This is super cheesy, but James Wan directed the heck out of it. His action and battle sequences are nothing short of epic with the latter being large enough in scale to rival even the most thrilling conflicts in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The CGI is pretty dodgy, but that's kind of forgivable given how nobody's really tried all of this underwater stuff before. Tougher to overlook the on land portions though, especially with those glaringly obvious green screens. This is kind of like the DCEU's Black Panther. You've got a guy battling for a throne he feels unworthy of and a cast of characters who are ultimately outshined by the world they live in. The film basically takes place in an underwater Wakanda, only with somehow even more fantastical elements. I never formed an emotional connection with anything despite the film's constant efforts to try and convince me that Arthur's mommy issues actually mattered, but I was nonetheless fascinated by all the places I was being taken onscreen. Our ability to really connect with the characters is hindered by how lively the plot is. There's so much going on that it's hard to believe things never feel overstuffed or exhausting despite the fact that the pace never relents for a single second. Impressive given how having this much content led to Spider-man's cinematic demise twice before he found his way to the MCU. Of course it also doesn't help that Wan layed the Velveeta on thick. A move that feels intentional, but robs the movie of some quality that otherwise would have been there. Aquaman remains a lot of fun though. It plays out like an action-adventure movie with Jason Momoa trotting around the globe in search of an ancient weapon like some kind of mega-buff Indiana Jones. There's plenty of jaw-dropping spectacle and Atlantis is such an imaginative, fascinating place that it's hard to take your eyes off the screen no matter how irreverent and goofy things can get.