Aquaman – 60 Second Movie Review

Not as bad as Justice League, not as good as Wonder Woman, Aquaman is a solid 7 out of 10 – mostly because of Jason Momoa.

Synopsis of Aquaman

Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people — and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm’s half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.

Our Take

It’s not exactly original, and the reluctant hero plot is a bit tired. But the action and the acting mostly make up for it. Jason Momoa is excellent as Aquaman and the other characters are well-cast and serve up decent performances.

While this movie could have benefited from better writing and dialogue, its non-stop action keeps you smiling. You’ll notice a lot of similarities to other well-known action films.  It’s like Star Wars meets Indiana Jones in Pandora. 

Here’s our no-spoiler review. (Scroll and read on for a few minor spoilers.)

Spoiler Warning!

If you read on, you might get a few spoilers!

Let’s talk about how this movie ties into the other DC universe movies. Basically, it doesn’t. We saw Aquaman referenced briefly in Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Justice League. I expected at least some reference to the Justice League in this movie. However, I did not find any mention, or even any easter eggs, that tied into the DC universe. It’s possible I missed something, but even the end credits scene did not tie into any other DC story line.

My thinking is that DC did this on purpose. I’ve heard they are trying to “reboot” their reputation, so perhaps it was a calculated decision to separate this movie from the others. Might be a good call.

However, I love how all the Marvel movies fit together so well and are clearly a part of “the big picture.” DC seems to be lacking in a big picture right now.

We are introduced to villain Black Manta, who was always Aquaman’s nemesis in the comics. He will clearly be a factor in future movies for the franchise. It would have been great to see him conspiring with another villain in the DC universe, or even plotting something to tie in with the other heroes. But we don’t get that at all.

And finally, I will say the humor in this movie was well-done. It wasn’t over the top or too silly. It added a good amount of fun in just the right places. Seeing some trailers for upcoming DC movies, I’ve been worried that they are going overboard with the dumb-funny angle. I’m looking at you, Shazam!