![]() In two separate scenes set decades apart, the camera whips around them as they smack Atlantean Stormtroopers with a ridiculous weapon - a quindent passed down between generations - performing super-powered acrobatics and causing general mayhem. The action is also the only thing connecting Arthur and Atlanna in any meaningful way beyond dialogue. They flip and jump and roll around as Wan and Don Burgess' kinetic camera matches their every movement. This skews the perspective, making more of the action whiz by in a given moment, as the characters create a visual feast. Highly choreographed fights unfold in single takes, filmed on wide lenses just slightly short of fish-eye (heh). The static close-ups are replaced by moving long-shots. ![]() The film, as if suddenly interested in what its characters are upto, shifts in tone and visual approach. The former drives the plot, while the latter is perfectly placed to drive a character-centric story these two elements, however, end up mutually exclusive. In Aquaman, this role is split between militaristic Orm and the vengeful Black Manta. In contrast, Killmonger's ploy involves dethroning T'Challa both out of revenge, and as a means to a military end. While Orm pulls strings and jumps through hoops to control Atlantis' armies, his eventual target is the surface world, a plan to which Aquaman is merely incidental. Black Panther, having excelled at this, makes for a fitting jumping-off point. One could argue the two films are apples and oranges, but Aquaman's lack of meaningful outcome is owed, at least in part, to a lack of coherent antagonist. Aquaman, unfortunately, leans more towards preserving an existing status quo both on land and at sea.īy the film's end, Arthur does little to act on the relevant qualms Orm has with the surface - humans pollute the oceans and kill their aquatic friends! - while his Wakandan contemporary, Black Panther, undergoes a radical change in outlook. His goal, after all, is global Black liberation. In contrast, Killmonger pulls off the same ploy as Arthur in Black Panther, but his cultural ostracizing as an African American is a key facet of the story. King Orm's methods are rooted in adherence to tradition, and Arthur seeks to defeat him by colouring within those traditional lines. This vital commonality between hero and villain is never brought up in the text, nor is it ever used for any narrative purpose an omission emblematic of the film's many problems. He comes from a line of African-American soldiers abandoned and oppressed by very the county they fought for, and he's even cast aside by the Atlanteans once he outlives his usefulness to them. Thematically, Arthur's rival Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is even introduced through a similar lens. That said, despite the characters constantly mentioning his background and Arthur being verbally rejected by his white Atlantean kin, the film never meaningfully weaves this subtext into its plot. Arthur's mother Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) is even sent to the gallows for miscegenation, all of which sets up a superhero who feels radically different from the status quo. ![]() Every time Arthur's half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) venomously brands him a "half-breed," his words have a real-world sting. The character is established as Maori his father denotes the need to finish Arthur's tribal tattoos. ![]() ![]() Aquaman brings Arthur's tale into our world. ![]()
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