Movie Review: ‘Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom’

Director: James Wan

Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, Martin Short, Nicole Kidman

Plot: Aquaman and his brother Orm must reteam to find the Lost Kingdom and stop Black Manta from destroying the world with an evil black trident.

Review: You don’t always notice the moment when a trend definitively comes to an end. That’s not the case with the superhero movie boom that has dominated the past decade and a half of cinema – 2023 saw a massive drop off in revenue for the genre, with big name Marvel films and the tail end of the DC continuity failing just as hard as each other. Only Spider-Verse and Guardians of the Galaxy were succeeded, although we’d like to have seen more tickets sold for TMNT: Mutant Mayhem. The year that saw the box office downfall of superhero movies ended things with a real wet squirt – a sequel to rollicking adventure that was the first outing for Arthur Curry (Momoa).

What makes this a disappointment is that Aquaman was a bright and colourful hit, that put the imagination of James Wan and charisma of Jason Momoa front and centre. If the leash of taken off, it could have run with this. Instead The Lost Kingdom feels like the safest production possible, doing nothing that hasn’t been done is previous successful films while trying to avoid any controversy surrounding the personal lives of some cast members and big chances on a studio level. The DC Cinematic Universe is being swept under the rug, meaning that Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom is part of a franchise that has died, been tagged and shipped to the morgue. Given that the film doesn’t do anything to push the envelope, it ultimately feels pointless. This could still be a fun adventure flick, but there’s a couple of things that really irked me as an audience member.

For some reason, the DC movies really like to use the most repeated and reposted gags from Twitter. We’ve heard the jokes about how Batman’s superpower is ‘being rich’, and how Aquaman can ‘talk to fish’. Robot Chicken has done every iteration of this routine, and so have hundreds more. Still, DC need some snappy trailer lines to please the audience so they use them. What irks me here is that the FIRST LINE of dialogue in this movie is Aquaman making a joke about talking to fish. Yes, we heard it the first time in Justice League. It was even in the trailer. This are weak-ass jokes that have already been done in this franchise. It’s beyond cringe at this point.

What really highlights what a terrible time they’ve had putting together a cohesive film here is the awful writing and editing that opens the film. We start with Aquaman talking out loud (and in VO) about who he is (superhero king of Atlantis), what he wants (fight pirates) and what his motivation is (look after his baby). Ok, fine. Reintroduce the lead and catch us up on his life since. This is followed by our villain Black Manta (Abdul-Mateen) talking out loud about who he is (supervillain pirate), what he wants (Atlantis power supplies) and his motivation (revenge for his father). After this is another scene where a scientist talks out loud about who he is, what he wants…why is this happening?

Film is a visual medium and this movie features so many scenes of characters talking out loud about their story and what’s happening that it could have been released as a podcast and lost nothing. We alternate between characters standing around discussing exposition and overblown action scenes of CGI monsters and stunt doubles. It’s a mindless viewing experience where very little happens among all the explosions and big fish.

Every now and then Black Manta will threaten one of Aquaman’s family members only for Aquaman to come into the room and shout “GET AWAY FROM MY WIFE/SON/FATHER”. This happens with such regularity that it feels like ‘I Got You Babe’ playing in Groundhog Day. You might also be able to set your watch to sudden appearances of Mera (Heard) who they’re trying to pretend is and isn’t in this movie. She gets written out pretty early when Black Manta fridges her. It feels like they last we’re going to see her is lying in a aquahospital bed, but instead she’s used for a surprise rescue later in the film. And then again, and again. This deus-ex machina solutions to fight scenes get recycled more than soda bottles.

This is pretty sloppy writing and story-telling, but we can put that aside if we’re getting a fresh take on the genre, or just something simple done well. What The Lost Kingdom does is left material from other films and does it less good and often in a more complicated way. What really stood out was the use of ‘Spirit in the Sky’. This song returned to the public consciousness with its inclusion in the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer. It worked really well with the band of scoundrels that movie showcased. When it was used again in DC’s Suicide Squad we were surprised, since it had so been done so recently in such a similar way. Having it appear in ANOTHER DC movie…it’s just perplexing. There’s quite a few other songs out there…like, millions. Pick a different one.

Sure, that’s one example – but this is amid a bunch of AC/DC songs and a plot about a handsome, charismatic king of a mythical kingdom having to break his betrayal prone half-brother out of jail so they can save the world. They’re so desperate to try and build a Thor/Loki dynamic between Arthur and Orm (Wilson) that they even name drop it. Aquaman actually calls his brother ‘Loki’ in reference to this. Lampshading doesn’t excuse you from copying better films. It then has the audacity to end the movie with a press conference where Arthur reveals the hidden, technological utopia of Wakanda Atlantis to the public before loudly declaring that he is Iron Man Aquaman.

We’ve seen this already. All of this.

This is a hateful review, but it wasn’t all bad. We’re huge fans of Momoa and Temuera Morrison, who plays his father and is one of the nicest, most polite interviews we’ve ever conducted. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is a great actor who is often the best part of the films he’s in – even if we’re not keen on the movies. There’s some really fun design, with the octopus subs being a highlight.

At the end of the day, however, this is a bland film where a random scientist played by Randall Park gets more character development than any of the lead characters. Kinda pointless.

Rating: THREE out of TEN