Aquaman Review

Aquaman


Release Date: 26th December 2018 - Australia


Production Companies
Warner Bros. Pictures
DC Comics (Uncredited)
DC Entertainment
The Safran Company

Cruel & Unusual Films

Distribution
Roadshow Films


Genre: Action/Adventure

Rating: M

Runtime: 143 minutes


Budget: $200,000,000

Box Office Gross: $1,148,528,393 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Arthur Curry is born to two people from two different worlds and is the half-born heir to the legendary underwater kingdom of Atlantis. To stop his half-brother Orm from waging war on the surface world, Arthur must do whatever it takes to become king.


Cast
Jason Momoa - Arthur Curry/Aquaman
Amber Heard - Mera
Willem Dafoe - Vulko
Patrick Wilson - King Orm
Nicole Kidman - Atlanna
Dolph Lundgren - King Nereus
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - Manta
Temuera Morrison - Tom Curry
Ludi Lin - Captain Murk
Michael Beach - Jesse (Manta's Father)
Randall Park - Dr. Stephen Shin
Graham McTavish - King Atlan
Tainui & Tamor Kirkwood - Young Arthur (3 Years Old)
Denzel Quirke - Young Arthur (9 Years Old)
Otis Dhanji - Young Arthur (13 Years Old)
Kekoa Kekumano - Young Arthur (16 Years Old)
Julie Andrews - Karatheon
(Voice)
John Rhys-Davies - Brine King
(Voice)
Djimon Hounsou - King Ricou
(Voice)
Andrew Crawford - Brine
King & King Ricou
Sophia Forrest - Fisherman Princess
Natalia Safran - Queen Rina
Jack Andrew - Mike (Bully)
Frankie Creagh-Leslie - Matt (Bully)
Patrick Cox - Cueball

Crew
Story/Director - James Wan
Aquaman Creators - Mort Weisinger
and Paul Norris
Story/Executive Producer - Geoff Johns
Story/Screenplay - Will Beall
Screenplay - David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Executive Producers - Jon Berg,
Walter Hamada and Zack & Deborah Snyder
Producers - Rob Cowan and Peter Safran
Casting - Anne McCarthy and Kellie Roy

Visual Consultant - John Fox

Production Designer - Bill Brzerki
Concept Illustrator/Visual Effects Art

Director - Ed Natividad

Concept Illustrators - Wayne Barlowe,

Pascal Blanche, James Carson, Matt Donnici,

Jeremy Love, Scott Lukowski, Victor Martinez,

Rob McKinnon, Brad Nielsen, Christian Schuerer,

Sebastian Meyer, Mukesh Singh,

Howard Swindell, Dane Hallet, Eddy Taylor,

Rowan Cassidy and Liam Becker

Supervising Art Director - Richard Hobbs
Art Directors - Desma Murphy,

Michelle McGahey, Eugene Intas,
Bill Booth and Peter Wyborn
Set Decorator - Beverley Dunn
Property Master - Richie Dehne

Assistant Property Masters - Richard Mansfield

and Emile Oliver
Costume Designer - Kym Barrett

Hair/Makeup Designer - Lesley Vanderwalt

Makeup Effects and Costume Design:

Fractured FX - Justin Raleigh

Director of Photography - Don Burgess

Director of Photography: Second Unit - David Burr

Camera Operators: Second Unit - Greg Gilbert

and Jack Wareham

"C" Camera Operator/DP Insert Unit - Calum McFarlane
Location Manager - Duncan Jones

Unit Production Manager - Anne Bruning

First Assistant Directors - Simon Warnock

and Albert Cho (Uncredited)

First Assistant Director: Second Unit - P.J. Voeten

Second Assistant Director - Deborah Antoniou

Second Unit Director - John Mahaffie
Stunt Coordinators - Kyle Gardiner and
R.A. Rondell
Fight Coordinator - Jon Valera
Special Effects Supervisor - Brian Cox
Special Effects Coordinator - Leanne Brooks
Visual Effects Supervisors - Kelvin McIlwain

and Charles Gibson
Visual Effects Supervisors: ILM - Jeff White,

Tim Alexander, Philippe Rebours and

Alex Prichard

Visual Effects Supervisor: Scanline VFX -

Bryan Hirota

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Darren Poe

Visual Effects Supervisors: Method Studios -

David Nelson, Josh Simmonds and

Craig Wentworth

Visual Effects Supervisor: Digital Domain -

Jay Barton

Additional Visual Effects Supervisors - Jim Berney

and Vinod Gundre (Uncredited)

Visual Effects Producer - Kimberly Nelson LoCascio

Additional Visual Effects Producers -

Alex Bicknell, Tricia Mulgrew and Crystal Dowd

Visual Effects Supervising Producers: ILM -

Erin D. O'Connor and Susan Greenhow

Visual Effects Consultant - James E. Price

Visual Effects Art Director: Scanline VFX -

Claas Henke

Visual Effects: Weta Digital - Daniel Macarin,

Robin Hollander, Ryan Heelan, Lex De Vroomen,

Dimitri Breidenbach, Jonathan Carre,

Norman Cates, Bimla Chall, Gemma Cooper

Prerana Jaiswal, Sergio Pickelny,

Emrys Plaisted, Naveen Shukla,

Patrick Thompson, Greg A. Vanzyl and

Armando Velazquez Franco

Visual Effects: Luma Pictures - Alejandro Solozano,

Alex Khan, Cameron Sorgi, Catherine Hughes,

Eddie Porter, Gian Lombardi, Jared Simeth,

Joe Censoplano, Justin Brunett, Lily Morgan,

Marcos Romero, Meagan Green,

Raphael A. Pimentel, Sheldon Neill,

Thana Siripopungul and Vince Cerelli

Animation Supervisors: ILM - Cedric Lo

and Kim Ooi

Animation Supervisor: Scanline VFX - Eric Petey

Animation Supervisor: MPC/Scanline VFX -

Clement Yip

CG Supervisors: ILM - Rhys Claringbull,

Barry Kane and Mathias Lautour

Digital Artist Supervisors: ILM - Aymeric Aute,

Marc Jones, Quentin Marmier, Pascal Raimbault,

Jeffrey De Guzman, Georg Kaltenbrunner,

Geordie Martinez, Mohammad Rastkar,

Hugo Debat-Burkarth, Michal Kriukow,

Martin Murphy, Barry Williams, David Fish,

Pat Lun Lam, Naren Naidoo, Gary Wu,

Ryan Hopkins, Zhen Yang Lee,

Erin Nicholson and Takashi Yoshida

Virtual Production Supervisors: The Third Floor -
Eric Carney, Casey Schatz and Steven Tom

Visualisation: Day for Nite - Kyle Robinson,

Gareth Cowan, Andy Cadz, Nigel Allan,

Juri Fripp, Sarah Collier, Lucas Newton

and Jason Peek

Editor - Kirk M. Morri

Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer -

Peter Brown

Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer/

Re-Recording Mixer - Joe Dzuban

Sound Designers - Stephen P. Robinson,

Eliot Connors and Harry Cohen

Re-Recording Mixer - Tim LeBlanc
Music - Rupert Gregson-Williams

Composers: Additional Music - Sven Faulconer

and Evan Jolly

Composer: Trench Music - Joseph Bishara

Music Supervisor - Michelle Silverman

Score Recordist and Mixer - Alan Meyerson


Review

Due to being mildly disappointed by Justice League, I had low expectations for this incarnation of AQUAMAN as I'm not sure that it would redeem the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). With the recent success of Wonder Woman in bringing DC characters back to life for fans, the title movie had much to live up to its success. Despite hearing a lot of criticism, I was still willing to keep an open mind about the film. AQUAMAN wasn't as good as I expected, but it was an improvement on the previous movie.

I liked how James Wan gets ambitious with his direction in the latest film, just like he did in Fast & Furious 7 years ago. The movie's cinematography is brilliant. The tone is lighthearted. It had an adventurous feel that drew you into the old-school fashion of action and adventure seen in classic movies like the Indiana Jones series. I'm disappointed that the storyline was predictable and much done before with the Chosen One narrative. While the plot is cliched, the characters draw you in, especially how Aquaman's adversaries had justified motives. I'm not going to give those actions away. You'll have to watch it for yourself. What works in the film is the setting of Atlantis, which fans came to expect. Unlike the lost city portrayed in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, AQUAMAN's interpretation of Atlantis looks sophisticated, futuristic, and beautiful. In general, the visuals of AQUAMAN are stunning and create the underwater world of Atlantis.

Jason Momoa returns as Aquaman but with much more authenticity than he showed in Justice League. The rest of the cast is stellar, with standouts like Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe and Temuera Morrison. The music score by Rupert Gregson-Williams reinforced the mood and atmosphere of the film with its mash-up of electronic instruments and a traditional orchestra.

Overall, AQUAMAN has its weaknesses. Many of its features save it from sinking, like the Titanic. It's enjoyable but not one of the best films in the DCEU series. If you're a DC fan, I recommend you see it.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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