I have to be honest here, having watched the original "Aquaman" when it came out six years ago, I couldn't remember a thing about it, so whatever continuity there was with Arthur's (Jason Momoa) brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) was simply lost on me. I couldn't remember anything about their relationship. As the film proceeded, I began wondering why there were so many nods to other movies and franchises. The sound of 'Spirit in the Sky', even though brief, had me recalling "Guardians of the Galaxy", while an underwater scene held a couple of references to the Star Wars franchise with the character of Kingfish (Jabba the Fish?) and the Atlantean band resembling the Mos Eisley cantina scene on Tatooine. There was also that blatant reference to the Tom Hanks movie when Aquaman wanted his brother to hurry up, stating "Come on Cast Away. Grab Wilson, let's go". What's the odds of Aquaman watching "Cast Away" over twenty years ago? That was just odd.
Visually, the picture was as appealing as virtually all the super-hero movies are today, with the underwater scenes particularly effective. It's just that the story line seems a repeatedly rehashed version of so many that we've seen before that it's causing me to lose interest. I've seen all the DC and Marvel based flicks and it doesn't seem like there's anything new left to explore since the world has been saved from galactic villains and cosmic disasters innumerable times. I did get a kick out of the cockroach joke Arthur played on Orm, but was surprised to see it again after the main credits rolled. Maybe they've run out of ideas to tease future movies, which I guess is alright by me because I'm getting a little tired of them. I guess that'll happen after seeing over a hundred twenty-five super-hero films since the original "Superman" came out in 1978. That's forty-six years ago!
Visually, the picture was as appealing as virtually all the super-hero movies are today, with the underwater scenes particularly effective. It's just that the story line seems a repeatedly rehashed version of so many that we've seen before that it's causing me to lose interest. I've seen all the DC and Marvel based flicks and it doesn't seem like there's anything new left to explore since the world has been saved from galactic villains and cosmic disasters innumerable times. I did get a kick out of the cockroach joke Arthur played on Orm, but was surprised to see it again after the main credits rolled. Maybe they've run out of ideas to tease future movies, which I guess is alright by me because I'm getting a little tired of them. I guess that'll happen after seeing over a hundred twenty-five super-hero films since the original "Superman" came out in 1978. That's forty-six years ago!