DC became famous for releasing one after another very expected, ambitious, and in the end completely unseeable films, the quality of which defied common sense. “BPS”, “Suicide Squad” and “Justice League” were made as mediocrely as possible: the abolition of canons and basic attitudes of the characters, the lack of sane history, plot holes the size of the movies themselves, superfluous characters, unsympathetic heroes, weak unknown computer villains, and also reshoots, scandals with Henry Cavill’s mustache, the dismissal of Snyder’s overrated incompetence, Affleck’s drunkenness, Miller’s drug addiction ... The list can be endless. These films collected a pack of Golden Raspberries and brought DC to its knees, turning it into a world laughing stock. The studio suffered huge losses. There was a series of dismissals and reshuffles. Slowly it began to dawn on them that they could soon be closed.
But years have passed, and it is clear that they do not learn from mistakes.
Problems of the concept
For decades in the comics community, this hero was one of the most unpopular, people did not like his appearance, his costume, his abilities were laughed at. That is, the main problem for the film adaptation of Aquaman was Aquaman himself. And the authors decided to change everything that he was - instead of a calm blonde with a short haircut, the sea Dzhigurda appeared before us! Rob Zombie! In DC, there is a character with this character, and his name is Lobo. Does this Aquaman look cooler than before? I guess. But the fact is that the authors did not even believe in this hero, they simply replaced him with someone else. They gave up.
Mera is aware of the whole situation, he is no, she comes for him, she persuades him to fight for the throne, she rescues his father, she takes him to Atlantis, she rescues him in a duel, she walks away from the chase while he screams like a woman, she leads him through the desert, she fights off her attackers herself, she treats the wounded Arthur, she leads the boat to the abysss and in the end she motivates him to be king. But it's not called Mera, it's called Aquaman, right? She dragged him around the movie like a ram. What did Aquaman himself - staggered Mantu, who was initially MUCH superior in strength, tamed the monster and defeated his brother, because he received a more powerful weapon. Mera, having become his queen, will actually govern herself. And this henberry will only nod his head and sign her orders.
The plot of the film is exactly what happens in games. You need to kill the main villain, but before you get to him, you need to listen to the Adviser, visit a number of different levels in style, collect 7 keys, defeat the intermediate bosses, pump weapons and then you get to the final arena and pull the villain’s eyes.
But it's not a toy, it's a movie! More than 2 hours of timekeeping could be filled with the development of the conflict between the sea and the surface, politics, references to real problems of society, the palace intrigues of Atlantis, the fates of secondary characters, dramatic scenes, victims. Tension would increase due to the complexity of the conditions for the hero. Instead, the hero ... visits locations to collect clues about the location of the trident of the 80th level. God, that's bad!
But on some points I want to dwell more in detail.
Mera takes Arthur to Atlantis to get a can of ribs. Was that necessary? She could have originally brought the object with her. Someone might say, "But it was a plot move to get Aquaman in the ring with his brother." Yeah, what's the use of all this if he just ran away from the ring and found himself back on land, with Mera and his former status? Half an hour of film can be cut into a bucket, and he will lose nothing.
But you know what? The next half hour can also be cut. Because it's side quests. The cylinder from the inventory had to be inserted into a vault in the desert to get the bottle and apply it to Sicily, and there to get the final coordinates. But... with the same success in the plot, the cylinder could immediately have information about the final coordinates, right? Worse still, as a princess, shouldn’t Mera know where the abyss was? It might look like this: at the beginning, Mera persuades Arthur to swim for a trident into the abyss, and they go on a boat. That is, you can cut almost everything to the mark of 1 hour 37 minutes. Two-thirds of the movie.
Plagiarism
- Running a magic cylinder from wetting moisture from the forehead. Hey, Fifth Element.
- Manta invents a combat suit at home. Hey, Iron Man.
- A warrior in a red suit includes an extra mode and punches through walls. Just like Valerian from City of a Thousand Planets. The scene is copied frame by frame.
Mera's victory with wine is a copy of Phoenix's victory from the X-Men Apocalypse. The face of a red-haired woman strains, she screams in slow-mo, all sorts of stuff explodes behind her and the villain sang.
- Heroes descend into the depths and get to a place where, for some reason, there is an exotic land under water and earth, bright light shines and dinosaurs live. Where was that? Probably on "Journey to the Center of the Earth."
- There the hero meets some mysterious dude in clothes made of scales. This is hop, his mother! Who left him as a child for something more important. This is How to Train Your Dragon 2.
- Arthur, with an effort, pulls out the legendary weapon! Because he's Arthur. And he's king! He must draw King Arthur's sword!
- Well, he pulls his mother out of this strange world, because it's Ant-Man 2, not some new movie.
- The hero, whom no one loved in the beginning, becomes the rider of a huge beast, and the people accept him. This is us -- who? Turuk makto!
- Fighting for the realm, just like Black Panther. The first time the hero loses, then pumps and wins.
OTHER MINUS
Aquaman can withstand the shot of a grenade launcher at point-blank range, and this is not his strength at all. How do you feel about such a hero? The film is full of “underwater cranberries” – a jellyfish dress, a transport of magical turtles, which makes it all look like a Disney cartoon about the mermaid Ariel. Magma cannot be in direct contact with water because the water boils and the magma cools. Mera jumped off the plane head to the ground, shook off and walked like a cartoon. A fragment with a roller coaster in the desert smells like Disneyland. Soldiers wear spacesuits opposite, although it is shown that the Atlanteans breathe perfectly and air. The pirate was smart enough to solder weapons, which even the Atlanteans are new. Plasma is just fire, not a magic laser jelly. Orm knew about the betrayal of the adviser for many years and did nothing. Aquaman at the end riding a monster urinated his fellow citizens. In the end, the weapon won, not the man.
And also extremely stupid and poor look in films repetitive techniques. If a scene happens twice, the viewer already knows that he has read the director. In this film, there is a scene that repeats 4 times: the characters are talking, when suddenly the environment blows up and villains fall in. We believe: at the beginning on the lighthouse, at the underwater negotiations of two kings, in an air pocket in Atlantis, in Sicily at the statues. It's a total directorial infirmity.
But why should everyone focus on this, if for only one plot from the platformer and naked plagiarism you can put 2 times one?
RESULTS
The film collected the box office only because the studio bosses ordered to finish creative amateur activities and quickly collect fragments from other successful films. Lubricate it all with graffonia, toilet humor, understandable to any down cliche and release it under your own brand. How did this bottom make a billion? I don’t understand how anyone would go to the movies after the studio cheated them so many times. But the people are soft and outgoing, he forgives kings whips, not that the directors are hacking.