(Non-Spoiler Review) So, I know I'm really late to the party here, but I finally got a chance to catch Aquaman last week. In general, I had fun, but there was a few big things in the movie that held me back from really liking the movie. Without a doubt, director James Wan went all-out on this thing and you've got to give him props for doing that. Its definitely a 180 degree swing from Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad, but if anything, maybe it is a bit too much of a swing, particularly in the way of campiness. Its almost as if everything the movie did well, they went just a bit too far with it.
To start out, lets talk visuals. Overall, most the visuals were pretty stunning, particular one scene in the middle with the Trench people. However, on the flip side, there were times I felt the visuals went a bit too far, which suddenly catapults you into the cartoony category. That is a tough thin line to tow. Nobody has done these undersea visuals to this extent, so James Wan had a tough task ahead of him. What I'd argue we ended up getting, like other later things in this review, was one of those desserts you get that tastes good for a few bits, but is just too rich and too sweet, you have a hard time eating the whole thing. Also, older DCEU movies struggled with being a bit too dark, while this movie probably struggled with being a bit too bright.
Somewhat tied to the visuals was just the overall comic book craziness of this movie. It is without question that Wan went all in on Aquaman's comic book world, all jammed into one movie. This created a really deep rich underwater world that jumped back and forth between the line of really cool and intriguing, then at other times, way too far over-the-top. It literally could jump back and forth based on what scene you were in. Again, back to the too rich and too sweet dessert metaphor. Don't get me wrong, I love the comic-book craziness, but I also want a decent level of grounded believability as well. Marvel is killer at towing this line with their movies while this movie struggled for me at times. In the end, I believe the key here is easing the audience into all the craziness, which this movie made zero attempt to do.
Lastly, while the story was fun and enjoyable for the most part, I couldn't help walking away finding it a bit hollow, particularly with Arthur Curry's arc. To me, all good comic book movie's main characters need to come out at the end of the movie inherently different than they were coming in. There has to be some character growth that happens. I just never found that with Aquaman. I wanted more emotion and more depth from him outside of the Kool-aid man that just busted through the wall screaming Oh-Yeah!!!! What he was at the beginning seemed to be exactly what he was at the end, which really tainted the storytelling a bunch and maybe was the #1 thing that kept me from loving this movie.
In the end, I don't want to harp too much on Aquaman as it was an entertaining enough movie for myself I guess. Yes, while I wanted more out of it and what it means for the DC movie universe going forward, to me, it is at least enough for me to trudge forward and somewhat look forward to what DC has for me next. It at least didn't kill the universe in my mind and based on its financial success, it likely didn't kill much in the minds of others as well.