first film dealt with serious themes like the horrors of war and the evils that men do, this next adventure takes on a much lighter tone, though the corruptive power of greed is certainly a subject here. The movie has fun with switching the roles, with Trevor, this time, being the fish out of water and Diana being in familiar surroundings. Obviously, setting the film in the 80s also invites having a little fun with the outrageousness of that decade as well. The moments between Diana and Steve are indeed entertaining, but eventually Diana must turn her attention to stopping Lord, whose use of the stone is getting dangerous, and Barbara, who is transforming into classic Wonder Woman villainess Cheetah. It takes a little while to get to the action, but it is an entertaining enough build. The movie does move along at a nice pace. Not too fast, but not too slow. When the action comes, it is big and spectacular, like a scene in Cairo, but avoids the overblown theatrics of the first installment. It’s not perfect. It is definitely a tad too long and could have been tighter in a few spots, especially in the last act where it starts to get a little messy here and there. It doesn’t have the impact of the first movie, but is an entertaining sequel, nonetheless. It is more fun.
The cast is top notch and helps make this more fantasy heavy story click and work. Gal Gadot once again proves she was born to play this part and gives her comic book heroine some nice depth and nobility. Pine is fun as the resurrected Steve Trevor. A soul in another man’s body, Pine has a good time being the man in unfamiliar territory, discovering the modern world of the 80s. He and Gadot still have great chemistry. Pascal is also fun as Maxwell Lord. He evokes Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor here and is both a fun and lively villain, while never loosing that air of being lethal and threatening. Kristen Wiig is perfectly cast as the nerdy Barbara Minerva turned classic villainess Cheetah. She starts out awkward and clumsy and once getting her wish, becomes confident, sexy and then dangerous, literally turning into a predatory cat. There are return appearances by Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen in flashbacks and a “Wonder”-ful cameo during a mid-credits scene. A great cast.
Overall, this may not have the same intensity and impact as Diana’s origin tale but is a more fun sequel. It has a lighter story, with a magic wish granting stone, but grounds it enough that it is not silly, nor does it rob its villains of their threat factor. It avoids getting too over-the-top, so we take the story as seriously as we need to for it to work. It has a good time skewering the 80s, especially through the fish out of water eyes of the returned Steve Trevor. Most of the action comes in the last act, but it is an entertaining ride to get there and when it comes, it delivers the heroics we are waiting for. It may be a bit too long and wouldn’t lose much with about ten or fifteen minutes trimmed but is a satisfying enough sequel and a lighter toned DC hero flick. Watch through the credits for that fun cameo.
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DC comics flick is a mixed bag finding our aquatic hero (Jason Momoa) coming up against his half-brother King Orm of Atlantis (Patrick Wilson). The power and conquest hungry Orm wants to take control of all the undersea kingdoms and then use their combined might to lay waste to the surface world. Princess Mera (Amber Heard) of the undersea kingdom of Xebel defies her father (Dolph Lundgren) to warn Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman and inform him that if he retrieves the Trident of Atlan, he will have the power to stop Orm and take his rightful place as king. Standing in his way is a modern day pirate with Atlantean tech and a personal grudge against Aquaman, The Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).
Superhero flick is directed by James Wan (Insidious, The Conjuring) from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall, based on a story by Wan, Beall and Geoff Johns. The flick is a bit of a mess, that bites off more than it can chew, though it can be a fun mess at times. The negative points are a thin story that gets poor development as the film steamrolls ahead from one set-piece to another. From the flashback meeting of Arthur’s mother Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) and his lighthouse keeper father,Thomas (Temuera Morrison), to Arthur’s first meeting/fight with Orm, to a massive undersea battle, a lot goes on in this flick. Somewhere in between all this, the film stops and goes on a Tomb Raider style quest for the trident…wasn’t that the plot of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean flick?…and then finally back to Aquaman vs Orm, the rematch. It gives the film a choppy feeling for the first hour, or so, before it settles down a bit in the last act. None of the characters get proper development, especially Black Manta, whose sub-plot could have been eliminated completely with no harm done. At least we already met Arthur in Justice League…and, by the way, where were his League pals as this was a global destruction situation. The good points are that some of the action set pieces are quite fun and Wan has a great visual eye, so the film looks sumptuous and spectacular. The undersea kingdoms are amazing, there is a stunning Star Wars-esque underwater battle at it’s climax and the film has a lot of cool creatures. The cast all get the material and play their roles with the right tone and if the story was more involving, this might have been a bit more memorable, which sadly it’s not. A good time was had overall, though it didn’t resonate once the theater lights came up.
Back to the cast, Wan has assembled a top notch one. Momoa has locked it in as Aquaman and the character has never been cooler. His bad-ass surfer boy take works very well as a modern incarnation of the DC hero and Momoa has the charm and sense of humor to overcome the thin script. Amber Heard is beautiful and resourceful as Mera. She is a strong character and is not played as a damsel and Heard makes a solid heroine out of her. Patrick Wilson is a pleasant surprise as the vengeful King Orm. Wilson is usually cast in the straight-laced good guy role and here he chews up the seaweed and scenery with just enough restraint to keep Orm from flipping over into camp. He’s a better villain than Justice’s Steppenwolf and Wonder Woman’s Ares. Rounding out the supporting cast is Nicole Kidman as a noble Queen Atlanna, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as David Kane/Black Manta and Temuera Morrison as Arthur’s dad. All do good work in their roles and help keep this bloated flick from sinking.
So, Aquaman is a bit of a mess and DC still has a way to go to catch up to Marvel and set it’s cinematic universe right. The story here is thin and underdeveloped due to filmmakers being too overeager to do too many things in one film. There’s globe hopping adventure, epic undersea battles, a quest for a mystical object and a superhero battling to save the world and find his destiny. All we needed was a musical number. It has a solid cast, who get the material and a director who knows theatricality and how to make it look gorgeous. In lesser hands this might of been an awful mess, but Wan makes it an entertaining one. Overall, it’s a step back from Wonder Woman, but two steps ahead over the disappointing Justice League and the bloated Batman v Superman.
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