After 10 years and 17 projects, the DCEU had shown glimpses of promise yet never was able to craft the cohesive storyline they had hoped to achieve like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Earlier this James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC and laid out their plan to get the DCU back in the limelight. This meant that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and the remaining projects, (Shazam 2, Blue Beetle, The Flash) were all practically irrelevant to the universe moving forward.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the sequel to the first Aquaman, following Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) face off with Black Manta again with an unlikely ally. After watching the first movie right before this one, I am kind of surprised at how much flatter Aquaman 2 felt.
I didn’t always love the humor in the first, but I found it a lot better than all the “little brother” jokes Aquaman would make towards Orm. The writing was much weaker here. Not that the first was anything special, and the set pieces just didn’t stand out to me.
The action, or more so the fight scenes, of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom were still very cool. The fight between Aquaman and Manta looked very fluid and entertaining, very much like the fights between Aquaman and Orm in the first movie. Chase scenes never really excite me though, and there are quite a few scattered throughout the film. The underwater physics may not always be practical, but they at least are entertaining.
Everyone’s performance was right on par with what I’d expected. Jason Mamoa is once again a Himbo but at least he seemed to be having fun. Everyone not named Aquaman, Orm, and Black Manta took a back seat in this movie. There were controversies surrounding Amber Heard but even Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgren just show up for exposition and a fight here or there. I again wasn’t expecting much but they barely cleared a low bar.
Final Thoughts
I ultimately feel bad for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Its release date was thrown all around, the writer’s and actor’s strike hurt the movie’s ability to promote itself, and the current landscape of the DC put this movie out there to die essentially. I’ve already seen interviews of Jason Mamoa saying the movie won’t do well and he’s already eyeing Lobo, a new character he can play in the DCU. I like James Wan a lot for all the work he’s done in horror and his creativity when he made the first Aquaman. It feels like everyone involved knew that this was it and either phoned it in or hammed it up. I’ll never hate seeing Patrick Wilson on my screen and The Lost Kingdom is a perfectly fine comic book movie. Here’s to turning the page and seeing what’s next.
