OldBoy

**SPOILERS WITHIN**

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
"Aquaman" (Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren)

Release Date:
12/21/18

Rating:
PG-13 (for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language throughout.)

Running Time:
143m. (2h. 23m.)

Budget:
$160 million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:


IMDb Info and Rating:
8.3 (3,706 votes as of 12/11/18)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:37 Rotten:15 (71% as of 12/11/18)

Metacritic:
53 metascore ('Mixed to average reviews' as of 12/11/18)

Trailer:


Poster Art:

dex14

Will be seeing it this Saturday night.

OldBoy

how you guys seeing so early?

fumanstan

If you go back to the other thread, there's discussion about sneak previews being sold for this weekend from Atom tickets.

dex14

Mike86

Watched the Screen Junkies review. Sounds like it’s a decent enough movie but has a lot going on and is maybe a bit overstuffed for its own good. Not too surprising as it seems that way from the trailers.

DJariya

Yup seeing it Saturday night at AMC through Amazon Prime/Atom Tickets and A-List.

faust69

Got my Sat tickets as well. So far, reviews are definitely more positive than any DCU movie not called Wonder Woman. 75% with 61 critics so far is pretty good. Doesn’t sound like a disaster, but a decent action-fest with some flaws.

Iron_Giant

Wife and I have our tickets for AMC Saturday Night...really looking forward to the movie. My wife is also really ready to enjoy the movie, I think she is in love with Momoa.

Reviews seem to be 2 or 3 stars out of 4. They say Jason does an excellent job and the movie is fun.

OldBoy

This looks fun as hell but I think I can wait till home release, think. Though a Blu-ray 3D of this would be very enticing.

Paul_SD

Loving these comments from Scott Mendelson's review at Forbes

OldBoy

Good for it and Momoa. Always liked him.

Orbi-Wan Techno

Getting ready to enjoy the Amazon Prime screening. Review sometime tomorrow.

eXcentris

Not impressed by the SFX.

dex14

It was pretty good. The biggest goal was to make Aquaman cool and they definitely did it. It isn't better than Wonder Woman, but it is definitely better than all the others in the DCEU.

faust69

Just got back. Lots of fun with great visuals and action. Had a blast with it. Not quite as good as WW but definitely better than the other DC movies. I really don’t understand the negative reviews on places like Collider. This, to me, is the 2nd DCEU homerun other than WW. Consistently fun from start to finish. And I cannot hate any movie that has Julie Andrews playing a kaiju.

The Cow

I saw it this evening, and thought it was decent/okay. I'll reflect on it a bit more, but first impressions are that they tried to cram too much together. Black Manta didn't need to be in this at all, he never felt like a threat, other than a bit of technology. All I could think of was Dark Helmet from Spaceballs in his fight scene.

I think we got a bit of Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars all mixed together. To me the scenes with just Arthur and Mera were the best (thought Amber Heard did a good job).

I did not recognize Dolph Lundgren at all during the film, was surprised at who he was when I saw the credits. I'm not sure why, but the "frat boy" brother seemed off to me a bit. It might have been because he had his hair pulled tight and the underwater effects were off or something, I'll have to think about that a bit more.

Dr. Mantle

Visually, incredible. I may see it again in Imax (I've still got a $10 coupon from Lego DC Villians which I couldn't use with this Prime screening). The underwater scenes have a softness that blends perfectly with the neon creatures and buildings. James Wan seems to understand that your action high points are much more effective if it's a beautiful image, too.

But the dialogue? Eh. . . Coulda used another rewrite. Little things like cliched conversations do way more damage than you think. One of the major reason I go to movies is to see something new. It doesn't have to be bold and brilliant every second, but damn stop talking the way EVERY OTHER character in EVERY OTHER action movie speaks.

The story works well. Arthur's motivation feels organic. Black Manta only has a few minutes of screen time. Just enough to set him up for the next film. It does NOT have two main villians, like a 90s Batman movie.

Patrick Wilson hams it up good and propper and he's the most fun to watch when nothing's blowing up.

People who think this is great (as good as, or even close to WW) are probably just relieved it doesn't have the massive problems of Justice League or the outright shittyness of Suicide Squad.

Worth seeing, moderate your expectations.

fumanstan

I thought it was just ok. The story is fairly typical and predictable and seemed to follow a basic "destined to be King" type of framework a little too much without anything particularly new or interesting, nor strong enough characters to make the adventure as fun as it should be. Momoa is fine overall, as is Heard, but the movie felt it was lacking a standout character or scene that really wows or made me eager to see on screen again.

And yeah, Black Manta seemed like he was just tossed in there for an extra fight sequence without really adding much. I liked him visually, big helmet and all, but they could have left him out completely. It was also weird seeing Randall Park in this after recently being in Ant Man and the Wasp.

Wonder Woman is much better, and honestly I liked Justice League better too.

Orbi-Wan Techno

So I take it that Julie Andrews was

dex14

Yes.

Orbi-Wan Techno

From my review page ORBI-WAN GOES TO THE MOVIES:

AQUAMAN (PG-13) Jason Momoa turns on the fun and charm in this lively addition to the DCEU. Think underwater Thor mixed with Indiana Jones and even a bit of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Whew. Sitting through Aquaman (James Wan directing) is like your mom giving you permission to eat an entire box of your favorite sugar-loaded breakfast cereal, then finding multiple toy surprises in the bottom of the box. It may not be good for you, but you enjoy the sugar buzz as long as you can, and you have the toys to play with and remind you - man, that was just a cool experience!

All credit to Jason Momoa, who easily stole every scene in last year’s Justice League with his likable party boy take on one of DC’ most derisive heroes. Now in the spotlight, he raises this faux-Shakespearean tale of undersea kingdoms on the verge of war and a battle of royal bloodlines to the next level, making this “origin” story cheesy, funny, and accessible.

Aquaman has a great cast, which includes Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, William Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, and the voice of Julie Andrews in a key role. The inventive visual effects are on the level of a Star Wars movie, with expansive vistas and fanciful reimaginations of sea life outfitted for war. The entire movie is a visual feast.

I rank Aquaman just under Wonder Woman, which still remains the high bar the DCEU has set for itself. Aquaman earns a solid 4 out of 5 lightsabers from me, and I will have no problem adding it my permanent collection in the future.

NOTES FOR PARENTS: Aquaman is rated PG-13 for some language (sh** and d*** are heard a couple of times), a lot of comic book and sci-fi action violence (lasers, explosions, punching and similar type fighting), and an especially tense scene where Arthur and Mera fight clawed humanoid creatures in a fishing boat in the dark. Young Arthur is bullied at an aquarium. One of the villains, Manta, is pretty intense and revenge-driven.

MID- and AFTER-CREDIT SCENES: A mid-credit scene gives us an update on Manta’s fate. There is no after-credit scene.

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Mike86

Shame it sounds like they basically wasted Black Manta by shoehorning him into an already crammed film. He easily could be a main villain and is one of my favorite DC villains. At least he looks cool from the trailers.

The Cow

I think they gave him story time here so that he could transition into a main villain later. And it does make sense to show his origin here, so that they don't have to spend time on that in a future film. But it did feel kinda shoved in there for me, and he didn't really come off a being much of a threat.

kefrank

Saw it Saturday. It was entertaining, but they should have spent more time in the editing room. There's a much better and more focused cut stuck inside this bloated movie. Some of the dialog and costumes were a little too cheesy for my taste, a few of which almost made me laugh out loud. On the upside, Momoa delivers a very entertaining performance and several other actors do a solid enough job with what they're given. Some of the effects were really great too - the massive sea monster that Aquaman rides on in the last battle is particularly awesome.