Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Out of all the DC Comics superheroes I know of, Aquaman is one I don’t know very much about. Hence why I wasn’t really interested in seeing the film ‘Aquaman’ when it was released at cinemas in December 2018! At that point, I was more interested in the Marvel superheroes than in the DC ones.
But since then, and because we’re currently living in a pandemic – please keep safe – I’ve been able to take an interest in the ‘DC Extended Universe’ again. I’ve also realised that ‘Aquaman’ became a crowd pleaser when it was shown at the cinemas in 2018. So, I checked this film out due to curiosity.
I’ve seen Aquaman before since he was in the film ‘Justice League’, which I haven’t seen in a long time. He also appeared in ‘Scooby-Doo! Batman: The Brave and the Bold’. It was interesting to see ‘Aquaman’ and how the titular superhero would fare in his own film after debuting in ‘Justice League’.
The character Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris for DC Comics. Like I said, I don’t know much about Aquaman as a superhero character and even though I’ve seen him in the aforementioned ‘Justice League’ and ‘Scooby-Doo’ films, it’s not enough to know him. But I was looking forward to seeing ‘Aquaman’ as a film and hoped to judge it on its merits than on its flaws. 🙂
After seeing ‘Aquaman’ at home via Amazon Prime Video, I greatly enjoyed this film. I can see why people rate this one highly. It has some traditional superhero fun going on. In many ways, Aquaman works well as a superhero alone, very much like how Wonder Woman works well in her own movie.
Jason Momoa returns to play Aquaman following ‘Justice League’. The film is directed by James Wan. In the movie, Arthur Curry/Aquaman finds himself setting out to lead the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. He must confront his half-brother King Orm who wants to rage war on the surface world.
Despite not having read any ‘Aquaman’ comics, I was able to get into the superhero world of Aquaman easily. It was fun to get into the underwater worlds and see what Atlantis looked like. The origins of Atlantis and how it ended up underwater is pretty different to how ‘Doctor Who’ did it! 😀
Incidentally, I know this film was released by Warner Bros as DC Comics is associated with that film company. But ‘Aquaman’ could’ve easily been made by Disney since the underwater worlds featured in this movie put me in mind of Disney films like ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Finding Nemo’. 🙂
Jason Momoa is great to watch in this film. I enjoyed the journey Arthur Curry went on in order to find out whether he was worthy to lead Atlantis and be its king, since he’s half-human, half-Atlantean. The relationship Arthur has with his love interest Mera was nice to watch during the film.
Speaking of which, Amber Heard stars as Mera, who is the princess of Xebel, Arthur’s love interest and the warrior daughter of King Nereus. The film also features Willem “Spider-Man! This is why only fools are heroes!” Dafoe!!! Wow! I was very amazed to see Willem Dafoe appear in a DC movie!
I’m disappointed he didn’t play a villain in this movie, but I enjoyed his performance as Nuidis Vulko, Atlantis’ vizier who mentored young Arthur in his training as Aquaman. Incidentally, Willem Dafoe voiced a character in ‘Finding Nemo’. I’m surprised he didn’t call young Arthur Curry ‘Sharkbait’ when he was training him to be Aquaman. ‘Aquaman’ even has a ‘ring of fire’ like ‘Finding Nemo’. 😀
The film also features Patrick Wilson as King Orm Marius/Ocean Master, who insults Aquaman, calling him a ‘half-breed’, and thinks himself the better king of Atlantis. There’s also Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Mera’s father; and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as David Kane/Black Manta. I didn’t expect David Kane to come back later on during the film and become a super-villain for Aquaman. 😀
There’s also Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, the Queen of Atlantis as well as Arthur Curry and Orm’s mother. It was nice to see Nicole Kidman in this film. This is the second time that Nicole has done DC superhero movie. The first one was ‘Batman Forever’ where she played Chase Meridian. You remember that ‘Batman’ film don’t you? With Val Kilmer as Batman and Jim Carrey as the Riddler…
Timelord007: 
The film also features Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry, Arthur’s father. You might remember Temeura Morrison for playing Jango Fett in ‘Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones’. I liked the sweet love story featuring Arthur’s parents at the film’s start and how it was all resolved by the end.
The action sequences in this film are pretty amazing; especially during the climax when Aquaman and Mera thwart King Orm’s attempts to wage war. Aquaman does acquire a new suit as king of Atlantis, which is orange and green, which is short-of how he looks in the comics, despite not having blonde hair. It’s intriguing how the film progresses Aquaman to look like that by the movie’s ending.
Overall, ‘Aquaman’ has been a fun action-packed superhero movie to watch. I’m glad I’ve seen it and I hope I’ll get to see more DC superhero movies that have been made recently. I would like to see ‘Aquaman 2’ someday and hopefully I’ll get to see that movie when it comes out at cinemas soon. 🙂
I would like to check out the ultimate edition of ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ next! 😀 Incidentally, my Mum said that Aquaman is like the Thor of the ‘DC Extended Universe’. She could be right there. 😀 Another ‘Finding Nemo’ connection I found in this movie is that Aquaman and Mera hid inside a humpback whale. The same thing happened to Marlin and Dory with meeting a whale. 😀
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
I don’t mind Batman Forever when Jim Carrey isn’t on screen when he is it becomes a cringeworthy train wreck of a film.
I enjoyed this film, Jason Momoa awesome in the role & kicks ass, good supporting cast too as well as huge action set pieces which are stunning.
I think DC tell bolder stories than Marvel & take more risks, sure they don’t have quite the consistency of Marvel but when they deliver the goods they’re usually high quality blockbusters – Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Man Of Steel.
Excellent review Tim.
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Hi Simon.
I figured that Batman Forever/Jim Carrey cameo I gave you would get a reaction out of you. 😀
Yeah, ‘Aquaman’ was pretty good. I’m glad I saw it when I purchased it on Amazon Prime Video. Jason Momoa and the rest of the cast are pretty good and yes, the action sequences are pretty impressive.
I’ll have to see more DC-related superhero movies and review them on my blog. I would like to see ‘Man of Steel’ again before I see the ultimate edition of ‘Batman v Superman’. I’ll have to see ‘Suicide Squad’ first before watching the ‘Birds of Prey’ film. I wonder what the Synder cut of ‘Justice League’ will be like.
Many thanks for your comments, SImon. Glad you enjoyed my review.
Tim. 🙂
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Jim Carrey, as much I’ve always liked him, felt a little too typecast for the Riddler in Batman Forever. I remember rumors that David Tennant might play the Riddler in Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. But they might have been just fan-based preferences at the time.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Jim Carrey. I admit, his talents as a comedian/actor can be debatable and upon reflection, he does things OTT when playing the Riddler than he should have done and it’s likely to contradict my initial opinion that he’s well-cast as the Riddler in ‘Batman Forever’. But over the years, thanks to my best mate Stephen from school, I’ve been able to enjoy the varying levels of his performances in many films like ‘Liar, Liar’, ‘Bruce Almighty’, ‘The Cable Guy’ and recently ‘Dumb and Dumber’. Hopefully when it comes to 2025 to celebrate my blog’s 10th anniversary, I hope to do a Jim Carrey Film Review Season to illustrate why I enjoy him and his films as well as illustrate why he can very uneven in some of his film performances.
That’s interesting about rumours of David Tennant being cast to play the Riddler in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. I’ve not heard that rumour before. I’d certainly welcome it as David Tennant would certainly pull off a good performance as the Riddler. I would enjoy him more in that role compared to Jim Carrey’s Riddler in ‘Batman Forever’ as well as the Riddler depicted in ‘The Batman’ recently.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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You’re welcome, Tim. I also remember rumors that Philip Seymour Hoffman might be the Penguin in The Dark Knight Rises. But I assumed that his untimely death changed that sadly.
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Thanks scifimike.
That’s also interesting. I’ve only seen Philip Seymour Hoffman in ‘Mission: Impossible III’ but didn’t know he was up for playing the Penguin in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ too. If only ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ extended to more than three films, we could have had David Tennant’s Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Penguin in the film series.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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Colin Farrell as the Penguin for The Batman was also an interesting surprise. He was successful enough for it to spinoff into his own series for HBO.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for letting me know about the upcoming ‘Penguin’ series with Colin Farrell. That’s the first time I’ve heard about it.
Tim 🙂
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You’re welcome. You may have trouble recognizing Colin Farrell through his Penguin makeup. But it’s certainly an affirmation of how far he’s come as an actor..
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Hi scifimike,
Indeed, Colin Farrell is unrecognisable when playing the Penguin in ‘The Batman’. To think that years ago, he played Bullseye in the 2003 ‘Daredevil’ film. 😆
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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It was when Colin Farrell did the film version of Miami Vice where he first convinced me how good he is at recreating someone else’s iconic role. He set himself apart from Burgess Meredith’s and Danny DeVito’s Penguins as Joaquin Phoenix could from Jack Nicholson’s and Heath Ledger’s Jokers.
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Hi scifimike,
It’s actually incredible when you think about how many actors there’ve been who’ve played various superhero characters over the years in film and TV, and they’ve been with us for a long time since the 1930s with DC Comics and the 1960s with Marvel. I don’t think there’s a version of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man I haven’t enjoyed, as they’ve all been very entertaing so far and the same goes for the villians and the actors who’ve played them
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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