'Aquaman' vs. 'Black Panther': A Marquee Year for Troubled Descendants

DC's latest hope for relevance has graced the silver screen, and lo and behold: 'Aquaman' is actually an odyssey worth the matinee price. Zany action, a go-for-broke attitude and glorious cheese helped steer the James Wan-directed epic from the pitfalls of 'Justice League' and into its own wild adventure. The film doesn't take itself the least bit seriously, and that's a good thing: men don't usually talk to fish. However, it was weirdly a deja-vu experience at the cinema, what with the meticulous world-building, conflicted duos of brotherhood and prejudices, a duel that ends in the villain winning, the hero finding their way back for the throne and weirdly distracting CGI.

Yes, I am talking about the cultural phenomenon that is 'Black Panther'.

'Black Panther' was not your average Marvel origin story. For many, it was a stepping stone for black representation in Hollywood, a belated champion of equality, a monumental landmark for undernourished ethnics of the world; it accomplished all that, while still be an entertaining film in its own right. The film's unflinching understanding and indulgence in the culture of Wakanda was not only impressive in its audacity, but also defined a new generation of superheroes: "They can be you as well". Black Panther strived for greatness, and often times it succeeded, but in others it was a Play Station 2 level blob and featured an army of rhinoceros. You know, usual representation imagery.

What in the loving f*ck is this?

But as I sat, engulfed in the aquatic stew that is Aquaman, where an octopus plays the drums, mind you, I could not shake the feeling that it paled to what had come before. Aquaman is as far from self-important as you can get: Jason Momoa gets drunk and drives, so that's your 'Say No To DUI' out the window; Amber Heard eats a rose, as she does; A grown pirate shoots plasma beams out of his helmet for revenge of his dead father and calls himself 'Black Manta'; The Black Power Ranger is buried under makeup and sticks his head down a toilet, and Nicole Kidman lives in Avatar. The film knows it's hardcore cheese, and judging for its pure entertainment value, it is the best film of the year by a long shot. Venom was a close second with the lobster dive scene.

So how does a ball of unpretentiousness and total camp rank up with a milestone for representation and culture while quite possibly be an Oscar contender? Let's take a look.

World Building

Atlantis and Wakanda are both technical marvels to look at: one is a downright impressive neon-based beast with colorful architecture, with each region having its own memorable depth, lore and characteristics, as well as a meticulously-crafted otherworldly feel to its details (hydro cannons, octopus drummer, the center,...), while the other exceeds the usual recreation production of Marvel by instilling deep-rooted understanding of cultural zeniths and expertly balancing it with technological advancement. Each world feels lived-in, with a stacked history that would warrant their own TV series, with

For many of Wakanda's standout features, though, the country didn't distance itself enough from your usual 'traditional high-tech countries'. The tribes' appearances are impeccable, the costumes are wonderful achievements in design, the stacked history certainly deepens emotional stakes for the story and T'Challa, and the Jabari Tribe is a standout; but most of the time, the Ryan Coogler-helmed film prolongs itself on vast open savannas and techno-babble too much to actually submerge the audience into its lore. Ryan Coogler and co. refused to sacrifice T'Challa and Killmonger's relationship stakes, at the expense of a deep dive into Wakandan traditions. Not bad by any means, but not quite there yet.

Atlantis (or the Seven Nations), on the other hand, is as visually coherent as it is fascinatingly complex. The many regions of the sea all have distinct visual cues and relationships with each other, from bellowing red to unstained white, from lower-tier Fishermen to the high and mighty Atlanteans, with the Avatar-ish world in the center of the earth being gorgeous enough to get a mention here. Each region has their people, and it's highly unlikely you'll forget Dolph Lundgren riding a sea horse anytime soon.

Plus, it is distinctly its own world: audience will never see another underwater city as living and breathing as this.

Wakanda is great, but Atlantis is spectacular.

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The Hero

A movie can only be as good as its hero.

The DC Universe has had a rough time getting their prized properties right: Superman doesn't stand for hope (and is played by a British no less), Batman kills people on any given Sunday, Flash is just diet-Peter-Parker, Joker is a joke, and Harley Quinn wields a baseball bat in a fight with aliens. The only character they got remotely right was Wonder Woman, and even she is too idealistic to be a human being (granted, she's a god, but still).

DC Universe Proudly Presents: Queen

So it's a great sight to see Arthur Curry a.k.a. Fishboy as an actual human being. Sure, Arthur raises a submarine from submergence with his godly torso and pisses on ancient ruins but that's a part of his charm: Arthur has flaws. Aquaman in this film is not Aquaman just yet; he's finding his own path, he saves people because he wants to, not because it's his job. He cares for his father, and while it's his birth right, he's not ready to be the King of the Oceans. Audiences feel for Arthur's journey and understands his motivations and fears (no less propelled by Jason Momoa's physical and charming performance), so that when he does become the Hero, we are satisfied for his natural conclusion.

T'Challa was always a dutiful son, thrust into the Throne because it's his birth right. Unlike Aquaman, he didn't resist having this choice, so in that sense, we should already be aboard with him.

Except,

and hear me out here,

...

T'Challa is not that exciting as a hero. (cue the shitstorm)

Before you get your forks up, I'm not saying T'Challa is a bad hero in any sense: Chadwick Boseman is a great actor, and his T'Challa has a quiet charisma that boasts well for any king. His interaction with Shuri shows a more tender side to him, and when Black Panther gets down to business, he's intense and determined. Usual hero stuff. But when your counterpart is the infinitely better Erik Killmonger, T'Challa's weakness become even more apparent: he's not that interesting. His motivation is to appease the people's expectations, while Erik is speaking for a country of mistreatment and misunderstanding. The audience feels more for Erik than they ever will for T'Challa, who was born and raised as royalty. AGAIN, T'Challa is not bad as a hero, but he's not one I'm looking forward to seeing again anytime soon.

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Story

Aquaman is about a man born from unlawful wedlock from a sea queen and a lighthouse keeper. He can talk to fish, is an alcoholic, and has deep-rooted mother issues. On a side note, he's friends with an underwater fish princess who eats roses, brother to a Power Rangers villain and occasionally urinates on tridents.

Yeah, no.

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Direction

Ryan Coogler & James Wan

Both Ryan Coogler and James Wan are terrific auteurs with distinct styles and are capable of working on a budget, and both are inspired choices as directors for their respective superheroes.

Coogler is rooted in indie filmmaking, having directed the terrific 'Fruitvale Station' and the equally revered 'Creed' alongside his muse Michael B.Jordan. The Cal-State grad specializes in emotionally charged storytelling and amazing handheld camerawork, which when combined with the sheer magnitude of Black Panther, made him a seamless fit. His directorial imprint was captivating to see on screen: Any doubts about Marvel restricting their auteurs were erased with Coogler's adept sense of scope and epic. Never one to shy from experimenting, the pleasing color palettes, the African-infused aesthetics, as well as several impressive hand-to-hand combat scenes, the director had his say in the final product, and it showed: this film is as big as 'Titanic' in some scene, and is as intimate as Fruitvale Station in others.

Meanwhile, James Wan is a horror maestro. Having gained popularity from the micro-budget torture-porn series 'Saw', which spawned 7 movies for some reason, Wan continued to make a name for himself as a director of minimalism. Up until 'Furious 7', Wan's highest-budgeted film was 'The Conjuring' at a meager 23 million. But the Abu-Dhabi-Wrecking-Ball-Of-a-Film fully brought Wan's talent to screen: a director with an eye for the epic. Not only did he spectacularly drove (sorry) the film's emotional goodbye to Paul Walker, Wan also created the most memorable set-piece of this series, and that's really saying something. Needless to say, Warner Bros. were eager to throw 200 million at the Malaysian-born filmmaker, and it paid off: Wan fully embraced the cheesiness of the titular superhero, and somehow crafted an absolutely gorgeous film in the process, with his soothing long takes, expert use of slow-mo and a keen sense of hype-porn. (Yes, THAT entrance)

Both are expert craftsman, and both deserve praise for their respective work. However, it is hands-down Wan's victory. Coogler, as great as his film is, was wearing a safeguard in working with Marvel: even if somehow, he messed it up, the film would still be salvageable, simply because it's Marvel. Wan had to take risks in order for Aquaman to work as well as it did; he could have easily made a straight-laced Fishboy movie and it would have been half the movie it is now. Moreover, while his hand-to-hand combats are fun to watch, Coogler was especially out-of-his-depth when coming up with big scale action, with the Rhino battle being the most egregious offender; Wan is a grizzled veteran with his set pieces, because even when the CGI is inconsistent, the sheer scale and beauty of the battles (and the camerawork) are to be (sorry) marveled at.

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Villain

I'm not gonna waste any time in this, because even if Orm a.k.a. Ocean Master and Black Manta were good enough on their own, they wouldn't hold a blistering candle to Erik Killmonger. But they weren't good enough, which just makes Killmonger all the better for it.

Michael B.Jordan is amazing

Killmonger is not just an ordinary villain: he is that kid striving for something more than himself. We understand why Erik is so angry: he lost his father, he lost his birth right, he grew up and witnessed the horrors of the world, while the royalty of his blood is fighting for a cause of their own. The audience follows Erik's journey just as closely as they do T'Challa's, and while T'Challa comes off rather distant, Erik is a radical point-of-view at the chaos of the real world right now. Not only did Coogler ring out Michael B. Jordan's best performance (and oh god, that is really saying something), but he instilled in the villain a sense of politically-charged false justice and the labors of misrepresentation from the minority. He is the people.

And for his final words alone, Jordan could win an Oscar. Watch it, feel the pain, feel the validity of it all.

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In Conclusion

There are many other things I want to touch upon: the score from both films are magnetic pieces of art (not that Pitbull song though); the CGI are both equally incompetent; the side characters are fun, if shallow, and the endings are bittersweet all the same. The fact that Aquaman outscores Black Panther doesn't mean it's the better film; far from it, actually.

Both films have their undeniable merits, and both possess details to dislike: No film is perfect, after all. Aquaman set out to give the audience a jolly good time, with cheesy one-liners and Jason Momoa's intense abs. Black Panther had a message it needed to deliver and more than makes up for its shortcomings. One had the unenviable task to right the ship, or trainwreck, that was the DCEU; the other needed to tell a standalone story that worked in the established, untouchable universe that was the MCU. Each succeeded in its endeavor, and are both worth your time and money.

But I prefer 'Into The SpiderVerse'. ALL HAIL SPIDERMAN!