Deep-seated tensions bubble up

In Momoa’s Aquaman, DC Comics has found the answer to Marvel’s thunder from down under, Chris Hemsworth aka Thor.

Jason Momoa in Aquaman.

‘I am a blunt instrument, and damn good at it.” That’s about as close as the lead character comes to self-analysis in Aquaman, and who can blame him? In the shape of Hawaiian-born actor Jason Momoa, the fish-man is a big catch indeed. Yet he sells himself short. He’s more than a blunt object.

In Momoa’s Aquaman, DC Comics has found the answer to Marvel’s thunder from down under, Chris Hemsworth aka Thor. The physical comparisons are obvious. Both are long-locked, handsome and built like brick dunnies. But there’s more edge to it than that.

Like Hemsworth, Momoa plays around with the whole ridiculous idea of being a grown man who is paid millions to pretend to be a superhero. His dry sense of humour and flair for physical comedy come out in this movie, the first in which Aquaman is the star, after supporting roles in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).

“It worked for Pinocchio,’’ he says of a plan to hide inside a whale. Then, later, when shown a copy of Carlo Collodi’s book, “It’s a book? I only saw the movie.”

Momoa, who first came to attention as the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, has said living in Australia about a decade ago sharpened his sense of the comic. He’s a fan of antipodean sports and I think he introduces a few haka moves into the fight scenes in this movie, which was shot on the Gold Coast.

The Australian connection runs deep throughout. The director and scriptwriter, Malaysian-born Australian James Wan, is best known for the Saw horror series. His regular collaborator Leigh Wannell pops up as the pilot of a plane from which Aquaman and fellow Atlantean Princess Mera (Amber Heard) make an unusual exit, as a goat looks on.

Nicole Kidman in Aquaman.

The movie opens with a Maine lighthouse keeper finding a woman washed up on the rocks. He rescues her and it soon becomes apparent that she is no ordinary damsel in distress. She is Atlanna, Queen of Atlantis. They become close. I like that we never see him doubting her claim to oceanic royalty. Nor would I, if I had Nicole Kidman making eyes at me.

They have a child, Arthur. “He’s living proof our people can co-exist,’’ she says, a tad prematurely as it turns out. An early scene where he and the sharks at the Boston Aquarium scare off schoolyard bullies is terrific. However, Atlanna is forced to return home. Arthur grows into a youth. We later see, in flashbacks, his teenage training by Atlantean counsellor Nuipis Vulko (Willem Dafoe). As a man, he lives on the ­surface. He can swim like a fish and breathe underwater but he has never been to Atlantis.

Another omission I like is that though he is a half-breed mongrel bastard, to quote his pure-blood brother Orm Marius (Patrick Wilson), he is able to deliver an ass-whooping, to quote himself, to anyone on land or sea. This is less of a mystery I think: his human father is Kiwi actor Temuera Morrison, still best known as Jake “the Muss” Heke in Once Were Warriors (1994). A scene where father and son down beers in a waterfront tavern is a lot of fun. “Do you need a sippy cup?” Dad inquires.

An excess of amber fluid is soon the least of Aquaman’s problems. His brother is rallying the kingdoms of the seven seas to declare war on the surface world. One of the kingdoms is run by “philosophers and poets”, who are not considered much use.

Mera has come to the surface to ask Aquaman to stop this war, and to claim the throne. He tosses his hair in response. There’s also a human pirate who calls himself Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who is on a personal mission to kill Aquaman.

What follows is a straightforward superhero adventure — good guys, bad guys, a James Bond torture moment, an Excalibur quest, hints of romance, a detour to the Sahara, wry little movie homages (when a deep sea baddie cracks his water-filled face mask on land and can’t breathe, his solution reminded me of Trainspotting) — but it is all heightened by a couple of standout factors.

First, Momoa's performance. At 147 minutes, this movie is 47 minutes longer than I like, especially in this genre. Yet every time he was on the screen (which is most of the time), I wanted to watch. The supporting cast, especially Kidman, is also on song. The scene where she ­acquaints herself with terrestrial domesticity — the obvious purpose of a goldfish bowl, for example — is wonderful. Dafoe delivers landmark statements with his usual reserve, which makes them funnier that they are supposed to be.

I know it will never happen because of the rival comic universes, but I would queue up to see a road trip movie starring Aquaman, Thor and Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool. What I do know will happen is that we will see more Aquaman movies. This one, which cost about $US200 million), was closing in on $US700m ($991m) at the box office at the time of writing.

Second, the underwater scenes are good to watch because they are so different. Battles involving saddled sharks, manta rays, seahorses (big ones), crabs and so on. It is a reminder, as is the whole movie, that we know so little about the marine world and yet we are killing it. After watching the movie I rewatched the footage from last year of diver Rich Horner swimming through, and filming, masses of plastic off the coast of Indonesia. It is depressing.

“Violence has always plagued the surface,’’ Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), Atlantean royal and Mera’s father, notes of the human realm. “They will destroy themselves.” He may be right, but the important question is whether they will take the rest of the planet down with them.

Aquaman (M)

3.5 stars

National release