Aquaman is a superhero movie that feels like it was created as an illustration of how people who don't like them think superhero movies are. Silly costumes, sillier scenery, corny, exposition-laden dialogue, "witty" banter, run-on-the-mill storyline about a chosen one, predictable twists, hammy villains that get redeemed at the end, a love story crowbarred in with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the forehead - the list goes on.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with archetypes and familiar elements: it's perfectly possible to create something enjoyable from something the audience already knows. The problem is that Aquaman seems to think that this translates to "being made of nothing but clichés is fine as long as you're aware of it". It doesn't. There comes a point when an overabundance of clichés become annoying and it becomes obvious that they are simply used due to pure laziness on the script's part. Clichés stop being charming and start being cringeworthy.
One example: the movie opens and ends with voiceover narration by our protagonist. The end narration contains the sentence "their love saved the world" and ends with (this isn't really a spoiler) "I AM... AQUAMAN".
What we are left with is visual pizzazz, some charming performances, and well-directed action. All of this is good, but superhero movies have matured too much in the last few years (compare this to Black Panther, released this very year, even if I personally think that movie is merely "good") for this to be enough to pull this above "decent".
Wall-to-wall clichés
Aquaman is a superhero movie that feels like it was created as an illustration of how people who don't like them think superhero movies are. Silly costumes, sillier scenery, corny, exposition-laden dialogue, "witty" banter, run-on-the-mill storyline about a chosen one, predictable twists, hammy villains that get redeemed at the end, a love story crowbarred in with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the forehead - the list goes on.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with archetypes and familiar elements: it's perfectly possible to create something enjoyable from something the audience already knows. The problem is that Aquaman seems to think that this translates to "being made of nothing but clichés is fine as long as you're aware of it". It doesn't. There comes a point when an overabundance of clichés become annoying and it becomes obvious that they are simply used due to pure laziness on the script's part. Clichés stop being charming and start being cringeworthy.
One example: the movie opens and ends with voiceover narration by our protagonist. The end narration contains the sentence "their love saved the world" and ends with (this isn't really a spoiler) "I AM... AQUAMAN".
What we are left with is visual pizzazz, some charming performances, and well-directed action. All of this is good, but superhero movies have matured too much in the last few years (compare this to Black Panther, released this very year, even if I personally think that movie is merely "good") for this to be enough to pull this above "decent".