REVIEW: AQUAMAN (2018)

AQUAMAN (2018)

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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.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 tridents.

 

 

 

 

 

REVIEW: STOKER (2013)

STOKER (2013)

Stoker is a stylish and sometimes disturbing thriller directed by Oldboy director Park Chan-wook from a script by Wentworth Miller. It weaves a tale about the eccentric Stoker family on the day of the funeral for husband, Richard (Dermot Mulroney) who was killed in an apparent car accident. 18 year old daughter, India (Mia Wasikowska) and mother, Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) have a strained relationship as it is, and Richard’s death doesn’t make it easier between the two. Handsome, long lost uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) shows up at the funeral and decides to stay awhile. Both these lonely ladies are quite taken with the mysterious and charming Charlie, as he is with them. The longer he stays, the more the truth about Richard’s unmentioned brother comes out and the reactions to those truth’s have an especially intriguing effect on young Mia.

Park’s direction and visual style are the perfect compliment to this gothic melodrama laced with mystery and sexual tension. His camera work is as eccentric as the characters themselves and it really draws one into what is occurring. Even though the film takes a little while to really get interesting, Park keeps us involved by not feeding us everything we want to know too quickly. The script is very clever and delivers some very legitimate shocks and surprises by the time the credits roll and some devilishly gruesome moments, too. To discuss it in any more detail would be to ruin a very interesting and refreshingly offbeat movie.

The cast give some very good performances that imbue the eccentric characteristics of their characters yet, still surprise us when we see just how deep their eccentricities go. Wasikowska is especially good as the come-of-age Mia and she and Kidman play the simmering inner jealousy over the attention Charlie pays them both very well. You can feel the increasing dislike for each other as the mysterious young man woos daughter and mother at the same time and sometimes in front of each other. As for Goode, he plays Charlie with just enough of a hint that there is something not right, yet still makes him convincing as the charming wolf in the hen house. And when there is a wolf in the hen house, there is usually blood!

Part gothic drama, part mystery thriller and a really enjoyable, devious and slightly decadent piece of entertainment from Park and Co.

3 and 1/2 saddle shoes