View original postI really don't know what to say about this. Because except for "Suicide Squad," I really liked all the recent DC movies. But except for "Wonder Woman," they are all awful and Aquaman was a really stupid character in the much maligned "Justice League". Even though I liked him and the movie itself. But I was wrong to do so, and I just don't understand what a horrendous disservice these films do to decades of established picture book characterization and canon.

View original postVisually, it's easily the most impressive of the DC movies, with all the underwater stuff, and armies of undersea people riding or being fish. Atlanna's people look human. Mera is the daughter of the king of another realm (played by Dolph Lundgren), who also look human. Two realms have died out, another, called Brine, has devolved in crab people, whose rule is voiced by John Rhys-Davis, the Fishermen are like the Creature from the Black Lagoon crossed with mermaids, and their king is Djimon Hounsou and the Trench kingdom are pretty much just vicious monsters with huge numbers and whose appearance would make the people of Innsmouth recoil in horror. These kingdoms are enumerated in two different conversations that still made it hard to keep track of them, but we eventually get to see them all in different conflicts, so it's not too confusing.

View original postOn paper, this movie should not work. There is a lot of infodumping, the Atlantis related stuff will probably have the comic movie nerds sneering at its silliness, and it seems like a very busy plot going on, but the pace doesn't drag and nothing feels underserved. Things that have you ready to face palm don't quite get there. For example, given Manta's backstory, it seems like they were going to make him a sympathetic villain, or at least a jerk with a point, like Killmonger in "Black Panther", but not really. He's just a bad guy trying to kill Arthur for bad reasons he thinks are good, but he also helps with Arthur's character development, so you can't even complain that he's unnecessary or shoehorned in.

View original postI enjoyed this movie more on its own than as a sequel to Justice League or part of an EU (you would think the imminent invasion of the land by sea people with plasma weapons would be of mild concern to Superman, Batman, Flash, Cyborg and Wonder Woman; or that Wonder Woman, as a princess of Themiscyra, would have some pull with Atlantis, considering their ancient alliance depicted in Justice League).