The DCEU has finally concluded after ten years filled with awe-inspiring hits, some middle-of-the-road features, and some egregious products that no one wants to talk about while they’re lined up outside the multiplex waiting for the next “big thing.” The superhero trend, once the hottest thing in the last decade, has whimpered towards an inveterate direction in 2023 with some trite narratives and wheeling out familiar techniques that border contemptible. Maybe folks have sincerely given up, or it’s another proven example of “superhero fatigue,” in which audiences have become tone-deaf to seeing another monotonous “good guy stops the bad guy from taking over the world” scheme. Yours indeed doesn’t need to elongate this discussion, as we already brought it up when reviewing The Marvels and The Flash and Blue Beetle….oh yeah, also Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. (It’s pretty unbelievable that the only features that raptured us this year in this genre were Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, and TMNT: Mutant Mayhem.)
What could’ve been a gleefully spectacular sendoff with this universe with one of the more recognizable heroes of DC ends in a whimper. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is another watered-down bust.
The plot follows Aquaman (Jason Momoa) taking on the newfound responsibilities of fatherhood with his wife Mera (Amber Heard) while juggling the difficult life as the king of the underwater nation of Atlantis. Aquaman is bored dealing with the responsibilities as king and misses the days of fighting folk and protecting his nation. On the other side of the coin, you have David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who is hell-bent on getting revenge on Aquaman for his father’s death in the previous film and stumbles upon a black trident (because the plot needed to make him equal to our underwater superhero) that gives him supernatural powers and allows him to communicate with a deceased evil king called Kordax. Kane dons his Black Manta suit and goes after reserves of orichalcum to disrupt the climate and underwater acidification. At the same time, Aquaman reluctantly rescues his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to help him defeat Kane and his armies.
It’s not the most ludicrous of plots out there since it’s a standard story of redemption and revenge, with a touch of wanting to expand interests to the surface world. But, it is eerily reminiscent of some of the MCU’s Thor movies (and Black Panther‘s) storytelling techniques and even more baffling when you recognize Momoa threw in the “Loki” name in the middle of the feature. For this remark, someone in Warner Brothers must be proud or banging their head against the wall. The whole bromance tactic, the selling point of this sequel, is haphazardly drawn up between Momoa and Wilson to the point it elicits a phlegmatic reaction. Instead of a passionate tale of how one brother has ostracized the other due to their ambitions, we get some dull bickering and bantering that could’ve been better served to have both guys relax in a bar and vacuum up alcohol for ten minutes.
Mateen does his best to remain focused as our big central baddie (despite lacking discernible charisma), while Heard continues to be a shallow partner in her limited time onscreen (her chemistry with Momoa remains severely deficient). And somehow, the film mismanages its usage of Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgren, who had more respected roles in the predecessor. Furthermore, the CGI reflects a lack of further imagination, remaining ill-fitting at critical moments and bothersome at others. (Someone, please check that hair movement underwater again.)
The inconsistency with how director James Wan presents the titular hero compared to the predecessor remains suspiciously jarring, almost a sign the production team didn’t care about where this film veered off to. And while it does float into the cartoonish realm, Jason Momoa remains a blast to watch onscreen in the unabashed silliness. Like in Fast X earlier this year, Momoa has learned that “being loose” sometimes reaps the best results.
If you can sit back and enjoy the underwater spectacle, you have something to glance at. But due to its fatal flaws with convoluted pacing, a lackadaisical reprisal of familiar techniques, and shoddy visuals, it’s a sequel that’ll sink in the expansive ocean.
After ten years, Warner Brothers repeatedly forgot how to keep a character’s desires and motivations consistent and refreshing. Wonder Woman, Shazam!, and The Suicide Squad knew how to manage this. Almost every other feature, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, pushed bewilderingly too far to end up like meaningless flotsam, and thus, this series is no more.
