Aquaman (2018)

  Well, the good news is that this is definitely a step in the right direction for DC's movie universe.  The bad news is that it's still not great.

Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) has been using his powers for good, to help out those lost or threatened at sea, but when Princess Mera (Amber Heard) arrives to enlist his help against the rising threat of Arthur's half-brother, King Orm (Patrick Wilson), Arthur turns her down.  He has no wish to involve himself in Atlantean business, feeling that he is an outsider and knowing how the Atlanteans treated his mother, Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman).  Orm's actions have a direct impact on the surface world, however, and Arthur is drawn in despite himself.

I saw this on Christmas Day with my family, which included my boyfriend, Tyler, and my cousin, Caleb, who is also a movie buff.  Tyler was furious over the sheer number of plotholes, which was seconded by Caleb.  You guys, there are so many.  Personally, I hated the costumes.  That might seem like a ridiculous thing to nitpick over, but bear with me.  Most of the costumes were CGI overlays, so they were too bright and unreal looking in general, but then in the close-ups where you could see the real garments the actors were wearing, they looked so cheap and awful.  Exposed zippers, ragged collars, more sequins and iridescent plastic scales than you could shake a stick at, and really just an egregious amount of codpieces.

Tyler and I also agreed that the love story plot was horrendous, but for different reasons.  He hated it because it was utterly unnecessary to the story and felt tacked on and overstuffed.  I hated it because it was full of lazy tropes that sacrificed Mera's competence so she had a reason to love Arthur.  This is a bitch who can literally control the ocean itself and I'm supposed to believe she needs to be clumsy or naive to be endearing?  They actually give her an Ariel-combing-her-hair-with-a-fork moment to make her seem "cute" and like she's trying to fit in with the surface-dwellers when she tries to eat a dozen roses because "look, she's never seen plants before!  And is stupid with no concept of context!  Relatable!"  This is what happens when you don't have a single woman in the writer's room.

Now for the bright side.  If you are not terribly invested, this is a fun movie that goes a long way towards correcting the DCEU's tone problem.  The cinematography is gorgeous and the visual effects are top-notch, especially the underwater sequences.  I will probably end up owning it but I would never go so far as to say it was a good movie.