Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis arrives as the twenty-second entry in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line and the fourth in its connected continuity, a direct-to-video exercise that treats the Aquaman origin with the solemnity of a constitutional convention. Arthur Curry, half-human heir to a sunken throne, learns of his heritage, watches his mother die at the hands of his half-brother, and claims a kingdom. The plot is sturdy, serviceable, and entirely familiar. Forbes noted that our hero is the least interesting character in his own movie, a fair verdict and also the sort of thing that happens when seven other superheroes share the running time.

The voice cast does its quiet work. Rosario Dawson, Shemar Moore, and Sumalee Montano lend the ensemble a diversity that registers without announcement, standard for the period and unremarkable as a statement. Cyborg appears, contributes, and is never asked to carry the weight of his race. Wonder Woman and Mera fight capably and hold their ground, and Queen Atlanna rules Atlantis before her son stabs her, yet the camera keeps returning to a broad-shouldered man learning to accept a destiny. The women are competent. The story is his.

What the film declines to do is sermonize. There is no environmental parable here, despite an ocean kingdom at war with the surface, and no critique of the wealthy, though Black Manta and Orm scheme for power. Bodies are rendered in the customary heroic proportions. No character wrestles with identity in the modern therapeutic register. This is a comic-book adaptation, and it behaves like one: punches, tridents, a post-credits Lex Luthor. The result is a modest, competent artifact that carries the progressive instincts of an earlier era and none of the present decade's agitation. It wants to entertain. It largely does.