Aquaman checks all the formulas of a superhero movie, but the weight of its story is light.

Comic books have reached across generations, commented on unrest and entertained many. The good ones offer an ether for boredom, a stimulus for curiosity.

Films have animated comic books into bankable universes — with the blockbusters of the DC Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2018 all but assuring their staying power.

So it is unfortunate that the prolific slew of superhero films this year had to end with Aquaman, based on the DC Comics 1941 superhero.

The movie largely functions as a visual feast. James Wan, known for directing horror movies like Insidious and The Conjuring, certainly knows how to take beauty shots, from the long shot of the mythical, primal creatures called the Trench forming a cup to the re-imagining of Atlantis as an underwater nation and one of the kingdoms in the seven seas.

However, narrative cohesion is not the film’s priority. Instead it inelegantly traffics in building the character of Aquaman, whose real name is Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), from scratch. He is born out of a forbidden relationship between a human father, Thomas (Temuera Morrison) and Atlantis royalty Atlanna (played by Nicole Kidman, which is a waste of talent).

Establishing their relationship also establishes the film’s motif: harmony between two worlds, the surface and the seas. What follows is a straightforward journey to discovering Arthur’s self: as a half-breed, an envoy to the fishes and, again as this movie wants you to remember, a bridge between the two worlds.

King of two worlds: Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) discovers himself as the bridge between the seas and the “surface dwellers”.

Besides being groomed as a warrior since childhood by Vulko (Willem Dafoe, also a waste of talent), Arthur is deprived of emotions, perhaps hardened by a sense of constant in-betweenness.

Aquaman kicks off when the mighty Mera (Amber Heard), a princess from another of the sea kingdoms, shows up on the surface to report the growing unrest in Atlantis sparked by Arthur’s half-brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), who has hated his guts ever since he learned that it was because of Arthur that their mother, who ran away from an arranged marriage to be with a human, was executed by the unforgiving Atlantis.

Orm wants to unite all the kingdoms to launch an attack against the “surface dwellers” for an ecofriendly reason: The humans pollute the oceans too much.

With this, Aquaman checks all the formulas of a superhero movie as a journey to finding oneself through a) unfamiliarity, b) a kind mentor (Vulko), c) a formidable sidekick (Mera) and d) an enemy (Orm).

It also makes an argument for mercy, forgiveness and how their absence might turn someone vengeful, like the character David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a pirate who has made it his life’s mission to exact revenge on Arthur for a past wrong.

Battle of the seas: The city of Atlantis faces conflicts with the outside world and themselves.

It doesn’t help that Aquaman is almost two and a half hours long — its slow pace often goes unrewarded. From a budding romance to even a bit of travel porn (Arthur and Mera go to Sicily to make a point about judging a place before you see it yourself), the weight of Aquaman’s story is light.

I haven’t heard of a film with more CGI in it since any of the Star Wars prequel movies, but, yes, Aquaman is mostly a CGI-heavy movie. It is a successful one on that front: The fight sequences, made as though they came straight out of a thrilling video game featuring warrior seahorses, sharks and whales, are satisfying.

Like I mentioned, it’s a visual treat: There’s a battle going on at the end of the film and you could pick any of the scenes and it would perhaps make a great background picture on your computer.

The movie’s most glaring weakness is the dialog, written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall. Aquaman is a movie in which the main character is the product of “love that should’ve never been” and a movie in which “the ocean will rise”. It’s littered by a lack of humor, a lack of nuance — which only serves to emphasize the film’s penchant for meticulous, visual extravagance.

All in all, Aquaman is tiresome but it won’t let you take your eyes off it. A point for catalyst, I guess.

Separated: Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), the queen of the underwater city Atlantis, has to return to her home, leaving behind her husband and son.

— Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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Aquaman

(Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films; 143 minutes)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman