It’s definitely kind of weird that we got an Aquaman movie after a Justice League movie, but whatever. Anyways, I was really surprised by how much I liked this movie after having haven’t watched it in about six and a half years. Aquaman takes place roughly a year after Justice League, where Arthur/Aquaman continues to be torn between the human world and the world of Atlantis. The movie is essentially about Aquaman trying to stop his half-brother, Orm, or Ocean Master, from starting a war against the surface world due to both of them polluting their oceans, and an attack that happens. The whole movie is essentially a classic adventure, with Aquaman, alongside a female character named Mera, in search of the trident that will get Arthur to be looked at as a rightful ruler of Atlantis, and stopping the war from happening.

The main reason why I like this movie so much is how much fun and self-aware of how campy it is. I mean, we’ve got sharks with lasers, an octopus playing the drums, and a bunch of crab people fighting each other. You can tell that James Wan and everyone who worked on this movie had an absolute blast, because the movie is having an absolute blast. It’s one of the most unique superhero movies from the past ten years, and really stands out amongst a crowd of rather generic superhero movies. I also have to mention a certain sequence before the third act that was pure James Wan, where you can tell he just couldn’t help but put a horror sequence in there. It’s one of the standout scenes of the entire movie, and easily one of my favorites.

The action is also absolutely fantastic. The camera interacts with the action in a way that it’s almost a part of it, which I haven’t really seen before. James Wan also really made sure that every punch, kick, and hit was felt during the fighting sequences. They are all a blast and full of a ton of energy, and oh, there are a ton of them. Even during a lot of the slower scenes, a fight scene finds its way in, a lot of the time with a jumpscare, surprisingly (which was definitely a James Wan creative choice).

This film is beautiful to look at, too, with all its very vibrant and popping colors. Does it look like a video game at times when it comes to the CGI? Sure, but the vast majority of the film has some of the best and most impressive visual effects I’ve seen in a comic book movie. The underwater scenes are incredibly impressive, truly capturing the scope and beauty of Atlantis. Especially as we get into the third act, this becomes even more prominent. The only thing I would say doesn’t look fantastic is the hair effects, but they aren’t so bad that they are distracting.

Jason Momoa continues to kill this role of Aquaman here as well. He definitely wasn’t the obvious choice to play Aquaman when he was chosen in Batman v Superman, and I don’t even know if he is very comic-accurate, as I haven’t even read the comics, but he’s just an awesome character. He’s hilarious, but also cool enough to be this iconic character. I think he has a pretty decent character arc as well, with his whole taking up the mantle as king of Atlantis thing, and I think that the Snyder cut of Justice League does an especially good job of setting up that part of the movie. He also gets probably one of the best comic-accurate suits put to screen towards the end. Despite how controversial she is, I think that Amber Heard has great chemistry as Mera with Momoa’s Aquaman. I like their relationship throughout the film, and while it is pretty cliche, I think it does have some pretty good moments as they sort of warm up to each other during the movie.

While I love 2018’s Aquaman, I do think that it is definitely a film that not everyone would like, particularly a lot of cinephiles. It’s pretty cheesy and over-the-top, as I said, and doesn’t necessarily go for anything deeper than a pure, entertaining adventure flick. Now I think it does an amazing job at being just that, but that’s the thing; it is really just that.

The only real negative for me, personally, would have to be the villains. The main one, Ocean Master, is pretty shallow as a character in my opinion, and doesn’t have much of a presence during the movie, either on or off the screen. I never felt that he posed a huge threat to Aquaman’s mission, and so I didn’t find him particularly interesting at all. Black Manta, on the other hand, was a lot more interesting a character, not only because his armor is just plain awesome, but because of his motives against Aquaman. He’s a lot deeper and more compelling a character than Ocean Master is. However, he’s barely in the movie, which is kind of a real bummer. I think that if he were the main villain, or let alone just in the movie more, I wouldn’t even be bringing him up in this manner.

Aquaman (2018) might be one of my hotter takes, but I would be simply lying to myself if I didn’t give it as high a score as I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, and unlike a lot of the other DCEU movies, including the ones I do like, it’s actually one I see myself revisiting despite the DCEU essentially being retconned at this point.