| by Winter Lawrence |
Description: PG-13 | Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy
Starring: Jason Momoa | Amber Heard | Patrick Wilson | Nicole Kidman | William Dafoe
Winter’s Forecast: 4 Flurries!
The Story: Arthur Curry learns that he is the heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and that he must take his rightful place as king to lead his people to freedom and to be the hero of the world.
Winter’s Review: This movie is…well…it’s good-bad. Let me explain. As I’m sure you know, most movies are written for specific audiences, but I often don’t keep this in mind when I enter the theater with my critical eye. That means that there are times when I can’t possibly do a film justice because I’m not watching it as its intended audience—I’m watching it as a critic. This could be disastrous for many reasons, the most important being that I can end up giving a film a poor rating when it doesn’t necessarily deserve one. So for Aquaman, I’m going to try something different. I’m going to give you two reviews—one from my younger alter ego and one from my older, wiser, and much more critical self. Here goes…
The “young adult” version of Winter would say that Aquaman was awesome! It was action-packed, with an amazing, all-star cast, and lots of romance and innuendo and wit and humor. Young Winter would say that the graphics were visually stunning and that the happy ending was gushy sweet. Younger Winter would have loved this movie because it was fun and loud and everything a superhero movie should be.
Older Winter liked it too, but as a writer, editor, and movie critic, I was a bit disappointed. Here’s the thing, for a young DC fan, this movie is great, but if you haven’t read all of the comic books or watched all of the movies, then a lot of stuff may go over your head—and even if you have caught up on your reading, there’s just way too much going on. There are too many storylines, too many characters, and too many flashbacks and flash-forwards (and possibly a few flash-sideways) to really enjoy it. Also, a lot of the jokes and one-liners didn’t land, the romance was a bit cliché, and the villains were oh-so-predictable. It really was a prototypical superhero flick. So is it worth the theater experience, you ask? Absolutely. The graphics are really cool and the cast is really pretty, and for what it’s worth, it’s definitely DC’s best movie to date. So, while I’m inclined to agree with my daughter’s best friend, who so eloquently summed up the film as, “the cheesiest cheese she had ever cheesed,” it’s still definitely worth a trip to the theater. Enjoy!
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Winter’s Forecast runs on a Five-Flurry Rating System, with five being a perfect storm of fantastic acting, astounding storylines and film components, and an all-around amazing movie-going experience. Here’s the rest of the breakdown:
One Flurry—Near White-Out Conditions: Don’t brave the cold, rent it instead!
Two Flurries—Hail Storm: A few good bits, but mostly worth dodging!
Three Flurries—A Blizzard: Worth the hype, but proceed with caution!
Four Flurries—A Nor’easter: It packs a punch but misses it by that much!
Five Flurries—The Perfect Storm: Stop reading and go watch it already!