12 Step Movie Review: Aquaman

A little bit spoilerey, I guess?

1. It starts even with the opening credits: The Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment logo sequences happen underwater. It sounds hokey, but it totally worked for me.

2. The origin story is given as much time as it needs and no more, and is woven into the A-plot and character motivations well.

3. Aquaman's fish communication powers are presented effectively, and no time is wasted explaining them.

4. Similarly, all the Atlantean stuff that could strain credulity - people talking underwater and so on - is hand-waved and/or lampshaded so we can get on with enjoying the fantastic underwater scenes.

5. The underwater scenes bear further mention - James Wan and his crew pulled it off. From the architecture, to the hair, to the voices, to the slight wavery nature of the scenes - everything maintains the illusion. The art direction and design of Atlantis is spectacular - even the giant seahorse mounts look cool.

6. The movie also does a great job of showing how Aquaman can function just fine on land, thank you.

7. Notwithstanding the change to significant detail of her origin, Mera is portrayed faithfully and respectfully, functioning as a partner, not a sidekick or damsel in distress. Amber Heard does a great job.

8. Patrick Wilson does a creditable heel turn as Orm, the Ocean Master, and I am seeing a Thor-Loki vibe rising up in the future.

9. The movie's version of Black Manta works, although Yahya Abdul-Mateen II doesn;t get to do much but be angry.

10. Jason Momoa does what he was called upon to do in this movie - a lot of badass, a little humor, and just a touch of heroic drama. The story successfully justifies Arthur Curry's dudebro personality as reasonable and credible, given the point in the character arc when we meet him, and this movie allows him to grow a little bit. Momoa doesn't have the sustained presence of Gal Gadot and this movie doesn't have the gravitas of Wonder Woman, but it certainly sits on the same shelf.

11. The plot is serviceable, setting up the stakes and the conflicts and the quests appropriately. More importantly, Aquaman makes a decision early in the movie that he comes to question and regret later in the story, and this was key for me, as it shows the DC is remembering what superhero movies are supposed to be about. It bodes well for the future, and I am looking forward to the upcoming DC movies more than I have been.

12. One quibble: although Willem DeFoe does his usual fine work, Vulko is supposed to be slightly stocky or even chubby, not a whipcord-lean sensei. If he weren't working for Team Marvel, Jon Favreau would have been a better choice.

My man Vulko - and my next cosplay.

So, all in all,  a heckuva fun night at the movies. I don't think I have flat-out enjoyed a superhero movie this much since the first Ant-Man.

Surface thoughts

So, Wonder Wife and I are currently watching Surface, an unsuccessful 2005 science-fiction series pulled after one season. We operate at the whim of Netflix streaming and have found a surprising number of shortrun sci-fi series that we wish had had more episodes - Alphas, Outcasts, The Dresden Files, Nova, and Flash Forward among them - but this is not about the serendipity of tripping over a cancelled series that you like.

Surface centers on the interaction between a few people - a California oceanographer, a Lousiana good ol' boy, and North Carolina teen - and a new underwater species: some sort of large vertebrate with an electrical charge and an active lifestyle that involves eating dogs, sharks, whales, boats, and so on. With a bit of a Close Encounters vibe, these civilians come into conflict with shadowy government agents who have their own agenda regarding these creatures.

We're only halfway through the show's fifteen episodes, but we've been having a rollicking good time. There's technobabble science, high-seas adventure, conspiracy espionage, and interpersonal drama in pretty equal measure, with decent pacing and appealing characters. It's not a great show, but it certainly is solid entertainment.

What's noteworthy is that for me it puts lie to the idea that Aquaman is a hard character to write for.

This show is all about something coming up from the depths of the ocean; the core of the show is  a sea-monster, for cryin' out loud. And is sure has a lot of watery set pieces: among them, we've had a research submarine expedition, the carrier Ronald Reagan and a military sub in the Arctic, spear-fishers under an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a pickup-creature chase along a river, and a jerry-rigged bathysphere being lowered from an outlaw salvage ship. And those are just the scenes with the main cast: the sea-monster teasers have taken us all over the world.

And yet, much of the show plays out like any television thriller: scientists work in labs, senators meet in conference rooms, agents drive SUVs, children get dropped of with ex-spouses, cell phone calls are made and answered, pins are placed on large maps in cluttered situation rooms, and characters share beers while assessing their chances. While the plot is ocean-driven and the show ocean-centric, nothing ever feels ocean-bound.

So why is Aquaman seen to be so limited? Just because he is an ocean-based hero, that doesn't mean he can't ever function on land. Almost half the world's population lives within 100 miles of the ocean, and if you add the navigable rivers there's even more. Think about how many world-class cities are ports: New York, Boston, San Francisco, London,  Shanghai, Singapore, Rotterdam, Tokyo, and on and on. Granted, Aquaman's probably not going to be crossing the Sahara or parachuting into Siberia, but there's a lot of world that is still reasonably open to him from a plot perspective, and he doesn't have to stay submerged to be effective.

Aquaman is a marine mammal, not a fish - he can come up on shore, look for information, contact sources, visit an old friend, and yes, even engage the enemy on their own turf. The major action scenes in an Aquaman story, as in Surface, should certainly be on the water - getaway speedboats, island hideaways, cruisers remaining in international waters, and so forth - but nothing keeps Arthur Curry from being a force to be reckoned with on dry land. He still packs a punch like a ramming whale, right?

I gotta check Netflix again. Are we sure he didn't have a show for even one season?