Double Review Spectacular - Aquaman and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
This week, we've had two big superhero film releases and man... They're both pretty unforgettable, although in completely different ways. I have some pessimistic views on which will perform better and feel pretty strongly that it's going to be the one that makes the most money won't deserve it but the cart is coming before the horse, let's review these movies.
Aquaman is the newest DC film which already puts it on shaky ground considering what a weak track record franchise that has and it's also a story about the silliest well known superhero, Fish Boy/Aquaman. His story is one which is basically reverse Black Panther with a splash of Shape of Water, in which his mum (Fish Queen Nicole Kidman) ends up falling in love with and shagging a lighthouse keeper and producing Jason Momoa, heir to the fish throne. He is to head back to Atlantis to try and stop his evil brother from waging war on the humans and to do so, he kinda travels around the world and does some stuff with his brother's wife Mera. It's all a bit of a mess really, going everywhere but feeling like it's gone nowhere and that's actually alright. Don't get me wrong, I'd have liked it if the story was actually there and remotely understandable but I don't think people are going to be up in arms because Aquaman's story isn't amazing.
When it comes to performances, Aquaman gets... interesting. Some of the time the cast seem to know what's happening, a lot of the time they don't. One example of someone who seems to get what the film is going for is thankfully Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa. In Justice League, he was quite an annoying presence, screaming "yeah" or "my man" whenever possible but that is pretty much the tone that Aquaman is going for and so his boudacious yelling works in its ridiculousness. Someone who doesn't really work is Amber Heard as Mera, which is a bit of a shame seeing as I want to support her after the whole Johnny Depp fiasco. All she really seems to be here to do is look pretty in her skin tight green suit and be a cardboard cutout for Aquaman to quip at and eventually stick his tongue in. That sounds rude but seriously, her suit has high heels built into it which can't be for practicality, even if she is a princess. Everyone else is very mixed, from a confused looking Nicole Kidman to an occasionally painfully digitally de-aged Willem Dafoe, never really settling on whether they want to chew scenery or just turn up and accept their paycheck. I'd also like to mention Patrick Wilson who plays the main villain man and is entirely passable but elicits chuckles from repeatedly shouting about how he wants to be "The Ocean Master!". The film would have been much better as a whole if there was something of a consensus on that but as we are, hot mess.
There's still so much to discuss about Aquaman, to the degree that I could do it as a bullet point list and still feel like I'm not covering everything. I'll try and actually expand on all of the stuff I talk about but there's a chance it could basically just be a very confusing list. First, and perhaps most importantly, there's a scene where Aquaman and Mera are flying over the Sahara which had me hollering with laughter and shock because (and this is all true) a song is playing which is a Pitbull song that samples the hit Toto song Africa. It's called Ocean to Ocean, it really exists and I have been rambling about it on my twitter (@quitenerdyblog) since I saw the film. It must be heard to be believed. Where next? Um, okay, quick one here, at one point wine is used as knives by Mera so that's cool. One of the things I was half expecting was a discussion of climate change but obviously, this being a superhero film from a huge corporation, it gets thrown in as a token gesture. One person mentions it, there's an image of a turtle with a beer chain around its neck and then we get back to the action. Speaking of, much of this film is bizarre and kinda poorly made (for example, the spinning kiss during which Mera mounts Aquaman) but I cannot completely discredit it because there are a couple of actually great scenes. There's a few action scenes in Sicily that have no right being as fun as they are but also one scene of light horror in The Depths which impressed me by being fairly creepy throughout. Throughout those scenes, I was impressed but thinking "Where have these been for the last hour?" and that sums up much of the film for me.
It is hard to know how to approach Aquaman. It isn't outright bad because of those great scenes I mentioned but equally it can't be good because of that absolutely batshit Pitbull song. And equally, it was 140 minutes but I'd be lying if I said I was ever particularly bored. I laughed a lot (even if often at the film) and I am not enitrely sure what it is I've seen. That's why I kind of feel like the only rating I can really give Aquaman is a
Which brings us onto an animated children's film from the people who brought us The Emoji Movie. Oh boy.
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is immediately quite an interesting comic book movie because it deals with the whole multiverse theory that has long been a part of comic books but not actually in their movies yet. Here, Miles Morales is our Spider-Man but eventually, there is an experiment undertaken by Kingpin which causes various multiverses to collide and multiple different Spider-People are chucked out into our on screen reality and must work together to get back home and defeat the rogues gallery out to get them. I don't know if the beats of the plot are exactly revolutionary, it's just that an idea as exciting as this doesn't get put on screen by a big company particularly often and when it does, it can't help but feel like an absolute breath of fresh air. Also worth mentioning in the realm of story is that despite these big exciting developments and a huge cast, everything is always about the character and thematic development of Miles. Throughout the entire run time, this is his film, make no mistake.
The voice cast is an area that I don't know if I was expecting to be impressed by but I have to say, everyone does sterling work, bringing further personality to these varied characters. Playing Miles is Shameik Moore, an actor I was not familiar with before but who is properly great at bringing an iconic comic character to screen for the first time. Also wonderful is Bryan Tyree Henry as Miles' father. Tyree Henry has had a brilliant year with both Atlanta and Widows and so it makes me very happy to see him carry on his amazing streak. I'll rush through some of the others who do great work because there's a lot of them. There's Jake Johnson as a solid Peter Parker, a role Chris Pine also takes, Hailee Steinfeld plays a fun Gwen Stacey and Liev Schreiber is a fun Kingpin with an underlying element of seriousness that elevates the role. Two people stand out though and that's the alternate dimension Spider-Folk. First there's Spider-Man Noir played by the inimitable Nic Cage, who does silly seriousness like no man alive. He's supported by Spider-Ham, played by one of my current favourite comics John Mulaney. His whole thing is that he's basically a Looney Tunes character and his voice perfectly embodies that, cracking me up whenever he opened his snout. With those last two, I could very happily watch a film just with either of them and I may or may not have spent the last week thinking about how a noir version of Spider-Man would work, Venetian blinds, femme fatales and all.
Everyone has been in awe of this film for one very important reason though and that's the animation style. It. Is. STUNNING. It's not just because it's photorealistic or anything like that, it is very deliberately styled to look like an actual comic book, to the degree that even the inaccuracies and spots of comic books have been transferred over. Another beautiful touch is how the characters from their individual universes have their own clear styles, even when they're rubbing shoulders with each other. Plus, by using the medium of animation, the directors are able to conjour images the likes of which I've never seen, that final set piece in the lab being a prime example. That said though, the film is gorgeous as a whole and the whole film is one of the most beautiful I've seen recently and that upside down shot is up there as an all timer in beauty. Humour is also a huge part of the DNA of this film and thankfully, it is all hysterical. Unlike Aquaman, every time I laughed was because the film wanted me to and so much of it was wonderfully silly throwaway visual stuff, which is another thing I love about animation. Plenty of those jokes are references and God, they're often quite smart. There's a few cartoon references in the last few minutes that I won't ruin but I was having a great time spotting what I could. After all, it's not often that a film will reference Community, Spider-Man 3 and Chance the Rapper in the space of five minutes and that is what makes even the references in this film a grade above the rest.
I'll be open about this, I adore this film. It takes all the kind of stuff I loved about The Lego Batman Movie last year but elevates it with an ambitious and daring plot and makes me excited about a potential franchise for maybe the first time in five years. I beg of you, if you're looking for a film to go see with your family this Christmas, go see this one and support smart animated films. Quite simply, I have to give Spider-Verse a
Aquaman is the newest DC film which already puts it on shaky ground considering what a weak track record franchise that has and it's also a story about the silliest well known superhero, Fish Boy/Aquaman. His story is one which is basically reverse Black Panther with a splash of Shape of Water, in which his mum (Fish Queen Nicole Kidman) ends up falling in love with and shagging a lighthouse keeper and producing Jason Momoa, heir to the fish throne. He is to head back to Atlantis to try and stop his evil brother from waging war on the humans and to do so, he kinda travels around the world and does some stuff with his brother's wife Mera. It's all a bit of a mess really, going everywhere but feeling like it's gone nowhere and that's actually alright. Don't get me wrong, I'd have liked it if the story was actually there and remotely understandable but I don't think people are going to be up in arms because Aquaman's story isn't amazing.
When it comes to performances, Aquaman gets... interesting. Some of the time the cast seem to know what's happening, a lot of the time they don't. One example of someone who seems to get what the film is going for is thankfully Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa. In Justice League, he was quite an annoying presence, screaming "yeah" or "my man" whenever possible but that is pretty much the tone that Aquaman is going for and so his boudacious yelling works in its ridiculousness. Someone who doesn't really work is Amber Heard as Mera, which is a bit of a shame seeing as I want to support her after the whole Johnny Depp fiasco. All she really seems to be here to do is look pretty in her skin tight green suit and be a cardboard cutout for Aquaman to quip at and eventually stick his tongue in. That sounds rude but seriously, her suit has high heels built into it which can't be for practicality, even if she is a princess. Everyone else is very mixed, from a confused looking Nicole Kidman to an occasionally painfully digitally de-aged Willem Dafoe, never really settling on whether they want to chew scenery or just turn up and accept their paycheck. I'd also like to mention Patrick Wilson who plays the main villain man and is entirely passable but elicits chuckles from repeatedly shouting about how he wants to be "The Ocean Master!". The film would have been much better as a whole if there was something of a consensus on that but as we are, hot mess.
There's still so much to discuss about Aquaman, to the degree that I could do it as a bullet point list and still feel like I'm not covering everything. I'll try and actually expand on all of the stuff I talk about but there's a chance it could basically just be a very confusing list. First, and perhaps most importantly, there's a scene where Aquaman and Mera are flying over the Sahara which had me hollering with laughter and shock because (and this is all true) a song is playing which is a Pitbull song that samples the hit Toto song Africa. It's called Ocean to Ocean, it really exists and I have been rambling about it on my twitter (@quitenerdyblog) since I saw the film. It must be heard to be believed. Where next? Um, okay, quick one here, at one point wine is used as knives by Mera so that's cool. One of the things I was half expecting was a discussion of climate change but obviously, this being a superhero film from a huge corporation, it gets thrown in as a token gesture. One person mentions it, there's an image of a turtle with a beer chain around its neck and then we get back to the action. Speaking of, much of this film is bizarre and kinda poorly made (for example, the spinning kiss during which Mera mounts Aquaman) but I cannot completely discredit it because there are a couple of actually great scenes. There's a few action scenes in Sicily that have no right being as fun as they are but also one scene of light horror in The Depths which impressed me by being fairly creepy throughout. Throughout those scenes, I was impressed but thinking "Where have these been for the last hour?" and that sums up much of the film for me.
It is hard to know how to approach Aquaman. It isn't outright bad because of those great scenes I mentioned but equally it can't be good because of that absolutely batshit Pitbull song. And equally, it was 140 minutes but I'd be lying if I said I was ever particularly bored. I laughed a lot (even if often at the film) and I am not enitrely sure what it is I've seen. That's why I kind of feel like the only rating I can really give Aquaman is a
Which brings us onto an animated children's film from the people who brought us The Emoji Movie. Oh boy.
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is immediately quite an interesting comic book movie because it deals with the whole multiverse theory that has long been a part of comic books but not actually in their movies yet. Here, Miles Morales is our Spider-Man but eventually, there is an experiment undertaken by Kingpin which causes various multiverses to collide and multiple different Spider-People are chucked out into our on screen reality and must work together to get back home and defeat the rogues gallery out to get them. I don't know if the beats of the plot are exactly revolutionary, it's just that an idea as exciting as this doesn't get put on screen by a big company particularly often and when it does, it can't help but feel like an absolute breath of fresh air. Also worth mentioning in the realm of story is that despite these big exciting developments and a huge cast, everything is always about the character and thematic development of Miles. Throughout the entire run time, this is his film, make no mistake.
The voice cast is an area that I don't know if I was expecting to be impressed by but I have to say, everyone does sterling work, bringing further personality to these varied characters. Playing Miles is Shameik Moore, an actor I was not familiar with before but who is properly great at bringing an iconic comic character to screen for the first time. Also wonderful is Bryan Tyree Henry as Miles' father. Tyree Henry has had a brilliant year with both Atlanta and Widows and so it makes me very happy to see him carry on his amazing streak. I'll rush through some of the others who do great work because there's a lot of them. There's Jake Johnson as a solid Peter Parker, a role Chris Pine also takes, Hailee Steinfeld plays a fun Gwen Stacey and Liev Schreiber is a fun Kingpin with an underlying element of seriousness that elevates the role. Two people stand out though and that's the alternate dimension Spider-Folk. First there's Spider-Man Noir played by the inimitable Nic Cage, who does silly seriousness like no man alive. He's supported by Spider-Ham, played by one of my current favourite comics John Mulaney. His whole thing is that he's basically a Looney Tunes character and his voice perfectly embodies that, cracking me up whenever he opened his snout. With those last two, I could very happily watch a film just with either of them and I may or may not have spent the last week thinking about how a noir version of Spider-Man would work, Venetian blinds, femme fatales and all.
Everyone has been in awe of this film for one very important reason though and that's the animation style. It. Is. STUNNING. It's not just because it's photorealistic or anything like that, it is very deliberately styled to look like an actual comic book, to the degree that even the inaccuracies and spots of comic books have been transferred over. Another beautiful touch is how the characters from their individual universes have their own clear styles, even when they're rubbing shoulders with each other. Plus, by using the medium of animation, the directors are able to conjour images the likes of which I've never seen, that final set piece in the lab being a prime example. That said though, the film is gorgeous as a whole and the whole film is one of the most beautiful I've seen recently and that upside down shot is up there as an all timer in beauty. Humour is also a huge part of the DNA of this film and thankfully, it is all hysterical. Unlike Aquaman, every time I laughed was because the film wanted me to and so much of it was wonderfully silly throwaway visual stuff, which is another thing I love about animation. Plenty of those jokes are references and God, they're often quite smart. There's a few cartoon references in the last few minutes that I won't ruin but I was having a great time spotting what I could. After all, it's not often that a film will reference Community, Spider-Man 3 and Chance the Rapper in the space of five minutes and that is what makes even the references in this film a grade above the rest.
I'll be open about this, I adore this film. It takes all the kind of stuff I loved about The Lego Batman Movie last year but elevates it with an ambitious and daring plot and makes me excited about a potential franchise for maybe the first time in five years. I beg of you, if you're looking for a film to go see with your family this Christmas, go see this one and support smart animated films. Quite simply, I have to give Spider-Verse a
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