Or do a painstaking analysis of director Wan's many choices in storytelling, mythmaking, and characterization that make the film a joy.
I'm going to do neither.
I'm just going to say that the reason thing film will succeed where others haven't is because:
it's a comic book.
Wan didn't try to rise above that, or be more real, or gritty (as too many DC films have done); neither did he wink and nod and undercut all the serious situations with goofiness as way of parodying the very art form that the film is based on (as too many Marvel films have done).
Wan just unapologetically made the biggest, brightest, boldest comic book he could about Aquaman. And I loved it.
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| When you see THAT scene, I guarantee you some of you will get pregnant. And you will name the child Arthur. Even if it's a girl. |
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Interestingly (or maybe not), I took all the talk about the fortieth anniversary of Superman: The Movie as an excuse to rewatch it. And while there may obviously be some nostalgia involved (I saw it in theaters when I was about four), I couldn't help being impressed by how consistently fun the movie is, embracing the world and acknowledging the occasional goofiness without ever talking down to the audience for enjoying it. Of course, I could probably also watch a couple of hours of just Christopher Reeve being annoyed at the pay phone not having a booth...
(Also impressive: How many story genres the script tries to cover and mostly actually succeeds.)
So, I'm definitely looking forward to Aquaman as what sounds like a return to that kind of form, whether I can convince myself to take a few hours out to hit the theater or when it hits cable/streaming. It's obviously not DC, but I'm hearing great (and similar) things about the Spider-Man movie, too. Apparently, it's a good week to have time to kill.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Spider-man movie, John. It also unabashedly embraces comic books, even to the point of imitating off-register four-color printing on screen. Some people apparently didn't get that and found it off-putting (I read one comment that said he and his wife repeatedly complained about things being "out of focus" to the theater). It also jumped right on the multiverse concept and didn't waste much time explaining it, which was refreshing. And it was just fun.
I'll see Aquaman this weekend, but I was going to do that no matter what.
Man, I'm glad you came back, Scipio
You can even break it down into individual issues. It’s like a 12-issue arc that starts with something small like a battle with Black Manta but culminates in all-out war by issues 11 and 12. And in between you have the desert issue, the Sicily issue, the [redacted] issue, and many more.
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