Aquaman has netted a gigantic haul at the box office with audiences and critics enjoying
the stunning deep-sea adventure, but how does the half-human half-Atlantean superhero measure
up against DC's previous critical and commercial sensation, Wonder Woman?
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm comparing DC's two most recent
stand alone origin movies for Aquaman and Wonder Woman.
Keep watching to the end where I'll reveal the same animated easter egg that was snuck
into both movies!
And if you've got any other upcoming movies you'd like me to compare, let me know in the
comments below.
If there's one thing Aquaman and Wonder Woman both succeed at, it's the impressive scale
of their world-building.
In Aquaman, we get to visit all of the seven kingdoms by the end of the movie, so there's
plenty of amazing underwater spectacle.
What's great about Aquaman is that unlike some of DC's previous cinematic releases,
it feels like director James Wan has been given much more free reign to indulge his
imagination without too much studio meddling.
And the scale of the world building makes me think of epic fantasy flicks like Lord
of The Rings, which is fitting as, according to EW, Wan "considers Aquaman a fantasy film,
not a superhero movie".
So, when we enter Atlantis for the first time, the visuals are simply breath-taking – gotta
give props for that to the film's production designer, art department, and VFX teams.
There are plenty of arresting sights throughout the movie, and just when you think it can't
get any more insane, it does!
It's like a weird fever dream of a film, with so much to look at on screen, that at times
you feel you can't quite take it all in.
While the movie clearly lays out its own individual world, it's impossible not to make some comparisons
with other fantasy and sci-fi worlds like Star Wars, which Wan cites as a major influence,
and Atlantis's gateway bridge and border control remind me of Asgard's Bifrost Bridge in the
Thor movies.
And the light, colourful tone of Aquaman isn't miles away from Thor: Ragnarok.
The extensive travels we go on in Aquaman mean we get quite a mix of genres, which I'll
talk about shortly, and they also set up some cool moments like the multiple-wall-smashing
action in Sicily, and the monstrous, portrait-like shot of Arthur and Mera diving into the Trench
with a lit flare.
And then there's the crazy hidden kingdom full of dinosaurs at the centre of the Earth
which, although inspired by comics, in the film feels almost like Aquaman has briefly
crossed over time and space and landed in Jurassic Park.
Wonder Woman's world-building is, let's be honest, a good bit more restrained than Aquaman's.
There's a lovely introduction to Themyscira and the Amazons during the scenes where we
watch Diana grow up and learn about the customs of her warrior people, though we do also get
some obvious green-screen moments such as young Diana jumping off a wall.
And Aquaman also suffers from some poor CGI during flashbacks including the weird de-aging
of Arthur's father and Willem Dafoe's Vulko.
In some ways, it's a shame the Wonder Woman movie doesn't spend longer on the paradise
island, but the story, of course, needs Diana to leave and defeat Ares, the God of War.
Though the movie's design and art teams certainly do a marvellous job creating Diana's worlds,
the locations we visit in Wonder Woman are, necessarily, more grounded in reality and
their range isn't quite as rich as in Aquaman.
Where Wonder Woman did things better is in exploring the mythology of Themyscira and
the Amazons, rather than Aquaman's somewhat brief flashback to the formerly above-water
world of Atlantis.
Aquaman is a real whirlwind of genres; it's a bit like the filmmakers decided to throw
everything at the wall and see what sticks.
There are moments that lean heavily into horror, which isn't surprising given that the co-creator
of the Saw and Conjuring franchises is in the director's chair.
There are action-adventure sequences in the vein of Indiana Jones, The Mummy movies, and
Romancing the Stone, with a touch of the Fast & Furious franchise thrown in – remember
that James Wan directed the seventh film in that series.
And the influence of creature features also rears its ginormous head; in fact, Wan has
talked of Aquaman being a horror-monster movie.
On top of that, there's a ton of Star Wars-esque moments; as well as fantastical children's
stories and Arthurian legends thrown into the blend.
Some of these inspirations gel together better than others; personally, I loved the horror-heavy
Trench sequence.
When it comes to Aquaman's tone though, you could certainly never accuse the movie of
taking itself too seriously, which feels right given the character's history.
Director Wan isn't afraid to pile on the cheese in an all-out effort to capture the kind of
humorous moments found in old-school action flicks.
So, as well as bucketfuls of action and a less-than-subtle ecological message, we also
get a boat-load of jokes which, depending on what makes you laugh, you'll either find
funny, groan-worthy, or a mix of both.
"Permission to come aboard."
For me, the humour in Wonder Woman manages to find its target and lands more often than
not, giving it an overall better hit rate than Aquaman.
The interaction between Diana, who's never seen a man before, and Steve Trevor leads
to some truly funny moments, as does Diana's innocence when it comes to life outside Themyscira
and how she adjusts to the new world.
Like Aquaman, Wonder Woman also blends a variety of genres, taking us from swords and sandals
territory, through screwball comedy, to a war drama with added elements of spy thriller,
and finishing with the obligatory big superhero battle.
Compared to how well so much of the rest of the movie works, thanks in no small part to
compelling performances from the lead and supporting cast, the finale feels more generic,
even if it does give us some memorable moments.
As for its villains, Wonder Woman isn't as wondrous as it could be since its baddies
are drawn rather broadly so not especially compelling.
Danny Huston's Ludendorff is largely forgettable while Elena Anaya makes a bit more of an impression
as Dr Maru, aka Doctor Poison.
Given the story's twists and turns, David Thewlis gets a few more shades to play with,
though ultimately, we're still left with a pretty typical CGI-filled end battle.
In Aquaman, the villainy is really personal from the get-go – the main antagonist is
Arthur's half-brother Orm, and the movie's secondary antagonist, David Kane, aka Black
Manta, also has a personal, family-based beef with Aquaman.
Patrick Wilson's Orm gets more screen time then the individual villains in Wonder Woman,
so in theory he gets the opportunity to make more of an impression, but in reality, like
many of the characters in Aquaman, Orm has a heck of a lot of not-very-scintillating
exposition to deliver in his dialogue.
Still, opposite Jason Momoa's hard-drinking, tough but chill vibe as Aquaman, the fact
that Wilson plays Orm with all the gravitas and self-importance of a character straight
out of a Shakespeare drama seems strangely fitting.
As for Black Manta, we only get so much of him and his comic-book accurate costume this
time as he's basically there to be introduced and built up as an important future foe.
The Aquaman movie certainly doesn't skimp on fights or battle scenes, showing us a vast
range of confrontations both below water and on land, including submarines taken over by
pirates, gladiatorial-style challenges featuring a drum-playing octopus, weaponised wine bottles,
storm-tossed ships and deep-sea dives, as well as a humongous sea-monster voiced by
Julie Andrews, and that's all before we even get to the final big underwater battle!
During that climactic clash of the undersea titans, we hear a character say 'we are going
to give them a fight they will never forget', which feels like a lot of pressure to put
on the movie's finale, but there are definitely some extremely eye-popping visuals in this
sequence.
There's Arthur rising up out of the ocean floor astride the Karathen, Orm riding a mosasaur
that chomps up a colossal crustacean, and then there's an army of laser-shooting sharks,
plus a huge array of other crazy creatures.
Basically, Aquaman doesn't just embrace excess, it positively revels in it.
It's like the film is asking the question, why have less when you can have more, more,
more?!
As much as fun as this is, it still falls into the same trap of many such films by going
on a touch too long in the final stretch, especially as the scenes are almost entirely
CGI and the longer that's on screen, the more it starts to look noticeable.
Sadly, Wonder Woman is also guilty of that overly-long final CGI showdown with some ropey
VFX when Diana goes up against Ares.
However, there are some really cool fight scenes in Wonder Woman that are especially
memorable for their dramatic settings.
The Superman-inspired alleyway fight where Diana saves Steve with her bracelets is a
delightful scene.
And there are some beautiful balletic, martial-arts-style moments in the battle between the German soldiers
and the Amazons, even though some of the effects may be flawed.
But Diana striding out on to No Man's Land is the movie's stand-out action scene.
Nothing in Aquaman is quite as visceral, moving, and awe-inspiring as that moment.
And the absolutely, mind-blowingly amazing thing about that scene is that it was very
nearly removed from the movie as initially the studio executives couldn't get their heads
around who Diana was meant to be fighting in the scene as it's not about just one specific
big bad.
Now, you know I love my superhero movies, but one thing about them I'm not so keen on,
is their romantic subplots because they often feel shoehorned into the story, and the romantic
interests frequently have less-than-interesting roles with not a lot to do other than be saved
by and swoon over the heroic lead.
While Amber Heard's Mera does get some cool moments in the Aquaman movie, holding back
waves and kicking some ass, a big part of her role is to relay information to Aquaman/Arthur,
and by extension, to us in the audience.
Although Mera's engaged to Arthur's half-brother Orm, most of her scenes are alongside Jason
Momoa.
So, it's unfortunate that Momoa and Heard's on-screen chemistry isn't exactly sizzling.
It's not like there's zero spark between them, it's more that their eventual kiss doesn't
really feel earned but rather simply inevitable because that's what happens in scripts like
this.
And that's why the way their relationship's depicted can't compare to Diana and Steve
in Wonder Woman.
Thanks to Gal Gadot and Chris Pine's line delivery and obvious chemistry, Patty Jenkins'
direction, and Allan Heinberg's script, Wonder Woman takes small, quiet moments like Diana
and Steve's boat journey or dancing together after saving a war-torn village and turns
them into humorous or touching scenes that reveal a lot to us about them as individuals
and potential partners.
So, when Steve tells Diana he loves her in the final act, it's not a throwaway moment
that's inevitable because that's what these movies do, instead the script has worked to
build their characters to this point and earned that moment.
Much like her fellow sea-based red-head, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Mera gets several literal
fish out of water moments where she's faced with the strange, new world of the surface-dwellers.
Curiously, Diana has her own Ariel moment in Wonder Woman when she drags Steve Trevor
from the sea in a scene that clearly pays homage to Disney's animated feature.
OK, Now it's your turn to decide whether you think Aquaman or Wonder Woman is the better
movie!
I've added a poll where you can vote – just tap in the top right of this video and after
you've cast your vote you'll be able to see the results.
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Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!