Jason Momoa Swims But ‘Aquaman' Sinks

Superheroes who travel by sea horse never get any respect.

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Since Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger first dreamed him up in 1941, Aquaman’s fate has largely been as the Rodney Dangerfield of DC Comics — a regular punchline for his not-sopotent powers. Sure, he can talk underwater and brandishes a big fork for weapon. But like Luca Brasi, he sleeps with the fishes.

Yet Aquaman’s day has finally arrived. And if there was one inspired stroke behind the first solo movie for the Atlantis hero, it was in casting Jason Momoa in the Justice League role, one he begun in 2016’s “Batman v Superman.” It’s almost a dare: Try telling this guy your Aquaman jokes.

In James Wan’s waterlogged, fitfully entertaining “Aquaman,” a heavy metal guitar riff blares at our first close-up of the long-haired, much-tattooed, shirtless Momoa. “Permission to come aboard?” he says with a sly, over-the-shoulder grin.

It’s a welcome arrival. As Momoa showed on his recent “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig, his charisma is as formidable as his brawn. So why is “Aquaman” so soggy with Atlantis mythology and drowning in special effects when all it really needs to do is let Momoa’s Aquaman rock?

There are pleasures in Wan’s extravagant underwater pageant. It’s surely the only movie around where you can enjoy a floating Willem Dafoe (as Vulko, royal counselor to Atlantis ruler Orm, played by Patrick Wilson), see a gladiatorial showdown sounded by an octopus on drums and, in one of the many scenes where water is weaponized, witness death by Chianti, in a tussle that tumbles into a Sicilian wine store.