My Favorite Films of 2019 (Favorites, 2019)

So, I decided to go with a list of fifteen films on my list of favorite films for the year. I missed Parasite in theaters and so have not yet gotten to see it and I have not seen 1917 since it does not go into wide release until Friday.

  1. Knives Out
    Rian Johnson’s Knives Out was the most fun I had in the theater this year. I loved this movie. Original characters in a story that pays homage to classic whodunnits, it is filled with nothing but terrific performances with some fun twists. Johnson has announced a new Benoit Blanc mystery and I am excited.
  2. Jojo Rabbit
    You could never make Blazing Saddles today.  Comedy is too hard in today’s woke environment said Joker director Todd Phillips. Boo hoo, folks. Taika Waititi tells the tale of a young boy so dedicated to the Nazi cause, his imaginary best friend is Hitler.  A surprisingly funny and touching film, Jojo Rabbit is a gem.
  3. Little Women
    I have never read the book, nor seen any of the prior adaptions. But this movie worked so well. Gerwig and her cast weave together a beautifully engaging film.
  4. Uncut Gems
    Adam Sandler’s best performance since Punch Drunk Love, the Safdie Brothers give an intense story of human greed and misery.
  5. Midsommar
    Ari Aster does it again. Where Hereditary was full of darkness, Midsommar attempts the rare choice of a well lit horror. Tense, unnerving and a tad goofy, this film is terrific.
  6. A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood
    While not flawless, this film is a beautiful exploration of love and forgiveness through the eyes of a heartbroken cynic who meets the beloved Mr. Rogers. Marielle Heller makes some beautiful choices (such as imitating the television show’s models for transitions).
  7. Dolemite Is My Name
    Eddie Murphy gives a great performance here.  The movie itself manages to be a crass love letter to Rudy Ray Moore, a man determined to make it against a world that seems to not be interested in his success.
  8. Ford vs Ferrari
    Really enjoyed this supposed “Dad Movie”.  Genius in the face of corporate roadblocks push the drama here.  The racing scenes are exciting and the film is inspirational.
  9. The Lighthouse
    I still do not know what to make of the film, but it is so visually beautiful, I still think about it.
  10. Us
    Some people got really hung up on the “how does it work” aspect. But honestly, Jordan Peele’s followup to Get Out had my attention from the beginning and just never lost me.
  11. Avengers Endgame
    Technically, I think Infinity War was the better movie…but this one was so much more satisfying.
  12. the Irishman
    While I think this has some great performances, I was not nearly as pulled into this one as I hoped. It was good, but was not my favorite Scorsese film. I know a lot of people praised this as a great triumph, but honestly, part of me feels like those folks felt obligated to really hype the film over the silly Scorsese/Marvel brouhaha.
  13. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
    Fun film from Tarantino, not his greatest film, but entertaining and great performances.
  14. John Wick 3: Parabellum
    The weakest of the three films, but still an amazing feat of action choreography and enjoyable performances.
  15. Ad Astra
    A thoughtful Sci-Fi film with Brad Pitt as a detached astronaut on a mission to discover if his presumed dead father may still be alive. Beautiful visuals and a quiet pace make this a solid sci-fi film.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Doctor Sleep- I am almost tempted to switch out John Wick 3 for this one.  Doctor Sleep was a real surprise.

Ready or Not- This was just a fun and ridiculous horror film.

Spider-Man: Far From Home- I enjoyed this one a lot. Mysterio was a cool villain and it was nice to see a villain we had not seen before. Plus, the mid credit scene.

Klaus- A beautiful little animated film.

Godzilla: King of Monsters- I had a blast with this one.

Shazam!- This is a fun movie. I had a great time.

Tangled Webs (Spider-Man: Far From Home, 2019)

Spider-Man_Far_From_Home_PosterAfter the massive epic that was Avengers Endgame, a smaller story to actually close stuff off may seem like an odd choice. And yet?  Well, it may have been what was needed.

Bringing back director Jon Watts and the cast of Homecoming, we get a personal story in which Peter Parker really just wants to go on his school trip abroad and confess his love to MJ. But things are complicated.  It turns out that pretty much every major character from Homecoming was caught up in the snap.  And now they have to deal with the fact that all their classmates are now five years older.  The film explores some rather interesting aspects…like all the returned people who were displaced.  Peter and May found themselves homeless, which was one of those things you just do not thing about in the grand schemes.

It turns out that Nick Fury is trying to reach Spider-Man, but Peter refuses to take his calls. But once on vacation in Italy, the class comes under attack by a water monster, which is defeated by Mysterio. A mysterious man who Nick Fury informs Peter is from an alternate earth where he fought the threat of elemental men that are now plaguing Peter’s world.

Far From Home bumps up certain characters too much bigger roles, and it is to the benefit of the film. Holland and Zendaya have real chemistry and their storyline is both adorable and a lot of fun.

The Mysterio storyline is really well done.  There is a scene where his illusion powers is straight up the stuff of the comics. The visuals in the film are terrific and Gyllenhaal gives a solid performance.

Unlike Homecoming, Happy seems more invested in Peter and Spider-Man. This makes sense on a few levels, but I really did enjoy their interactions in the film.

I really enjoyed this latest outing, even more than Homecoming.  It is funny, has heartfelt moments, good performances and great visual effects.  Oh, and stay for the Mid and Post Credit scenes.  They are game changing moments.

Exes (Dark Phoenix, 2019)

Dark_Phoenix_posterSo…after a long delay that has pretty much reached the point where the X-Movies from Fox seem to be just getting pushed out to clear the slate, Dark Phoenix has been released.  This is the series second attempt at pretty much the same story.

Set about ten years after X-Men Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix opens with the X-Men as fairly beloved by the public. They are now celebrities, but on a mission in space, this is all jeopardized as Jean Grey is hit by a strange cosmic anomaly that causes her powers to grow exponentially.

This results in her finding out facts about her past that drive a wedge between Jean, resulting in a character dying due to her actions. A second group, expressing interest in her power tries to seduce Jean while the X-Men are fractured between those that want to save Jean and those who feel she should be dead.

And honestly…the second shot is not a redemptive one.  The whole ten year jump deal seemed to cause more problems.  There are plenty of indicators of interesting story stuff going on between the past two films. But it almost seems like they forgot about stuff they established in Apocalypse. They had established stuff like the Hellfire Club as far back as First Class and yet, leave them aside for a bland sub-story threat.

The film introduces a new threat that has never been seen before in the X-Men franchise…the series has never even suggested this type of threat is out there.  It seems logical that it could exist in a universe of mutants, but it also feels entirely out of left field.

We have yet a new world ending threat that honestly…feels kind of boring. Characters are used blandly, Storm and Nightcrawler feel like characters that Kinberg forgot were in the movie until the big fight.

Apparently they had their big end fight in space and reshot the film to set it…um…on a train.  And the train fight is pretty cool. But not enough to save the film.  The effects work fine, and the mutant effects work fine.

A lot of the performances feel like the actors are kind of ready to be done with this series.  Sophie Turner’s performance is the best…she gives a genuinely strong performance.

As the film likely to be the finale for the Fox Franchise, Dark Phoenix is a pretty weak send off. I was disappointed that they could not recover from the failings of Apocalypse. but hey…we finally got Dazzler…so that is something?

Dark_Phoenix_Dazzler

As an aside, I am a bit amused at just how everyone appears to keep ignoring the New Mutants and are treating this as the final Fox X-Men film. But let’s face it…we don’t know if we will ever see that one released.

Xed Out (Commentary)

So, it turns out that the Marvel plans to recast all the X-Men when they do finally bring the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe they will be recasting the team. All New, all different.

Well, except Deadpool. Marvel is not stupid.

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This should not be shocking. But what has shocked me is that I have seen a fair number of people express hopes that this would not happen…like it was not a forgone conclusion. Both Dark Phoenix and the New Mutants have been delayed multiple times.  Fox does not seem to have much faith int he films, to the point that there is talk that the New Mutants might end up debuting on Hulu. Which is…disappointing.

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Once Disney and Fox had their deal, people kept talking like Hugh Jackman was going to charge in and slice up Thanos in Endgame.  Spoiler…he totally does!

Not really. But for some reason, people assumed the Phase Four setup would include bringing in known actors in roles they made in the Fox Movies.  I would have chalked this up to wishful thinking, but some people feel like Marvel and Disney are really slighting the X-Men Franchise.

But the truth is that there is little reason to have even considered the likelihood of just bringing over the existing cast. Our first example of Marvel bringing someone into the MCU from an existing franchise was Spider-Man.

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But they did not just carry over Andrew Garfield. They introduced a new actor and cast entirely. And it made sense.  A new Spider-Man allowed them to fit him into the Universe without dealing with old baggage.

And there is a lot of X-Men Baggage.

x-men-original-posters

The first X-Men film, directed by Bryan Singer, was generally well received.  It’s standout had been the most controversial casting, Hugh Jackman asa Wolverine.  The cast did okay, and Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan won audiences over with their portrayals.

The second film was a step up, playing with its themes far more effectively and stronger performances all around. But then, Singer left for Superman and was replaced by Brett Ratner.  It borrowed from various storylines, including Dark Phoenix and Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men storyline revolving around a cure for the mutant gene.  And while it has its moments, (the sequence with a young Angel desperately cutting off his wings deserved to be in a much better film) it was a sharp decline for the franchise.

It did not help that X-Men Origins: Wolverine was…another low point.  It was decided that they would try and reboot the series, but more of a soft reboot.  A new film was going to focus on the friendship of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. They would assemble the very first team of the X-Men.

x-men-first-class

First Class introduced the Hellfire Club, Moira McTaggert, Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost to the franchise (well, a different Emma Frost). For the most part, it is a terrific film. Emma Frost left a lot to be desired, but Shaw was a great Villain. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender gave excellent performances. Heck, if you ignore the absurd use of Darwin, it is almost a perfect film. I mean, the early portion of the film has a great “Magneto Nazi Hunter” storyline.

The followup was meant to bring the storylines together. Featuring both the original and newer casts, Days of Future Past is quite good. And so the rebooted franchise seeme to have found its footing.

x-men-days-of-future-past

But then came Apocalypse, and the cracks began to show. One of those big cracks was the conceit introduced in the second film of the McAvoy and Fassbender era…ten year jumps between films.  First Class was set in 1962.  Days of Future Past sent Wolverine to 1973 and Apocalypse took place in 1983. The next film is taking place in the 90’s.  First Class introduced an eighteen (or there abouts) Havok.  Like in the comics, he is the brother of Cyclops. Cyclops was not introduced until X-Men Apocalypse (along with Jean Grey, Storm, Angel and Nightcrawler). We meet Cyclops as a high school student in 1983. This makes Havok about 20 years older than his younger brother. But the actors are only about six years apart, and it is painfully clear.

The time jumps meant they could catch up to the present in a few films…but they also mean Fassbender and McAvoy are playing characters over 60 and it is painfully obvious they are nowhere near that.

x-men-apocalypse

And really…the franchise keeps floundering.  Both Last Stand and Apocalypse make big misteps and are generally not a whole lot of fun. Nor is X-Men Origins.

And the standouts are rare. X2, First Class, Logan and the 2 Deadpools have been the best the franchise has had to offer.  And they are all great, but not worth trying to port an entire franchise over for.  Deadpool makes some sense, because they can blow off the change with a joke.  Having to come up with some Endgame related blended universe babble is just not necessary.

We are getting our second attempt at the Dark Phoenix cinematically, and it does not look promising. It would be best and smartest to simply let the Fox films come to a close.  Let us see a bright new start.  A fresh new class.

 

(Also…it would be nice to just distance the films from Singer as much as possible.)

 

 

That’s It… For Now (Avengers: EndGame, 2019)

Avengers_Endgame_PosterThis is a Spoiler Free Review.  This also means it will be super short.

So, back in the early days, the plan was to have a two part Avengers: Infinity War. Then Marvel announced that this would not be the case.  There would be Avengers Infinity War and then there would be a fourth stand alone Avengers Film.  Frankly? This was a terribly kept secret. Nobody really believed the two films would be unconnected.  And boy…when you are reaching the final few moments of Infinity War, you knew that was not going to be a one off film.

And a year later, we are finding the remaining Avengers trying to determine how to undo the Snap Heard Around the Universe. They come up with a long shot plan to get the stones to bring everyone back.

There is a lot of stuff to love. Some real exciting moments, many great lines. It has some real heartfelt moments and a lot of fun sequences.  There is a lot of surprises as well.

There are a couple things I am still not sure how I feel, especially in regards to one of the MCU’s big characters. And there are some logic issues for sure.  If you read comics, you know that sometimes there are those things where you start to try and apply the logic…but I am finding myself not bothered enough for it to ruin the film.

On the other hand, they do some great stuff with certain characters. I really like how they build up Hawkeye, and their use of Hulk is a pleasant surprise. I also love the setup for certain characters (that I hope play out), and certain characters get well deserved resolutions.

Really, the limitations are few and far between, and the positives are enough that this is a strong bookend for the first four phases.  I really enjoyed Avengers: Endgame.  It offered plenty that I wanted to see, and stuff I did not know I wanted to see.

From a Child Into A Man (Shazam!, 2019)

Shazam_PosterIn the 40s Bill Parker and C.C. Beck created Captain Marvel.  Young Billy Batson is granted powers by a Wizard that allow him to become a supper powers hero to fight evil. The Wizard’s name, Shazam, was also the magic word that would allow Billy to transform. It stood for:

S – wisdom of Solomon

H – strength of Hercules

A – stamina of Atlas (including his invulnerability)

Z – power of Zeus (including his ability to summon thunderbolts)

A – courage of Achilles

M – speed of Mercury (including flight)

These are representative of his powers and he is meant to be a champion to stand in the way of the evil demonic Seven Deadly Sins (Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth). DC sued Fawcett, the Publishers of Captain Marvel on the grounds that Captain Marvel was far too close to Superman.  Eventually, DC got the rights to the character, but in the 60’s Marvel created their own Captain Marvel.  This resulted in a situation where the Captain Marvel title was off limits to DC. Within the books, they could call the character Captain Marvel, but it could not be the title of their books. DC eventually dumped the Captain Marvel name, referring to him as Shazam.

The film stays close to this, with Billy being chosen by the wizard Shazam to take on his powers.  Billy is a young orphan who had focused on trying to find his mother, constantly running from foster homes. When his latest attempt to locate his mother gets him tossed into yet another foster family. There he meets his super-hero obsessed room mate Freddy Freeman, who tries befriending the standoffish Billy.

After Billy reluctantly fights some bullies in defense of Freddy, he meets the Wizard Shazam. Shazam has been seeking a successor of his power, with everyone before Billy failing to be worthy.  It is interesting that Billy is presented as a decent kid who makes bad and selfish choices…but the moment that seems to trigger his worthiness is that he thinks he is not worthy.

Billy and Freddy begin by testing the powers and having fun with Billy’s grown up persona by getting out of school and stuff.  But when the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana appears (powered by the Seven Deadly Sins themselves) and demands the power Billy holds, the boys learn that there is more to power than zapping cell phones.

Just going to lay it.  I really enjoyed this movie. It is exciting, the jokes land and the premise of recognizing true family is touching.  This is the big push, the foster family is a group home setting overseen by a couple who came out of the system themselves and want to provide a real home.  The whole family is open to Billy, and the big theme is about Billy opening his heart to this family.

I find the film largely to be a real joy and DC has managed another strong film, close on the heals of Aquaman no less.  Since Wonder Woman, they have been turning things around.  Captain Marvel is not afraid to be fun.  Zachary Levi is great at channeling a fourteen year old boy who finds himself in an adult body. Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer play well together (as do Grazer and Levi).  I loved all the kids.  Mark Strong delivers as the bad guy.

I should point out that even though the film has largely been advertised as kid friendly, a few scenes may be far too intense for younger kids in a theater setting. Older kids and teens should enjoy this flick though. I had a great time and am pumped for another visit to Billy and his family.

Higher, Further, Faster (Captain Marvel, 2019)

Captain_Marvel_Poster

Set in the 1995, Vers is a Kree warrior.  She struggles with no memory of her life past six years.  The Kree are in a war with the shape shifting Skrulls. Vers and a few Skrulls end up on earth, and Vers is in a race against time to locate the MacGuffin. She finds herself allied with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nicholas Fury.

Vers starts to put her life back together with the aid of Fury as the Skrulls close in, all while Vers awaits the arrival of her fellow Kree.

The film is action packed. Captain Marvel (Vers) is one of the more powerful of the Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes, but hardly over powered.  The action sequences are pretty exhilarating with good effects. The Skrulls are pretty cool looking, matching fairly closely their comic book counterparts. I really liked their transformation process.

The Relationship of Vers (who learns she if from earth and was named Carol) and her fellow pilot Maria works quite well. In fact, I really like the little team the film assembles. And then there is Goose the cat.  Greatest movie cat ever.

The film has Stan Lee’s final cameo and it has an extra layer if you are especially observant. Since this is set after Captain America the First Avenger and before Iron Man, there is a slight bit of prequelitis, where the film acknowledges some stuff that happens in later films. You know…answering the questions we never had. For the most part, these are unobtrusive. But there was really only one bit that really made me groan.  The film is largely self contained, so it does not lose to much focus from that.

Captain Marvel has faced some definite hurdles. It got pushed from 2017 to 2019 to make room for other films. The one other film to get moved (the Inhumans) actually went through a drastic change into a television series. Add to that a campaign against the film by certain folks who saw it as the opportunity to send a message to Disney and Marvel about “SJW Politics”. These folks also went on a crusade against star Brie Larson. Larson made a reasonable concern over a lack of diversity in journalists at press junkets, only to have people twist her words into a caricature and accusing her of saying things like she “hoped white men did not see Captain Marvel”. On Jimmy Kimmel, she joked about how she and Sam Jackson “hate the same people” and this was made out to be a reference to fandom (she made no mention of fandom).

Add in attempts to review bomb (put negative reviews of a product in order to create a false view of a majority of negativity. Often this is done to new product from creators who have committed the crime of having opinions) and the film had a bit of an uphill climb.

So…is Captain Marvel a hardcore Feminist and SJW screed?

No. In fact, if that is your perception of the film? Actual Feminism will kill you.

What the film actually is? Quite a lot of fun. No, it does not rewrite the script on the MCU. But I had a great time and the audience I saw it with were very into the film, even clapping after it ended.

 

The End (Glass, 2019)

glass_posterAfter 2000’s Unbreakable, there was a lot of talk that this was almost meant to be part of a trilogy. Shyalaman has been all over the map. He claimed he had no such plans when Unbreakable first came out…but about a year later talked about sequels. And I really loved Unbreakable. I wanted to get those follow ups. I wanted to see what David Dunn would do next.

When Split was revealed as a stealth sequel to Unbreakable, I was thrilled.  And the trailers had me quite excited for Glass.  So, did Shyalaman create a great trilogy?

Well, when David Dunn and his son (who run a security business together, and also work together in stopping crime) interfere with the Horde’s (the nickname for the character from Split) attempt to kill another group of young women, the two are captured by the authorities. They are sent to an institution where they are introduced to Dr. Ellie Staple.  She specializes in people who believe they have powers.

Her goal is to help them realize they are suffering a delusion.

The film makes it very clear that she is wrong, of course…and that is one of the problems of the film.  Staple clearly represents Shyalaman’s critics.  This is a petty bit of behavior that stretches back to at least Lady In the Water, in which Bob Balaban’s critic is presented as a fool who does not understand true genius.  And that gets portrayed here.  Except it is a little worse. Here, Ellie is an insincere critic, and she is arguable a central villain, rather than an oblivious one.

The film has some annoying retcons in its plans of revealing that Glass is an even bigger architect than we realized (to be fair, the retcon does not suggest Glass intended for this, it was just a convenient byproduct of his acts in Unbreakable).

Add to this the fact that the film does lean hard into the notion that the Horde is actually a separate thing from his superpower…it really undermines any defense agains criticisms of the portrayal of the Horde and mental  health.

There are some things I like. McAvoy does a great job in his performance. Jackson gives the kind of solid performance I expect. I also appreciate that both David Dunn and Mrs. Price are played by the same actors who played the roles in Unbreakable (the same for the Comic Shop Owner).

The reveal that all three films represented an origin story is a bit…deflating.  I mean, people complain about the decompressed storytelling of modern comics…but Brian Michael Bendis never took nineteen years to tell one story.

The film seems to unload twist upon twist in the final act and that gets tiring.  Glass is an underwhelming and disappointing ending to the Unbreakable story.

The Beginning (Unbreakable, 2000)

unbreakable_posterAfter the wild success of the Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan re-teamed with Bruce Willis for another film. Of course, everyone wanted to know what he would do next.

Bruce Willis is David Dunn, a regular guy with a wife and kid whose life is forever changed when he is the lone survivor of a massive commuter train wreck.  But it is not that he simply lived…he walked away without a scratch.

A stranger, Elijah Price enters his world who is convinced that Dunn is a uniquely gifted man. He pushes David to look to his past, where David realizes he rarely has been sick, save one event. But aside from a near drowning, he has never broken a bone and can be very hard to hurt in general. Price convinces the skeptical David that he has amazing powers…he is strong, semi-impervious and also has a… sixth sense, if you will, that allows him to get a sense of a person when he touches them.

He starts to use this to stop criminals, trusting Elijah. The film juxtaposes the two men.  While Willis’ Dunn is seemingly indestructible, Elijah suffers from a unique condition in which his bones are severely fragile. So fragile that the most minor of pressure can shatter a bone.  But where his body is in constant danger of destruction, his intellect is great.  His power is the strength of his mind.

This works really well.  You see how Elijah is able to push David to become a believer in his situation, to embrace his power, in spite of his early skepticism. This also brings he and his son closer, as his son is excited by the idea that his father is a super-hero.

I really appreciate how Willis’ performance grounds the film.  You find yourself unsure if you can trust your eyes. But you cannot help but hope it is true…that David is not being manipulated into buying into a delusion. And Elijah Price’s certainly helps the viewer.

The movie does have a twist, but in comparison to the Sixth Sense, it seems a bit less…drastic. It is absolutely a game changer, as the film is set up as a realistic super-hero origin story.  This is one of Shyamalan’s best films.  Willis and Jackson deliver terrific performances in a compelling story.

Dive Deep (Aquaman, 2018)

Aquaman_posterSure, you know Aquaman can swim fast, talk to fish and punch hard. But what do you really know?

This holiday season, we have the full story of the savior of the seas.  Born of a lighthouse keeper from the surface world and the Princess of Atlantis, Arthur Curry has long dealt with the heartbreak of the death of his mother, believing it really to be his fault.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!! when his half brother Orm sets his sites on uniting the kingdoms of Atlantis and destroying the surface world, the princess Mera seeks the aid of Arthur, who has avoided his Atlantean heritage.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!! See, there is a magical trident that Aquaman will need to defeat his half brother, so he and Mera go on a big time treasure hunt.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!! There is a guy called Black Manta who wants revenge on Arthur!

BUT THA- Oh, you get the idea.  They have packed a ton of stuff into this film, making it a bit of a mess. It is such a busy film full of story ideas it can make you wonder if any of those stories could have better room to breath in their own film.  However, one gets the sense that they had multiple assignments with this film. They had to fill in the back story not just of Arthur, but of Mera, Orm, Atlantis and a magical trident.

And yet, the film is a lot of fun.  The whole little side story in which Arthur and Mera are trying to find the trident National Treasure style is fun excitement.  And the film sets up a simple but good message for Aquaman to learn.  The effects are really good, which is important, because the entire sense of design depends on it.

The real highlight of the film is Atlantis. It is a lush and colorful undersea kingdom.  The use of undersea life in the designs of their vehicles and architecture is wondrous. This is DC film embraces the whimsy of it’s conceit to give a unique corner of the DCEU. There is also a real attention to small detail in all the underwater sequences that make is easy to forget people don’t breath or talk underwater. We get Aquaman in his traditional outfit and you know what? It looks great.

But it is not just the design and effects that the film has going for it. Now, Mamoa has limited acting range…but the filmmakers have filled the movie with a cast that keeps this from being an issue. He can do his brash and confident guy thing, because he is supported by top notch talent like Temuera Morrison, Nicole Kidman and Patrick Wilson. Wilson really carries a lot in the relationship between Orm and Arthur. He somehow manages to give a heart to a megalomaniacal maniac king. His hatred of Arthur is in a misguided blame for the loss of their mother, and Wilson sells this well.

And then there is James Wan. Wan is without a doubt one of the strongest directors in action films today. Even his giant action scenes are easy to follow. He balances sequences with multiple simultaneous leads exceptionally well (such as when Arthur and Mera become separated and have their own individual fights).

Aquaman manages to overcome a lot of odds, being far more entertaining than the elements ought to allow. So, in spite of a busy storyline, Aquaman is a rollicking fun adventure.

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