In the midst of all the successful superhero movies by Marvel Studios, it is hard to believe that other companies would even survive in the business of turning comics into million-dollar movies. Still, though, the DCCU (or the DC Cinematic Universe) still continues to produce new movies based on the DC comics. So far, there have been several Batman and Superman movies, and the other most recent film introduced Wonder-Woman to the DCCU. Justice League which came out in 2017 brought Aquaman (Jason Momoa) into the picture. Now, he takes the stage once again with his own movie. Aquaman has made over One Billion dollars at the box office. The film has also overtaken several MCU movies in the box office, and is expected to climb even higher in the charts. But is it really worth the watch?

Starting off, I will say I started liking superheroes as a DC fan. I have fond memories of reading old comic books and watching the original live action Batman show with my brother and my dad. That being said, I have good reasons to favor the modern Marvel movies over the recent DC films. The same complaints have been floating around since the first few Batman movies- DC makes their color palettes too dark, there isn’t enough comedic value to sooth the dark tones (something Marvel does very well), and the use of CGI and cliche themes is too prevalent. That being said, Aquaman wasn’t all bad. The color palette was brighter and less grim than the Batman and Superman movies, but the look of the movie was still overwhelmingly CGI. From an octopus playing the drums to raptors on the Trench Island, the cheap CGI effects were completely out of place and took away from the atmosphere of the movie.

In continuation, the DC cliches and dark themes were not absent in this film. One of Aquaman’s antagonists, Black Manta, has the same sort of dirge backstory as many of the villains in the DCCU. Not to mention, his armor is ridiculous looking and completely CGI-generated. Something that really bothered me and the people I saw the movie with was the helmet- huge, oval-like, with enormous red eyes that shoot laser beams. He looked more like an insect than a manta ray! The other antagonist, Aquaman’s half-brother, had basically the same personality and look as Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter- Enough said. While we’re on the subject of characters, I’d like to point out that Aquaman as a character wasn’t all bad. His relationship with his father in the movie was something I enjoyed very much, and the flaws of his character seemed to be products of poor writing. Momoa as an actor is someone I enjoy very much, especially after his performance as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones. It just seems like he doesn’t belong in a movie with this many design issues and writing fallacies.

Finally, I would like to point out the cinematic parallels that make this film even more of a problem. Aquaman’s entrance during the battle in Atlantis after he gets the trident? I thought it seemed quite familiar somehow, and I remembered Thor’s majestic intro during the battle of Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War. Then I started seeing more similarities between this movie and the Thor films, as well as other Marvel movies like Black Panther. Honestly, I think the DCCU has a long way to go before they even reach the level of quality that Marvel Studios puts into their films. I will say, though, Aquaman was still enjoyable. My friend, my brother and I were almost crying laughing during the car ride home laughing at it, and that made the money well spent. In short, I don’t really think this movie is all that special or high quality when compared to other superhero movies- regardless of what the box office says. Still, if you’re looking to have a good laugh or you’re a huge Jason Momoa/DC fan, go give it a watch. I give this movie a 5.5/10, hopefully we’ll see some better DC Universe movies in 2019.