Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Movie Review: Jason Momoa and Amber Heard's Superhero Flick Has Become DC's 'Quantumania' (LatestLY Exclusive)

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Movie Review: Dear Hollywood, what happened to you? A couple of years back, you were creating cool and enjoyable superhero movies, but it feels like Coronavirus has infected your zing in the genre. You're cancelling completed films like Batgirl as tax write-offs, and yet you release Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom in theatres, even though the film doesn't seem to matter much in your grand scheme of things, and that sentiment reflects in the film itself. Congrats, DC Studios, for finally competing with Marvel Studios on the same plane, vying for the title of the worst superhero film of the year. Is it Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? Jason Momoa Expresses Concern About Aquaman’s Future, Actor Says ‘I Don’t Necessarily Want It To Be the End’ but ‘It’s Not Looking Too Good’.

If you think Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom follows up on The Flash's post-credit scene where Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) tries to explain his time-traveling mess to a drunken Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), you're wrong. In the sequel, Arthur Curry is ruling as the king of Atlantis, though he is no fan of the politics that come with monarchy. He is also busy being a father to his infant baby, changing diapers while trying not to get peed on.

Little does he know that this is merely the calm before the storm, as his old nemesis David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is out there plotting his downfall, seeking the right material to power his Black Manta suit with the help of the Atlantis-obsessed marine biologist Dr Stephen Shin (Randall Park). In this pursuit, they stumble upon a hidden Atlantean ruin, where Kane obtains a trident while a malevolent force seduces his willpower by promising him vengeance.

An attack by Kane on Atlantis prompts Curry to trace him to his yet-unknown hiding place, but that means he has to collaborate with an old enemy - his incarcerated half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson).

Watch the Trailer of Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom:

So, where do I begin listing my disappointments with this film? Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, in its own way, serves as a fitting film to close out the problem-riddled DCEU before James Gunn revamps it (hopefully for the better). There are clear signs of studio meddling and disfiguring the film beyond redemption, where it feels like actors such as Patrick Wilson and Nicole Kidman are simply fulfilling contractual obligations, and the writing and editing are all over the place. Amber Heard's Mera is absent for the entire second act, and even when she is there, she only has a few dialogues. Was Amber Heard's Role As Mera Cut Short in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? Director James Wan Clarifies on This Viral Rumour!

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom fails to offer anything new with its story. The plot is derivative of many films from the past, from Journey 2: The Mysterious Island to even Black Panther. There's a sequence that strongly reminds you of the Cantina from Star Wars films. The film concludes with Curry making a mic drop that echoes the ending of Iron Man. His banter with Orm resembles Thor and Loki from their MCU films, with the film awkwardly acknowledging this in a meta gag where Curry calls Orm 'Loki' for reasons best known to him. Even Jason Momoa's performance feels inconsistent compared to his earlier DCEU appearances. I understand that his character is in a happy space now, but does that mean Momoa has to act as if he is still in Fast X mode, albeit with less bloodthirstiness?

It also doesn't help that he gets bad scenes, from his abruptly edited intro scene to the awkward screaming of 'Stay away from my son' in the climax that ranke right up there with BvS' 'Martha' moment. However, what disappointed me the most was how the film stifles James Wan's visual touches. Despite presenting colorful worlds both on land and in water, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom looks pretty dull and lifeless, lacking the director's visual enhancements that made the first film a visual delight for most of its part. Remember how that movie envisioned the Trench sequence that became such an iconic moment that the studios even contemplated making a movie out of it? No such luck here, as Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom feels like an overdose of CGI and VFX. Blame James Cameron and Avatar: The Way of Water for raising the benchmark too high when it comes to visually creating new water worlds, making studio-mandated films struggle to live up to expectations.

Final Thoughts

When Willem Dafoe declines to return to a sequel - and the man has done Spider-Man: No Way Home with gusto - you should know that's a bad sign. Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom ends with a character chomping down a cockroach with relish. Well, that pretty much sums up how it feels to see this franchise end this confounded phase on such a sour note — the sour note that is Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 21, 2023 05:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).