Before I start, if you understand the reference in my review tagline, I hope you had a moment of pure joy when that line was uttered in the movie itself. Now, on to the review.
When Aquaman was replaced with Shazam in last year's "Justice League: War" animated movie, a lot of fans like myself were able to forgive the change as long as a sequel was released and based on the "Throne of Atlantis" comic book story. And sure enough, that's what happened, but with a difference. While in the comics story, Arthur had already been Aquaman and part of the League for years, the film adaptation also serves as an origin story for the character. That decision is what I feel is the source of problems in an otherwise good sequel.
I'll start by saying that this is a very different Aquaman than I'm used to. Since I don't follow the Aquaman comics, including the New 52 origin I believe this is based on, all my exposure to the character has been when he's already king of Atlantis and confident in his role. The origin depicted here delivers a new less polished take. Like "Man of Steel" did with Clark Kent, "Throne of Atlantis" shows a more broody Arthur Curry on his journey to becoming Aquaman. The broodiness is understandable though as Arthur just lost his father and discovering his superhuman abilities, making him unsure of his own future.
While I said that doing the origin may be the source of the film's problems, honestly, the real problem is the short run time of the movies from this line, the average being 75 minutes. When you're doing an origin movie as well as a team movie, things are understandably rushed. Because of that, Arthur has to take in not only the fact that Atlantis is real, but that he's destined by blood to be their new king. When Mera tells him all this, he goes from "I don't believe you" to "Okay, I believe you" in pretty much under a minute. Despite that though, it does show he has doubt in taking on this responsibility, but there's a good moment where Superman puts in his perspective that if he could meet or help anyone from Krypton, he would take it and that Arthur should do it for his own people. There's also how he's discovering his new abilities very quickly, particularly his ability to communicate with fish. I know he's half-Atlantean and it probably comes natural, but Arthur here has lived his life as a human. A training montage of sorts would have helped, cliche as it would be, but it is kind of necessary for an origin story.
Honestly though, I think what would have made the film better is if Arthur was already living in Atlantis and that there was a power struggle between him and his brother Orm over who would rule Atlantis after their mother dies. That way Arthur would already be adept to his powers and we would have had more of a relationship between Arthur and Orm, as I see familial betrayal/feud as having more of an impact. In a way, Arthur and Orm are similar to Thor and Loki, and that's something I'd like to see depicted in the live action movie coming out in a few years.
I'd also like to talk about his design in this film. I may get some flack for saying this, but I like it a lot better than his classic look. It looks more like armor that you'd expect from an ancient civilization, like Wonder Woman and the Amazons. I'm glad that his orange top isn't scaly like it is in the comics.
Problems aside though, the movie does set out what it wanted to do with Aquaman: show what a badass he is, and that's he not just the guy who talks to fish, although that power doesn't get made fun of so much when you can raise a shark out of the water to eat somebody, and yes, that happens in the film.
But of course, while Aquaman is the main focus, this is still considered a Justice League movie. As a sequel to "War", the development of characters from before continues. Since Victor Stone just became Cyborg in the last movie, he's still adapting to his new body and role. There's a dream sequence where he's human only to be woken up by his armor, acting like a very personal alarm clock. It's kind of creepy in a way, but it's something I hope leads up to the armor becoming the sentient Grid from the Trinity War/Forever Evil storylines. It also appears I was wrong from the last review that Victor's relationship issues with his father were resolved more quickly than in the comics, but it appears he still has some resentment toward him, but that should most likely play out in future movies.
As for the rest of the League, well, since the New 52 started, a lot of people complained about how all the heroes are kind of jerks and can't get along with each other. For the most part, it's true, because in the comics, the League only acts like they get along to put the people at ease, but it's after the "Villain's Journey" storyline that they realize they have to stop pretending to be a team and actually act like one. In this movie, I have to agree that everyone is kind of dickish. The animosity between Batman and Green Lantern continues from the last film, with Batman berating him for catching the Scarecrow's men before getting any information out of them. There's also the fact that when Cyborg calls a meeting, only Shazam and Flash show up, having to force everyone to show up. But when they're all together and start on the case, it feels natural how they play off one another and become a real unit, especially compared to the last movie. We also get some one-on-one interaction between Batman and Superman in this movie and they have some good banter while investigating a ransacked professor's office. Superman reminds Batman that he is an investigative journalist, to which Batman replies "Journalism's dead." That's just such a dick thing for Batman to say that it's perfect.
I feel I should bring up Green Lantern though. I made some comments about how he kept getting owned in "War", and while it's not as prominent in this movie, I do feel that's he keeps getting the short straw. There are two constructs he makes that were just weird to me. When he catches the Scarecrow henchmen for Batman, he has them drive on a racetrack and eventually crash into a blockade. It just kind of brought back some bad memories from the Green Lantern movie. Also in the climax in the film, there's an instance where he makes a giant robot that vacuums up Atlanteans. I think that speaks for itself. Along with that, Lantern just seems like the most obnoxious out all the League; it makes me almost wish they used Guy Gardner instead of Hal Jordan.
There's also an element present in this movie that is really underdeveloped: relationships, three in total of this movie. The forefront relationship is between Arthur and Mera. They're a couple in the comics and she becomes his queen, but in the movie, it feels really rushed and I can't really find the chemistry between them. A training montage would have helped show them getting closer; it worked for Trice and Four in "Divergent". A relationship is also sparking between Cyborg and Sarah Charles, his father's assistant from "War". It doesn't get much development, but they do slightly have better chemistry than Arthur and Mera in my opinion.
That brings me to the relationship that actually does show development: Superman and Wonder Woman. Hinted at before in "War", the two heroes have begun a relationship in between films. In a scene straight out of the comic arc, they actually go out in public on a date as Clark Kent and Diana Prince, and Diana is quite surprised that wearing a pair of glasses can hide a superhero identity (trust us Di, it surprises all of us). But what makes the scene interesting is when Lois Lane shows up and is surprised to see Clark on a date with someone like Diana. I may be reading too much into this, but there might be potential of a love triangle; I'm not sure how it would play with the plan of one Justice League and one Batman movie released every year as part of this new universe, but I think there's potential.
Like "War", there's a lot of action. I can't really say much other than it really showcases the characters' powersets. There's two moments I loved when Aquaman and Mera are fighting the Trench and the League show up one by one to help out. When the Flash shows up and takes out a few, he introduces himself to Arthur, and then he punches out one of the Trench coming up behind them. The other moment is actually the end of the fight when Superman drops down hard in the middle of the scene with his eyes glowing and it scares the rest of the Trench back into the sea. Considering the use of the Atlanteans, a lot of the fight scenes remind me of "The Flashpoint Paradox", particularly the violence; there's a lot of impalements in this movie.
One area I think that has shown improvement from "War" to "Throne" is that the voice acting has gotten better, mostly due to some recastings. The biggest improvement is Nathan Fillion reprising Green Lantern from past DC animated films. Even through GL's obnoxiousness, Fillion can still pull it off; he really is the definitive Green Lantern voice, like Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly are for Batman and Superman, respectively. Jerry O'Connell and Rosario Dawson have also taken over the roles for Superman and Wonder Woman, and they sound so much better than their previous voice actors. When you have big roles, you need some big name stars. Everyone else that stuck around continue to do a good job; I'm even coming around to Jason O'Mara's Batman.
But let's not forget the newer cast members. Matt Lanter, who voiced Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars CGI show, does a good job as Aquaman, playing both the self-doubter and pulling off the powerful voice you'd expect from a character from royalty. Then you have Orm voiced by Sam Witwer, who portrayed the vampire Aidan in the SyFy drama "Being Human" and provided the voice and likeness of Starkiller for the Force Unleashed video games. Hmm, funny how these brothers have Star Wars alumni doing their voices. Anyway, I feel Witwer was able to channel some of Tom Hiddleston's Loki in his performance, and that helped in my opinion considering the similarities between character. I've always liked Witwer and this is just another performance I've enjoyed from him.
I do have to mention the one character that suffers in this movie: Black Manta. Being one of Aquaman's archenemies, Manta is for the most part relegated to a henchman to Orm. While he states that he has his own plans for Atlantis was manipulating Orm's actions, that doesn't come apparent until the very end. But alas, despite being considered a badass like Boba Fett, he seemingly dies like a bitch...much like Boba Fett. For such a popular character, I think it would have been more interesting had Manta betrayed Orm and at some point took over the Atlantean armies for himself.
There's just two things I need to point out that I found a little weird or underdeveloped:
- After Orm kills his mother and takes the Throne, he's able to rally his troops to a war with the surface by claiming that the queen was killed by a surface dweller. When you think about it, it just doesn't make sense for an explanation? How exactly could a surface dweller go unnoticed, survive the pressures of being so deep underwater, sneak into the royal chambers, and kill the queen? Ladies and gentlemen, that does not make sense.
- Orm is able to summon lighting that transforms Shazam back into Billy. That moment just left me really confused. How could Orm have pulled that off? I mean, I know it's magic lightning, but I really think Billy himself has to summon the lightning, but even then it has to be a different kind of magic lightning compared to Orm's. I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into this. I do hope however that Shazam's secret is out and the rest of the League know he's just a kid, because that opens some new possible storylines, similar to how in the "Young Justice" animated series how they questioned whether to allow Billy to remain in the League after they find out his true age.
- Was there really any point to having a cameo from John Henry Irons, the man who would become Steel? Unless they're hinting at him becoming the hero in a future movie, it's kind of a waste. But between this and Lois' appearance, maybe they're planning a new Superman focused animated movie at some point, my best bet being the "Doomed" arc, considering both characters' roles in that story.
While not as good as "War" in my opinion, "Throne of Atlantis" delivers an entertaining follow-up, with the positive attributes of good character interaction, action moments (like the ones showing Aquaman's badassery), and voice acting overshadowing its short comings that are mostly the result of its limited run time. If you've enjoyed what you've seen from this new DC universe, you might as well continue the journey.
SCORE: 7.5/10
