First things first, Aquaman is one of the best DC Extended Universe films to date. After a string of less than stellar films, Aquaman is like a breath of fresh air. While it isn't up to the standards of the better superhero films, and it still has the darker touches and styles of DCEU, it is a thoroughly enjoyable piece. Following his debut in Justice League, Aquaman takes place after it. Surprisingly enough, it is not a full on origin story, there are flashbacks here and there to show off how Arthur (aka Aquaman) gained his powers and trained but on the whole, it assumes the audience is familiar enough with the character. A huge chunk of the film takes place underwater and this makes it surreal at times. Therefore, it relies extremely heavily on special effects which can take you out of it. Aquaman runs through a few cliches but thankfully, never gets into bland territory. We have the set up of an antagonist, who has some twisted reason for hating Aquaman. Perhaps the best is the simple but classic plot of Aquaman living up to his destiny. He embarks on the journey to search for the legendary trident in order to become king of Atlantis and it is a fun adventure. Despite the excessive length at 2 hours 20 minutes, there isn't really a scene where you are conscious of how long it is going for. The battle during the finale was a great spectacle and it really invokes the heroic presence of Aquaman. Overall, Aquaman is a plesant surprise that finally starts doing justice to DC characters.
