AQUAMAN (2019)
Label: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Region Code:
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 143 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English 5.1 DTS_HD Master Audio, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 2160p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) & (2.35:1)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Jason Momoa,Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Ludi Lin, Temuera Morrison
I have said it here before so why not say it again, I'm a Marvel Kid from way back, those were the comics that I read in my youth, it wasn't until my 20's that I started to dip my toe into the pages of DC and other more indie comics. The funny thing is that I grew up on DC animated series and TV shows/films even before I got into Marvel comics, I remember watching the TV cut of the original Superman film when I was in kindergarten, and watching the 70s TV incarnations of Shazam and Wonder Woman on TV, in addition to the animated Super Friends cartoons. The Super Friends is the show that introduced me to concept of super-hero teams, and was also my introduction to the character Aquaman. A blond goody-goody whose power was that he could communicate with fish and was a good swimmer, compared to Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman he was only slightly less corny to me than the annoying teen sidekicks the Wonder Twins and their pets, the purple monkey pal Gleek and Wonder Dog, ugh.
With that in mind I didn't have very high expectations for Aquaman joining the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), as I was already only lukewarm on the Justice League, but thinking back on JL I rather liked Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, the Aquaman. Sure, he was a little too dude-bro for my tastes but the character was fun and Momoa infused the him with some bad-assness and tongue-in-cheek humor, so I was kind of looking forward to seeing what he could do in a solo film.
The film tells the origin story of how Aquaman's mother Queen Atlanna of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman, BMX Bandits) fled her underwater kingdom for the surface world, where she fell in love with a surface dweller, a kind-hearted lighthouse keeper, Thomas (Temuera Morrison). They fall in love and she gives birth to a their son before being forcibly returned to Atlantis, leaving young Arthur in the care of his human father.
Now a grown man Arthur is a self-proclaimed protector of the seas, with the opening of the film setting up the origin story of the man who will become his arch nemesis, Black Mantis (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Us). The film also tells the story of Aquaman's power-hungry half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson, Watchmen) who is looking to consolidate the kingdoms of the sea, through treachery, to declare war on the surface world. Working against Orm is a red-haired Atlantean named Mera (Amber Heard, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane) and Queen Atlanna loyalist Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe, Spider-Man), who has been secretly training Arthur since childhood to be an Atlantean warrior, knowing he will someday have to challenge his evil half-brother and claim his rightful place as the heir to throne of Atlantis. Before this can happen though Arthur must seek out a magic Trident, face-off against a Lovecraftian creature from the deep and survive the carnivorous creatures of the Trench.
The film is big-budget sci-fi adventure film, it's fairly dumb but plenty fun, a color-splashed fantasy that offers plenty of eye candy and fast-paced superhero action. Black Mantis is very cool-looking, with his big-headed, laser-zapping bug-eyes, straight out of the comics. For my money he's not in the film long enough, but I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of him in the near future installments of the Aquaman series. The epic final battle of the underwater kingdoms is gob-smacking, I usually find myself tuning out when a "live-action" film devolves into digital animation, but what they created here is just fun and visually interesting to watch, with crab creatures and Atlanteans riding sharks into battle, it's good stuff. While the material is not too deep, coming nowhere near the emotional resonance of Superman (1978) or Spider-Man (2002), it is one of the more successful DCEU films, making for a solid watch, I didn't love it, but I was absolutely entertained, and it blew away Justice League by a large margin, but still falling behind Wonder Woman.
Audio/Video: Aquaman (2018) arrives on 4K UltraHD+Blu-ray+Digital from Warner Bros, Home Entertainment looking absolutely phenomenal. The image looks superbly rich and detailed, the HDR adding depth and vibrancy to the myriad of colors, the light and dark contrast of the Ring of Fire sequence and the neon colors of Atlantis look fantastic. When the film switches aspect ratios to the IMAX format it's a tiny bit jarring but I loved the larger picture format here, detail and colors shine throughout, this is a luminous presentation
The Dolby Atmos mix is also a stunner, I cranked it up and enjoyed a bombastic and immersive audio experience that shook the walls of my house with plenty of low-end, giving my neighbors an earful of super-hero bombast! Optional English, Spanish, and French subtitles are provided.
The 4K disc contains only the film, with the extras accompanying the Blu-ray disc, on it we get loads of featurettes with over an hour's worth of behind-the-scenes stuff about making of the film, from the creation of character designs on through to the impressive physical sets and digital artistry that brought the story to life. There's also a digital Movie Anywhere copy of the film, and a sneak peek of the Shazam movie.
Special Features:
- Going Deep Into the World of Aquaman (19 min)
- Becoming Aquaman (13 min)
- James Wan: World Builder (8 min)
- Aqua Tech (6 min)
- Atlantis Warfare (5 min)
- The Dark Depths of Black Manta (7 min)
- Heroines of Atlantis (6 min)
- Villainous Training (6 min)
- Kingdoms of the Seven Seas (7 min)
- Creating Undersea Creatures (7 min)
- A Match Made in Atlantis (3 min)
- Scene Study Breakdowns:Submarine Attack (3 min) , Showdown in Sicily (4 min), The Trench (4 min)
- Exclusive Sneak Peek of Shazam! (3 min)
Aquaman (2018) is a solid superhero entry, easily rising above Justice League as one of the best of the modern era DC films with a better story and superior villains. The 4K presentation is terrific, a vibrant and luminous slice of sci-fi action/adventure, it might be shallow entertainment, but the spectacle is a blast, and having hunky Momoa in the lead sort of makes this the Magic Mike of superhero films, even my superhero-loathing wife was keen to re-watch this one.
