Aquaman Blu-ray Review – Creation of a Whole New Underwater World!

By: Lynn Barker

Aquaman begins in1985 when keeper Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison) finds beautiful Atlantis Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) washed ashore by a storm. Their love results in son they call Arthur (later Jason Momoa) who is able to communicate with marine lifeforms. Vulko (Willem Dafoe) Atlanna’s trusted advisor is summoned from Atlantis to train him to fight and live Atlantean style.

Aquaman Trailer

Young Arthur gets trainingCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Arthur is ridiculed by his peers but grows up as Aquaman aiding land-dwellers from time to time. When his half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson) wants to wage war against the surface dwellers, Arthur must claim the throne and bring the two worlds together.

Aquaman all suited upCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Unlikely Romance and Underwater Drama

Lighthouse keeper Tom rescues Queen Atlanna who eats his goldfish. He hopes she won’t eat his dog but the two fall in love, have baby Arthur and hope he might unite the ocean and surface dwellers someday. Atlanna is tracked down and forced to return to Atlantis. When Arthur grows up (it’s one year after the action in The Justice League), he stops high tech pirates from grabbing a submarine but pirate leader Jesse Kane (Michael Beach) is accidentally pinned down after the fight. His son David (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) vows revenge when Aquaman leaves Jesse to die while he rescues the sailors on the sub.

David Kane before he became Black MantaCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Shaky Alliance

King Orm, Arthur’s half-brother, plans a war against the surface dwellers who have polluted the oceans and poisoned underwater creatures. Of course he also wants to be “Oceanmaster”, ruler of all underwater kingdoms. Suddenly a submarine is firing on Atlantis. David Kane controls the maneuver having made a deal with Orm to make it seem that surface dwellers are attacking. Princess Mera (Amber Heard) who is supposed to marry Orm, wants peace and goes to the surface to get Arthur/Aquaman to come and claim his rightful throne as firstborn son. She saves Arthur’s dad when Orm sends destructive, world-wide tidal waves to shore.

Mera goes ashore to find Arthur/AquamanCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Aquaman Swims Below

Aquaman agrees to come help stop the war and goes to Atlantis with Mera. He’s learned that his mom was executed upon returning home for being with a human and having a son. Arthur talks with old mentor Vulko who tells him to find the all-powerful trident of first king Atlan. He will then rule all the seas and can defeat Orm.

Trusted advisor VulkoCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Mera and Vulko escape an ambush by Orm’s guard but Arthur is captured. Orm and Arthur do battle in a fiery underwater lava ring. Seeing that Arthur is unused to Atlantean battle and about to lose, Mera rescues him in her underwater ship. After a chase, Orm thinks they have crashed and died at first but Mera wears a tracker he placed in her jewelry and he can follow them.

Right before the ambushCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Where is the Trident

While Orm enlists other underwater kingdoms to join his war and defeats those who won’t, Arthur and Mera follow clues to King Atlan’s trident through the Sahara desert and to Sicily where David, using a re-worked Atlantean suit of armor and a new plasma weapon, calls himself Black Manta and ambushes Arthur and Mera. After a chase and battle, he seems to fall to his death off a cliff into the ocean. Mera and Arthur sail for The Trench Kingdom, where Atlanna was supposedly thrown to her death and where the trident is protected. After fighting off horrible creatures from the trench who attack them, they arrive at a land near the center of the earth.

Mantis in his techy suitCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Will Aquaman be King?

Can Arthur prove himself as the only true Atlantean king and take the trident? Can he best Orm in battle before he launches his final attack on the surface dwellers? Will Arthur ever be Atlantean king with Mera at his side as Queen?

Arthur and Mera find the Trident of AtlanCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Mid-Credits Scene

In a scene mid end-credits, we find out what truly happened to Black Manta and if alive, if he still swears to kill Arthur/Aquaman?

The future Black Manta works on his suitCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Bonus Extras

This home entertainment Blu-ray boasts tons of very entertaining “how’d they do that?” extras!

• Becoming Aquaman features the very friendly Jason Momoa speaking on his journey from getting the role to morphing into Aquaman. We see his work-outs etc. He identifies with the character because he too is from two different worlds; born in Hawaii, brought up in Iowa. Fun extra!

Permission to come aboard?Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Going Deep Into the World of Aquaman centers on the creation of the new underwater world; production design, character design, costumes, stunt fights, sets, locations and more are shown. Beautiful artwork! A very nice “Making Of” featurette.
• James Wan: World Builder focuses on the director’s vision for the film combining real sets and CGI-generated design. Really interesting.

Ruins of the old above ground AtlantisCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• The Dark Depths of Black Manta gives us Manta actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II hosting a history of the comic book character and how he became the movie Manta. We see his costume, weapons etc. Very nice for those not too familiar with this villain.   Loved it!
• Heroines of Atlantis – girl power! Nicole Kidman (Queen Atlanna) and Amber Heard (Mera) talk about their strong female characters, their place in the story and James Wan talks about casting them. We see their costumes etc. Loved it as well!

Queen Atlanna with young son ArthurCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Villainous Training gives us info on Black Manta and King Orm; foes of Aquaman. The actors talk about fight scenes with Jason who is bigger than either one of them.. humorous extra.

King Orm wants to be OceanmasterCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• A Match Made in Atlantis presents Jason and Amber on and off set, laughing, goofing off and basically becoming pals. Nice

Arthur/Aquaman and Mera in SicilyCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Atlantis Warfare focuses on weapons and fight choreography as the final, massive battle scene comes together with tons of underwater ships and creatures, etc. A close look at this huge effort.

Amazing production designCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Creating Undersea Creatures is the look at all of the many strange beings designed for the movie. The various beings of the seven kingdoms are designed and explained. Cool.

Residents of the Fishermen KingdomCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Aqua Tech- exposes the new latest filmmaking tech used to bring this underwater adventure to life. We see real life sets combining with CGI-driven melds and actors riding “sharks” against green screen, an interesting and revealing extra.

Warriors riding sharksCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Scene Study Breakdown – Three scenes and their challenges are examined: “Sub Attack”, “Showdown in Sicily” and “The Trench”. Good.

Dolph Lundgren as King NereusCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

• Kingdom of the Seven Seas – Host Dolph Lundgren who plays King Nereus hosts an exploration of the history and beings of the seven undersea kingdoms. Director used both comic book lore and real myths to construct these kingdoms and their inhabitants. Cool backstory info.
• You also get a trailer for upcoming DC Shazam! film.

Wrapping Up

This Blu-ray/DVD/Digital version of Aquaman simply rocks! It looks and sounds amazing. The set has the best collection of bonus features I’ve seen in a very long time. All are actor-driven with tons of on set footage and lots of commentary by cool director James Wan. The production design for the film was off the chain and you get to see how it was created and accomplished. Sweet! This makes up for not having an audio commentary nor a blooper reel.

Young Arthur was friends with all sea creaturesCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

The movie itself is a gorgeous but over-long adventure (almost 2 and ½ hours) with way too much exposition/backstory crammed into the dialogue but had a hunky hero, lots of pure, campy humor and colorful, creative CGI action plus amazingly beautiful and creative production design, costumes and many undersea creatures that are elegant and/or scary. Jason Momoa is good with Aquaman/Arthur’s goofy, awkward side as well as embodying that super-hero soggy swagger. It’s nice to see his lady love Mera kick butt on her own and rescue our hero several times rather than needing his help.

Beautiful Mera was going to marry King OrmCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

The message that we are polluting our oceans with garbage and poisoning underwater creatures is a solid and worthy one. It’s kind of nice to see those who dwell there, even in fantasy, fight back.

Mera saves Aquaman in her subCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

The Extra Features on this set are so entertaining that we can now award five stars.

Aquaman Blu-ray Rating: 

Buy Aquaman in stores March 26th

What is Your Take?

Are you a fan of some of the DC characters or a pure Marvel buff? Are you happy that hunky and buff Jason Momoa makes Aquaman a stronger superhero? Are you going to collect the home entertainment version? Comment below or write own review for fellow Kidzworld visitors on your profile page.