Aquaman 2018

This was a fun, enjoyable and entertaining movie. It has a nice pace that explains things nicely while introducing us to Aquaman. There is a fantastic cast and a ridiculously stunning Amber Heard. However, there are some parts of the story that simply don't make sense and it feels like they were crow-barred into the script in order to adjust the flow. Firstly, Black Mantis! It's great that he got a part in this movie, but it was barely 5% of the film and the plot line is too random and distracting, how did he go from pirate to working with Atlantis? Additionally, one of the main plot points is the attack from the sub on Atlantis, does the surface know about them? Who was this sub from? And why did they attack? It feels like these questions need to be answered to fully understand the movie but not to appreciate it. I enjoy what they did and how they did it, but with a little bit of extra effort they could have integrated the separate plot lines more appropriately. Worth watching and a solid entry into the DC universe, just don't expect too much - they're probably saving that for the sequel.

Let's be real - we all watched this movie for one reason, and it's not the plot.

Judging it as a movie: there were two very good scenes which I really liked (the bikers and underwater flare). I also liked every scene with half naked Aquaman.
However not even Eyecandyman can save this thing completely.

The plot... It's a DC movie, so it's pretty bad.

The settings are just horrible. They make no sense logically or aesthetically. Whoever was in charge obviously didn't think things through. It's like they thought: "Avatar earned bunch of money-I want my movie to look like it too. Make Atlantis light up like a freaking Christmas tree.!"
"uhhh but Atlantians see in the dark. Isn't that kind of stupid?"
takes drugs "also spaceships! And lava waterfalls!"
"but they're underwater... "
snorts "And I watched Indiana Jones this weekend so put that in too!"
If you think I'm overreacting: There is a part where they end up in Jurasic Park for like 30 seconds, noone mentions it- ever, and it's over so fast you wonder if you hallucinated it.

Acting is also wonky. At one point my dad said "wow the extras are really bad" and you can't unsee it.

Overall it's pretty bad. I did get to drool over hunky aquaman though, so that's a 5 star rating from me.:ok_hand:It's a brainless action blockbuster whose plot you'll be forgetting as the movie progresses.

A marvel fanboys's opinion.
Awesome movie? YES
Theatre Worthy? HELL YES ( IMAX IF POSSIBLE)
reached marvel level? ummm that will take a while ofcourse.
this is how dceu should have started? yes!!!

First of all big thank you to whoever the "magic" person was in charge during this movie's pre production. maybe james wan himself? maybe some WB guy or some producer. who said. LETS JUST FOCUS ON AWESOMENESS, LETS PROUDLY CARRY CLICHE's. FOCUS ON VISUALS. NO FREAKING SJW OR POLITICAL AGENDA. thank you so much.

James Wan familiar people would see his non traditional work IMMEDIATELY. the visuals are beautiful and ground breaking. I am a filmmaking student and I had a hard time designating a particular cinematic angle or shot. It was just so unconventional yet pure eye candy. Not at all jarring.

The actions/set pieces, off the charts. and ample in quantity thank you very much. A thrilling ride. I definitely want to try watching this visual master piece again.

DCEU had become a joke even many fanboys were admitting that. Now I am not jumping on a hypewagon. I wont say : DC IS BACK. lets just wait for the next one. but oh yeahhh this is one awesome movie.

long story short,
visual/sound/costume/makeup/art direction/music = 10/10 unless u want to nitpick.

oh yes the music!! mind blowing work by rupert gregson williams, one of the best of hollywood. the music comes maybe slightly above the normal amount. but it is not crammed to us. maintains the pacing well. and charges you up so much at the perfect opportune times.

the effects and cgi? oh my god. off the charts. mind blowing by justice league standards AT LEAST. it wasnt a cgi-fest. it felt so.... real. i dont know what happened. meticulous hard work by director and team. or just budget poured well and smartly. I DONT KNOW I DONT CARE. the cgi is mind blowing. hardly i noticed a frame which was like "hee hee thats so fake". and this is when both aquaman and amber heard dont really have covered faces in action (e.g. iron man batman spiderman)
the camera work was mindblowing and blended with cgi so good. the action transffered from places to places and between characters so seamlessly. im not praising it for no reason (marvel fanboy rememeber) just go and see how seamless camera work is.

coming to narrative. filled with lot of cliches. but handled well. you are just sold into it. brilliant james wan direction gives good pacing.
some action pieces are mind blowingly directed. (if u have seen ull know what im talking about)

but yes back to the narrative, the story. it has some powerful moments, not just some mindless stuff, some impactful dialogue and even meaninfulg character arcs. it just becomes weird by the end. u really cant figure out who is the villain. and in the end even though you are like THOROUGHLY SATISFIED with your experience. you are left slighly confused and wanting slightly more. you are like: huh??? thats it? there has gotta be more cmon. its getting so awesome.
imagine drinking something(awesome!) but then punching the bottle for last few drops, feeling robbed even if a tad bit. just drops mind you, nothing too big.

characters/acting were brilliant. everyone had emotion , and the visuals just accentuated everything . most of movie is underwater and they nailed it. even guys like william dafoe and the actor who played king orm, had tightly combed hair swept back underwater as opposed to the hot bombshell amber heard and aquaman. but even their hair was waving around being underwater. notice carefully. brilliant meticulous work on this movie.

i am writing this immediately after seeing movie, pardon the grammar and hasty writing. hopefully i cover lot of it. long story short just go see the movie. its not perfect but it DELIVERS!!

@ DCEU, was this a fluke by you? THEN BY ALL MEANS CLING ONTO IT.

please enjoy.

The Black Manta side story was ridiculous. Over acted, over written, over the top. He looked like a Power Rangers bad guy. Wasn’t needed.

The love story building up like in a 90s movie. C’mon guys. Wasn’t needed.

We’ve had everything: colorful battles like a Thor Ragnarok but under the sea, spaceship battles like in the latest Star Wars, a reproduction of the end scene of The Fifth Element, a Lost (dinosaur) World, Power Rangers costumes, the mother’s alive and lives dressed like in How to Train Your Dragon 2, a really big inter-kingdom battle coming out of Lord of the Rings after the « the one true king » moment, a lot of King Arthur movies mashed up (just replace Excalibur with a trident),... we even had Avengers level jokes throughout the movie (not too much but still).

The soundtrack was sometimes good sometimes awful. Nothing to be remembered here.

The CGI was really good and the fight scenes and choreography were good. It was a superhero movie after all. They put the budget there (obviously).

Entertaining but nothing more.

Wanted to see more Dafoe on screen. Momoa is a badass Aquaman but sometimes Mera steels the show with better superpower.

I’m chocked that the after credit show Black Manta. I mean stop man. He’s a demi-god that you can’t hurt with the power of Thor’s trident hammer that can summon the biggest army of ocean creatures on earth. Stop your nonsense now unless you have Superman with you. This may be something I don’t like with the DC universe: heroes are too strong and/or villains too weak. They never seem to stand a chance.

Any rating I give this movie should come with a massive asterisk because this movie may have broken me a little.

I want to say right upfront that this is not a good movie, this is far from being a good movie but I implore you to see this right now! Aquaman has provided one of the most fun movie going experience I have had in a while.

If you read my 2018 retrospective you will know that this film reminded me of many other films, that is one of the things that fascinates me so much about this Aquaman. Really this should feel kind of fresh and new given the director’s previous work and the less serious tone within the DC movie universe but so many scenes feel ripped from other movies.

The special effects are absolutely incredible throughout the movie, the attention to detail with the underwater world makes watching this on the big screen feel rewarding, every action sequence in the kingdom of Atlantis feels like the exact opposite to the one on Wakanda during Black Panther. In that movie often the special effects and action choreography felt like an after thought so that the movie could focus on other things while in Aquaman they are given the time they deserve to leave an impact. Having said that the other moments in the film are also polar opposite to Black Panther, where in that movie slow dialogue heavy moments felt like they had real weight here they are usually laughable (and not when they mean to be).

James Wan is a great director and their is no denying that. He has had an impact on the horror genre with greats such as Saw, The Conjuring and Insidious and his mark will felt on that genre for years. But in recently his foray into the action genre has had interesting results. There is no doubt that Furious 7 was more than a little goofy but with Aquaman Wan has outdone himself. None of the character arcs are memorable or interesting, the two leads have no chemistry, there is no real villain of the movie but there are two side villains and about an hour into the film I lost track of the plot and started laughing uncontrollably for way to long.

I am seriously finding it difficult to put into words how bizarre this movie is because on paper it sounds almost par for the course with comic book movies but really this is so much more than that.

I have to recommend checking this film out but as I said earlier I don’t recommend it as a good movie, just a fun one. Like a lot of people I hope that Wan will return to his horror roots soon and stop dragging Patrick Wilson into strange action films, they both deserve better than Aquaman.

Also they play the Pitbull’s version of Toto’s Africa in this movie right when Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell makes a cameo. That might be my favourite moment of 2018 cinema.

It would be pretty weak for a Marvel, it's actually good for a DC. They tried some of the Marvel recipe, some of it worked, some of it didn't, but they still kept usual DC flaws too.

On the good stuff. Some nice joke moment included. It doesnt feel too forced, it's well done, Avengers style. There's actually a story that evolves, even if it's closer to an Indiana jones storyline than a comics one. It mostly looks pretty good, though a little heavy on the Momoa pose moments. Actors are good in general (I did NOT recognize Dolh Lundgren, wow).

On the bad side. They got the big stuff figured out, but definitely not the details in between. There something that makes you go wtf litterally every few minutes, be it because it makes no sense in the characters, the plot, the construction of the storyline, or basic physics.

When his father finds Atlanna she has a huge bleeing wound. He does not do anything but bring her tea to treat her. He doesn't call a doctor. Luckily she was hot, because otherwise he would have sent her to the loony bin. Also she is depicted as drowned, though she can breathe underwater.

Pushing a submarine to the surface does not make it float.

The underwater stuff is all way too much. The confrontation between guys riding sharks and guys riding sea horses. The octopus playing drums! COME ON! By the way sharks need to swim, you can't keep them still like this, they'd die.
Also these guys wear capes. UNDERWATER! Most of them have their hair short or tied for obvious reasons, Aquaman doesn't. And they still stay down, like the capes. And the characters are always bobbing around, warning if you've got motion sickness. They also have underwater rivers and waterfalls of fire, no problem.
The whole trench scene is way too much too, as well as the underwater fights.

You can take a sand filled machine, abandonned for millenias in the Sahara, but it will work again, by providing a single drop of water.

By te way they take a plane to go in the middle of the Sahara, then jump. OK. How many weeks did they take to go back on foot ??

As the antagonist Orm seems ok. Even if his political views are debatable, they're understandable and you can get Nereus getting behind it, or Vulko voicing his disagreement but following orders. Though he needs to convince two other tribes. He then just simply murder a tribe's king and declare war on the fourth. What? How does that make sense ? That totally changes the character. And all of his followers too. How does Vulko even pretend to agree with that ? Though it could be that Atlanteans are just racists and considers the less human looking tribes as inferior, I don't know. But it still breaks the giving up repentance act at the end, where everybody is like, "you know, water under the bridge". He's still a murderer and potential war criminal, definitely a maniac, not just a political opponent.

One of the most ridiculous villain ever. So he's already a bad guy, a mercenary pirate that klls people, He already hates Aquaman and want to fight him. Here comes the fight. He tries to kill him, fails miserably, his father tries to kill him, stupidly, by shooting explosives in the middle of the torpedo storage of a submarine ! Surprise: that turns bad, he's trapped. So the guys now cries for Aquaman to help, when they were both trying to kill him not twenty seconds before ! He doesn't help (who would ?). And that's why Aquaman becomes his nemesis and he will do anything to kill him. Seriously ? W T F ?
Looks like the guy is also a Tony Stark level genius, because without any education, when provided with experimental Atlantis weaponry, experimental, so cutting edge even for Atlantis, he's able to dismantle it, understand it, tinker with it, fuse it with human technology and basically totally rebuild it ! Also when it's done, he looks completely ridiculous, though it's close to the comics.

They also have almost exactly the Batman vs Superman's Martha moment.

The ending show a "Who is Aquaman ?" article. Though the guys in the bar at the beginning seems to recognize him just fine, and take selfies. In the same scene, even if not linked to him, Aquaman is known well enough to have its nickname be normally used on TV, but that's the first time his father heard about it.
Also on tv at the ending, they seem pretty sure he was involved in the events, ... but nobody knows what happened or if it even happened. So why would it be linked to him ?

So even if DC made some progress, it still needs a lot of work. The parts are starting to be better, but it's still raw material barely taped together instead of being refined parts coherently constructed into a finished story.

The son of a humble lighthouse keeper and an exiled queen of Atlantis (The Book of Boba Fett's Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman, respectively) spends his entire childhood honing a set of innate underwater capabilities. He then grows up to single-handedly avert maritime disasters, foil modern-day pirates and pal around with the Justice League.

It's Jason Momoa, of course, in a fascinating bit of casting that's worked out very well despite (or, perhaps, because of) his total dissimilarity from the classic character's original design. Aquaman probably should look different from the rest of the JLA, and in addition to his Polynesian appearance, Momoa sports a natural grace and fluidity in the water that pairs well with his brute physicality. Not everyone can look smooth and cool while hefting a nuclear submarine from the ocean depths, but this guy makes it a dynamic spectacle.

That's where this standalone Aquaman shines: inserting its star into spectacular poster-friendly moments, pumping up the jams and capitalizing on the easy returns. Those action scenes succeed where most of the story does not. The plot, a disjointed mix of political maneuvers, vengeful sons and mythic treasures, is a wishy-washy mess that stumbles and bumbles from one predictable turn to the next. It's exposition central, a cavalcade of breathless details, but still manages to leave dozens of gaping logic holes untended. There's no flicker between Momoa and his female counterpart, a stiff-lipped Amber Heard, so their romantic connection feels sudden and empty. Even Willem Dafoe struggles to make anything of a rather large supporting role, saddled as he is by bad dialogue and a bland character arc.

I enjoyed the big and loud and shiny bits, appreciated the vision of a science fiction story where all the dazzling technological advances have taken place beneath the waves, rather than overhead in the stars, but couldn't overlook the flimsy fabric holding it all together. There’s something here; we can’t quite see it yet.

First thing with this film you must switch off your brain. Honestly, the minute you start thinking about what you are watching your head will start throbbing and the chances are you will start laughing hysterically and perhaps never stop. I have to say it, and it gives me no pleasure, I do not like being the ‘clever know-it-all critic’, but this film is stupid. I mean insultingly stupid.

On the positive some of the visuals and shots are amazing and some of the CGI and effects are great, if seemingly oh-so-familiar at times, although the de-aging at the beginning of the film initially brought about, ‘what’s wrong with this’ thoughts the minute you see it. Jason Momo is quite funny in a smart-alecky way but also in a very inappropriate way but to be honest this is a problem with a lot of films nowadays where the main characters, often heroes, make off-the-cuff witty remarks after they have just slaughtered or at the least shattered the bones of some un-named, unknown expendable henchman. In my view it is tiring, boring and now getting very dull.

The characters throughout are extremely pantomime-like and I get no feeling of a real living person with beliefs, feelings and a past, which is criminal with the great actors on display and the fact it is a comic-book world which lives and dies on ‘origin stories’. Black Manta with his entire crew of baddies is so Sir Jasper Naughty-Bonce it was bordering on parody and his motivation seems to be from the Steven Segal school of direction ‘he’s evil’ that is it. Snarling, frowning and looking angry does not make a villain in the modern world of filmmaking, it did in the 1920s, but one hundred years have passed since then.

The dialogue was poor and even more exposition-heavy than Birds of Prey because what they did with Margot Robbie’s voice-over monologue in that film was achieved with some heavy lifting exposition-wise, none too subtle and hilarious in its clunkiness. You know, the way nobody in real life talks at all.

There did not seem to be much chemistry between Heard and Momo and a lot of their interaction together seemed stilted and we were treated to yet another ‘wrong-time to have a snog’ scene. If I am going to get on my high-horse I have to say what is the matter with these filmmakers, death-defying battles, fighting, killing hordes of people, being close to dying, all are not times when anyone would thing about having a really good tonguing-snog. I could not even get women to do that when it was a romantic situation.

The plot twists in the story, which was very railroad track straight in the progress it was making, was written on a billboard that could be seen after the opening 15 minutes had passed. The logic of the world that was created had all the rules broken from time to time and did not make sense, I mean obviously people living and breathing underwater riding giant non-existent seahorses so making sense moved out of the house a few months before but, nevertheless. Here are two I spotted; I am sure others have spotted more. Aquaman was worried about falling off a roof in his ‘destroy a village in Sicily’ fight but also can jump out of a plane at altitude into the Sahara Desert with no harm done. If he and Mera can swim like torpedoes fired from a nuclear sub and breath and talk underwater, in fact they prefer that life, we did they ever use a crappy fishing boat to get anywhere? Particularly as Aquaman can use the creatures of the sea to do his bidding. It is stupid.

Forget this is a comic-book film, DC or otherwise, forget it is supposed to dovetail in with other movies I have not seen and probably never will now, take it as a science-fiction-fantasy movie, that due to some of the more serious content, is mainly targeted at older children and adults.

Then it is still an extremely poor film.

Is it really just me or is it that you guys would praise any Marvel/DC movie? Aquaman was a huge disappointment for me.
please hear me out (before you Jason Momoa in my face):
1. this movie is cliché as hell, it's Superman at one point and at another its suddenly Indiana Jones, and at some point, antman? Is it so hard to just be Aquaman?
2. Not every little thing should be thrown back and mentioned! Throwbacks are for important moments that affected the character the most, serious there were so many childhood throwbacks (and absolutely forgettable), "The amazing life of Aquaman" might be the better title;
3. none of the fighting actually Meant anything... Not saying they aren't beautifully choreographed, but they really just lack an importance to them, like, some issues didn't really required the fist and they could have just talked through it? Can't really feel any of his struggles when all he does is punching, just punch em and its done, happy ending.

Of course It's not easy to stand out in this crowd of superhero movies, but trying to copy everyone is definitely not the better strategies.

Oh, and in the next one please don't have Atlatian Stormtroopers blow something up whenever someones talking (/kissing /hugging etc)...it happened like 5 times this ONE movie...jeez....

The latest installment in the DCEU, Aquaman, is a fun, entertaining and colorful movie that doesn't take itself too seriously. Jason Momoa's portrayal of Aquaman brings a new approach to the character and his surfer dude style makes him more likable than in the comics. The movie follows Aquaman as he is dragged into a conflict between the humans, who are polluting the ocean, and the Atlanteans, led by Orm. Along with Princess Mera, Aquaman must find his place beneath the waves to ensure the safety of both his people and the people of Earth. The chemistry between Momoa and Amber Heard is good and the performances of the supporting cast, including Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgren, add to the overall enjoyment of the film. However, the pacing in the second half of the film is not as strong and the CGI is not always up to par. Overall, Aquaman is a fun, action-packed movie that will keep fans entertained.

La última entrega del DCEU, Aquaman, es una película divertida, entretenida y colorida que no se toma a sí misma demasiado en serio. La interpretación de Jason Momoa de Aquaman aporta un nuevo enfoque al personaje y su estilo de tipo surfista lo hace más simpático que en los cómics. La película sigue a Aquaman mientras se ve arrastrado a un conflicto entre los humanos, que están contaminando el océano, y los atlantes, liderados por Orm. Junto con la princesa Mera, Aquaman debe encontrar su lugar bajo las olas para garantizar la seguridad tanto de su gente como de la gente de la Tierra. La química entre Momoa y Amber Heard es buena y las actuaciones del elenco secundario, incluidos Nicole Kidman y Dolph Lundgren, se suman al disfrute general de la película. Sin embargo, el ritmo en la segunda mitad de la película no es tan fuerte y el CGI no siempre está a la altura. En general, Aquaman es una película divertida y llena de acción que mantendrá entretenidos a los fans.

Aquaman delivers a fun and ambitious adventure for the DCEU, but flounders at its opportunity for true greatness.

There is so much to like about Aquaman, for starters the action is on another level. The DCEU has really mastered its fight choreography allowing for the directors to get wide, interesting shots of the action without having to add unnecessary cuts. There were so many fight sequences that had me thoroughly impressed with the creativity and the scope of the action. I particularly like how James Wan was able to transition across to the battlefield to show individual fights. It gave them a sense of connectedness that is sorely missing in many superhero films today.

The plot of this film had me intrigued, although it does tend to get quite weighed down by how involved the movie is. There are so many kingdoms of Atlantis involved and their relationships can get a tad confusing during the first watch. I was constantly trying to understand the relationships between all of the main members of Atlantis, but luckily, I could grasp the gist of what the story was trying to tell. I really appreciated the fantasy parallels that the directors were going for when it came to Atlantis. It gave it a grand feel on scale to a light version of Game of Thrones. The diversity of the nations was a really nice touch as well, I found it fascinating how each nation evolved independently from each other. The main criticism that I have with the story is the writing. There are so many scenarios or lines of dialogue that were incredibly awkward to watch. I think James Wan was really out of his element writing this movie compared to his cookie cutter horror films that he has built his reputation on. Hopefully he can learn from his mistakes for the sequel.

I was not overly impressed with the acting in this film either. Jason Mamoa was acceptable as Aquaman but like I said previously there were quite a bit of lines that were delivered awkwardly. I found that the comedic timing of the jokes did not really land and felt out of place in this film. The chemistry between Mamoa and Amber Heard was non-existent, I did not buy for a second that the two were truly in love and the whole build up to the relationship felt incredibly forced. Willem Dafoe was excellent as always and Patrick Wilson was fairly adequate as well. This film had an all-star cast, so it is odd to me that so many lines were delivered awkwardly, I think it is more so on the writing and direction rather than the actors' abilities.

Even with all my complaints about the film, I still found myself having a good time. Although, I can’t help but wonder, if given a more suitable director and writer, how amazing this film could have truly been.

Verdict: Decent
Score: 68%

What I really enjoyed about the movie were just the stunning visual effects, CGI and the sound. Otherwise, we can all understand that this movie was solely for the purpose of entertainment.
Cheesy, predictable and recurring lines in the script, similar to other average action movie/superhero movie.
Fighting scenes were unnecessarily long, i think one of the scenes even lasted 10 minutes of just fighting without a single word being said, was feeling sleepy.
Costumes were a little funky sometimes, seemed a little fake and plastic, and what the bloody hell was with the Black Manta costume? If it was supposed to look even slightly threatening, they'd have to do a better job... he looked like ant man with a big head...
The jokes were a total failure, they were only meant for the spectators, and mostly used pretty cheaply.
Soundtrack felt repetitive and overused, it goes something a little like this:

"Dramatic moment -> Zoom on the face -> intense dramatic music", this sometimes happens multiple times in just once scene.

Overall visually nice, but nothing else can really be considered as good. The only thing that kept me from not falling asleep were the recurring jump scare scene transitions, its like the director knew I was sleeping and woke me up by using a cheap way to grab the audience's attention.

One of the comic heroes from the DC universe that I never understood: Aquaman.

I mean, seriously, why? He's an underwater leader with superpowers that include everything under water, but all of a sudden he becomes a land super hero and one of the memebers of Justice league? I don't really get that.

So I was really uninterested in this character, both in Justice League as also in his solo movie. And even though in Justice League Jason Momoas Aquaman was one of the positive aspects of the movie, I still wasn't really interested in the solo movie. This only changed when I saw the trailer, and somehow I got interested in the movie and so I watched it at the cinemas.

And I have to say: I really enjoyed the movie. It is of course the typical 2010s comic movie, i.e. you get your hero on the one side with some kind of origin story and you get your super villain on the other side - the entire movie works towards those two meeting for the final showdown and on the way to that moment, the superhero has to prove himself and fight hoards of enemy minions. All story elements are exchangable and only needed as vehicle to bring the hero from one action scene to the next, and all in all everything was forseeable in the first 10-20 minutes, and it happens exactly the way you expected it. I used to love those movies in the beginning, but after 10 years of Marvel making these a mass production consumable, I am actually pretty fatigued.

And yet, this movie does a number of things differently, even if only in small doses and nuances. We get the typical dark DC look in the beginning, the lighthouse scene could have been part of BvS or MoS, then all of a sudden we switch to an absolutely colorful popping setting which is neat to see and explore. The underwater world, the techniques these Aquapeople use, the design - this is really great. It's the same feeling that you get when watching Black Panther: You dive into a new, cool, interesting world that is fun to explore, and that is both, bound to nature as well as technologically far beyond the standards we can imagine. However, I would have liked a bit more details, a bit more of this interesting world (Black Panther is a bit better in that regard).

Different to the typical Marvel movies this title again takes itself serious, which has two interesting effects:
1.) The really rare funny moments surprise you, and you have great fun with those. This is so different to Marvel, where I sometimes just sit there and am really tired of the jokes (worst experience for me was Thor Ragnarok. It was the dullest super hero movie I've watched so far). I did not have to smile that many time in most other super hero movie.
2.) There are scenes and setups that seem "willingly unwillingly funny", like some kind of meta joke (if you know what I mean): The movie takes itself serious, so no one is there throwing around one-liners. However the scene is definitely willingly a bit over the top, which in itself is funny, even though there is no forced joke. I hope you get what I mean, this is hard to explain (at least for a non-native English speaker :D ).

We know that every hero needs it's villain, and an action movie really rises and falls with the quality of it's villain. Especially lately most movies have really shallow and weak villains, and again, James Wan knows to surprise. Again like in Black Panther we get a strong antagonist that has a motivation for his actions - a motivation that is comprehensible and human. Showing human characteristics is a strong suite of this movie and does not stop at the villain, but also includes our hero. Even Aquaman isn't free from human errors, makes mistakes, lives with guilt pangs, even creates his antagonists, and Aquaman makes some decisions that will surprise you and that make you think off movies like Sam Raimis Spiderman.

Speaking of the characters: The cast is of course great as well. Jason Momoa has aloready proven himself in Justice League and is once again really great. The supporting cast is not bad either: We get Nicole Kidman (is she ever getting old? I feel like she looks as good as she did 20 years ago O.o ), Willam Dafoe or Dolph Lundgren - and of course Amber Heard as redheaded mermaid - great actors that all play pretty solid - however these characters unfortunately don't get enough screentime or background, so they stay really shallow.

An action movie needs action, and while with all these comic movies this action is usually a CGI thunderstorm. Yet, Aquaman does not only give you CGI carnage. There are also scenes that at least seem like hand made practical effects - there is an entire fast pace action pursuit on the roofs of Sicily; it seems somewhat strange in a super hero movie and has a strange contrast to all those slow-mo CGI fight scenes that are made to be totally epic (somewhat like scenes in Thor Ragnarök). Still it works.

We also get a number of references to other movies, such as Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious and Mad Max - and director James Wan (known for movies such as Saw, Insidious, Conjuring or Furious 7) has said that he put a number of Eastereggs from his other movies into this film - I did not find any, but am sure that there will be an Annabell doll somewhere?

There are some great settings arround the world, such as the Indian Ocean, Sicily, the Sahara - when the credits roll, you'll get a huge list of locations this movie was shot in (from Australia to Canada nearly every coastal country gets mentioned). And last but not least: If you are a comic book fan, and where annoyed about the looks of Aquaman in Justice League - don't worry! You'll get a great lot of Momoa in a skin tight green-yellow spandexy-looking body suit!

I think I've listed a good amount of positive things regarding this movie - if you like super hero movies, you cannot go wrong with this movie. If you are like me and used to like super hero movies, but are now feeling a slight Marvel-featured fatigue, you cannot go wrong either. If however you never ever liked any of these movies at all, this will not change your mind: The movie is deeply rooted in it's 2010s super hero movie time, it knows it's typical DC-roots and honors them, it also knows about Marvel and their success - it uses all of this in it's movie but in the end it also goes it's own way - a lot of times this movie is somewhat over the top, in certain camera angles, in the effects, in pathos, even in the love sequences (there is a incredible long kissing scene where the camera actually slowly moves around the kissing couple three times!) - but all in a very charming way that not only seems like a humorist take of the producers of this movie - it also works. And all the while this movie does not turn into a laughingstock like most of the latest Marvel movies do. You get the typical weaknesses every super hero movie has, but a few of them where actually address - in the end, you get something worth watching, something that will give you a good time.

Watch it in cinemas if you can!