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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Review: A Watered-Down End to the DCEU

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a mess in every single possible way, and the fact that it is the final film just makes that messiness all the more egregious and bitter.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a mess of a film in every way that counts: in the story, in special effects, and in the end, none of it matters or amounts to anything because we all know this is a chapter ending with nothing to actually say about said ending.

Director: James Wan
Summary: Aquaman balances his duties as king and as a member of the Justice League, all while planning a wedding. Black Manta is on the hunt for Atlantean tech to help rebuild his armor. Orm plots to escape his Atlantean prison.

There is no getting around the fact that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the end of an era of the DC Universe. All four of the DC films released this year had the knowledge of this ending looming over them, but none of them have attempted to say anything about endings. None of them have tried to wrap up stories for their characters. Instead, they've tried to bank on the various versions of these characters or storylines returning when there has been, except one, no indication that would be happening. When they were initially greenlit, none of these films knew they would be in the final lap, but now they are, and they all have ended without feeling like an ending. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom might wrap stuff up the best of the DC movies, but if this is how this era of the DC Universe is going out, it's going out with a whimper.

One of the best parts of the first film was the world that director James Wan created and how visually different it was from all of the other DC movies we have seen. However, this second film does very little to build on that, and the little new we see isn't anything special. There isn't anything as visually beautiful as Atlantis was in the first film, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom spends very little time in Atlantis itself. So the one thing that really set the first movie apart isn't present in this film; instead replaced with dull machinery that looks like something straight out of The Matrix and monsters that could only be described as "burnt zombies."

Some of this might could be overlooked by strong performances, and one of the main people in this film who is constantly putting his best foot forward is Patrick Wilson. He was one of the best parts of the first film, and the moment he appeared on screen, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom does improve. However, what also becomes more and more apparent is how comical it is to try and watch star Jason Momoa attempt to act against Wilson. While there are plenty of people out there who enjoy Momoa and his performances, when he is playing Arthur Curry, it very much feels like he is only playing a version of himself and not much else. So while Orm is big and as bombastic as this world might need, Arthur is over here making really stupid jokes to try and cut through the tension.

It makes the sibling dynamic between the two of them even more awkward because, on film, it reads the opposite of what is actually happening. Arthur comes across as the excitable little brother, while Orm very much appears to be the older brother who is very much Over It. However, their ages are swapped, and it often comes across as weird and not what you would expect from the two of them. The script also appears to be unsure what exactly Orm's place in all of this is as it contorts itself to reach for an excuse to bring back one of the best parts of the previous movie since they decided to kill Willem Dafoe's Vulko offscreen and Amber Heard's Mera spends large chunks of the film nowhere to be found.

There were rumors that Heard's place in the script was cut down due to the trial and the backlash, but she is in the film more than the trailer would indicate. However, there are strange moments when she is present, and you feel like she should be in focus or in the scene, but she just isn't.  These are the moments where something was likely cut. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta remains a force to be reckoned with, but again, his performance feels so out of place whenever he needs to interact with Arthur because Momoa just can't compete. Black Manta's focus in this film, his drive for revenge for his father, is the only thing we know about this man. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom allowed us to explore the other reasons that Black Manta might want the power of the Black Trident, but it's just revenge. This makes the character incredibly one note and undercuts Abdul-Mateen's performance even more.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is being released in 3D, and even though this film was delayed several times, the VFX work is incredibly dodgy in some places, and that is made even worse by the absolutely horrendous 3D conversion. There is no reason for this film to be released in 3D, and it is extremely apparent that it was never intended to be released as a 3D film. It becomes distracting, in the same way everything else in the film becomes distracting because you're sitting there, wondering what is going on and why anyone should care when we know ultimately that none of this matters.

When the star of the film is saying there's a good chance this is the end for this character and this storyline, and you know this wasn't written or shot as an ending, there will be things that feel unfinished. And "unfinished" could be the perfect description of everything that has come out of DC this year because none of it felt like it was finishing or ending anything at all.  Aside from Blue Beetle, nothing was good enough to get invested in without the promise of a cinematic universe backing it up.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is closing the book on the Zack Snyder era of the DC Universe one way or another. They had four chances to try and go out on a high note, and the only one that was any good, no one went to see because studios like Warner Bros. Discovery dug in their heels and refused to pay people livable wages. There is a mid-credits scene at the end of this film that ultimately has nothing to do with anything that we have seen on screen. It's nothing more than a gag, a joke, and a gross-out one at that. When given the opportunity to close the door on this chapter of the DC Universe, that is the scene everyone decided that it should end on?

Endings are hard, and maybe there wasn't any way for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to feel like a definitive end to a decade of filmmaking, but it doesn't even feel like an end to its own story that has been told over the course of three films. The film is a mess in every single possible way, and the fact that it is the final film just makes that messiness all the more egregious and bitter.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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5/10

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a mess in every single possible way, and the fact that it is the final film just makes that messiness all the more egregious and bitter.

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