I saw the movie last weekend. I loved it. The visuals were amazing. The underwater scenes were great. The last 3rd of the film was easily the best part of the film. There were definitely some cheesy moments. The screenwriting wasn't incredible, by any means. The dialogue was average.
And while the acting wasn't spectacular, either, I thought the cast did a good job in their roles. Momoa is actually pretty good in the role. Wan did a good job keeping Momoa within his limits. The same is true for Amber Heard. Wan's ability to get the most out of actors with average acting ability is quite something.
And I actually liked Dafoe in the film. Though, I think they should have given him more to work it. Lundgren was also good in the role. I think they should have given them, including Black Manta, more screen time, instead of wasting them on a few cheesy scenes in sicily.
But I thought the entire cast did a generally good job, including Patrick Wilson. I liked him a lot as Ocean Master. That character and this franchise has a lot of potential.
With that said, the soundtrack is mostly awful. It took me out of the movie on a few occasions.
And it's amazing to me, that despite WB' many problems, the DC films still has so much potential. This movie is on track to making a billion dollars. If that happens, an Aquaman film featuring Jason Momoa will become the first DC film in this new universe to cross the billion dollar mark.
Marvel's non-Avengers films, I think, have made an average 600 million dollars at the box office and around 800 million dollars on average including Avengers films.
But DC's films have made an average of 700 million dollars at the box-office, despite the fact that only Wonder Woman and to a lesser extent, Aquaman, were well-received by critics.
Dc's films are much more competitive with Marvel's films than most people realize. Marvel has done brilliantly. They've been much better with their product than DC has. Every single of their films are well-received by critics. And they've become the standard for building a solid franchise.
Nevertheless, if DC can get their act together, it will be interesting to see what happens.