This EC Comic franchise film is an actual attempt to make Star Wars in the Aquaman story in terms of a fictional world view. In the past, no-one called it a 'franchise' or 'universe', like the DC Extended Universe. EC Comic marketing is like a flood in the film which attacked Aquaman's father, Thomas, and Arthur/ Aquaman. Products and icons broadly infiltrated every corner of the world in consumer activities. This kind of domination is its powerful commercial profit base globally. And now it has started to consume a Star Wars-like visual spectacle tradition with crummy CGI and digitally animated aquarium shows.
Could James Wan be equal with Stephen Spielberg or George Lucas?
It's still doubtful. Like other EC comic franchise films, it is quite ridiculous and meaningless. It is a doll which is enjoyed by children at home or in the park. Aquaman versus a bunch of evil amphibious monsters from The Trench. A Gladiator-like battle between the protagonist, Arthur, and his younger half-brother, the antagonist, Orm, who is a king of Atlantis and intends to declare a war with the surface world. In short, its core conflict is not about the African villain David Kane, but it is about the succession of the throne of the entire Ocean of the kingdom between Arthur (Jason Momoa) and Orm. In fact, the David Kane episode / subplot can be completely omitted. His revenge is just for setting the sequel of this franchise, a story fabrication device in terms of script manufacturing.
However, it added a light racial conflict between Arthur, a half-breeding guy, and someone of African origin. This is one of the ideologically important aspects of this film. Racial diversity is respected in the White Supremacy tradition. The major ethnic group of an immigration country is half-breeding people. Aquaman is their hero. It is obvious that the 'finding the lost mother/wife' episode between Arthur, Thomas and Orm is pretty odd due to the close age between Jason Momoa and Nicole Kidman. Visually, it is not like a son and mother relationship. Moreover, crummy CGIs and digital aquarium sequences weakened the plot clearness to a certain extent and made it boring. The most important feature of this blockbuster is that it reflects the weakening rule of law in democracy, instead, the rising of rule of king/man in the contemporary Neo-liberal world order. Audiences are willing to pay to enjoy the digital aquarium for 143 min, and excitingly accepting the ideology embodied by this film at the same time. It is contradicted in its nature. Entertainment and ideological control are done by mainstream consumer culture in this way.
Production company: DC Entertainment, Peter Safran Productions Distributor: Warner Bros. Cast: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison Director: James Wan Screenwriters: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Will Beal, story by Geoff Johns, James Wan, Will Beal, based on characters created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger Producers: Peter Safran, Rob Cowan Executive producers: Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Jon Berg, Geoff Johns, Walter Hamada Director of photography: Don Burgess Production designer: Bill Brzeski Costume designer: Kym Barrett Editor: Kirk Morri Music: Rupert Gregson-Williams Visual effects supervisor: Kelvin McIlwain Casting: Anne McCarthy, Kellie Roy
Rated PG-13, 148 minutes
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