“Aquaman” is directed by James Wan, who is known for his horror films like “The Conjuring” , “Saw” & “Insidious” and is the 5th film in DC cinematic universe. The film stars Jason Mamoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Wilam Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison & Nicole Kidman. Aquaman makes his 3rd on screen appearance following 2016’s “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” & 2017’s “Justice League”.

Following the events of “Justice League”, Arthur Curry (Mamoa) has a growing reputation of being the man from the sea or being locally known as the Aquaman. After an underwater queen (Kidman) and a noble man of the land (Morrison) have a forbidden love and then birth a young son, the Queen must then leave to avoid conflict with the people of Atlantis. The underwater city of Atlantis is home of many civilizations and advanced technology. Now as an adult, Curry is approached by Mera (Heard), princess of one of the kingdoms in Atlantis & warns him of an upcoming war between the surface world and Atlantis. After King Orm (Wilson) decides merge the 7 seas army and attack the surface, Mera and Curry must find a mystical artifact and stop Orm from global destruction.

DC’s cinematic universe has been hits and misses in their quest to rival Marvel’s. After the disappointments of “Suicide Squad” & “Justice League”, this movie a huge step in the right direction. The movie was fun and entertaining and had the feel of an action adventure film rather than the dark and gloominess of the previous DC films. Mamoa was a great Aquaman and really makes this his own character rather than the regal and majestic character that Aquaman is portrayed in previous shows and animated films. James Wan did an amazing job bring the world of Atlantis to the big screen. Visually, this was a good movie with the sea monsters and fight scenes underwater. The movie isn’t perfect. Patrick Wilson is kind of cliche villain but does give a solid performance. It has typical action movie cliches and cheesy one liners but after what we saw in the previous DC movies, this is definitely much better.

Overall, Aquaman really put hope and excitement back into the DC cinematic universe. Moving forward can only be great if they keep Jason Mamoa. The movie makes all the right moves and can only go up from here as the bigger picture. If DC keeps this up then that have a shot at being successful. After seeing this film, my anticipation growing a litttle more for DC’s 2019’s “Shazam!”