Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (aka Aquaman 2) – Review
124 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, James Wan, and Jason Momoa
Directed by James Wan
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen as he and longtime friend of the show Val Cameron discuss this film and Rebel Moon in more detail. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an action-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas, Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa in the title role. The film reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime—one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be…a king.
Well, Warner Brothers has been having a hell of a time, lately, haven’t they? After the Discovery buy-out, CEO David Zaslov began an attack on several fronts, which resulted in (in no particular order):
- the old DCEU creatives OUT: James Gunn IN
- The “nearly complete,” $200M Batgirl got shelved for “tax purposes”
- Blue Beetle made it to theaters
- Black Adam reached theaters, which le to…
- Henry Cavill back IN, then OUT, for good.
- The Flash made it to theaters (finally)
- Shazam 2 hit theaters with a Gal Gadot cameo
- Gal Gadot OUT
And now, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Aquaman 2 from here on out) hits theaters after all the rest of the old, post-Nolan, Snyder-esque universe have been given their marching orders. Jason Momoa gets to say good-bye.
Well…I’m going to be talking to my good friend Val later today, so I’ll be expounding a bit more on the whole business side of things there (so stay tuned for that), but I can say that, without a doubt, the DCEU is finally, absolutely, dead.
DEAD.
There will be no more.
But how does Aquaman 2 fare in light of such corporate and managerial chicanery?
Honestly, it’s not the worst film I’ve seen this year.
Hell, it’s not even the worst film I’ve seen this WEEK.
Bonus: we saw it in 3D.
Why? Why is 3D still a thing? At best, it adds nothing. At worst, you notice for all the wrong reasons.
Anyway, Aquaman 2 has a pretty flaccid set-up. Momoa makes fun of married life and the life of a new parent while also being King of Atlantis.
Momoa gets pee in his mouth. A stream of pee. That’s what passes for superhero humor today, apparently.
On the plus side, we see precious little of Amber Heard, but they almost couldn’t have cut her role to be much smaller here.
The not-at-all-veiled climate change plot and the super-thin analog of evil “big oil” aren’t preachy at all…
Nope. Not one bit.
The idea of exploring the “lost” seventh kingdom of Atlantis was a good place to start… but after that initial idea, the film plays like Thor: Love and Thunder, leaning hard into Momoa’s comedic sensibilities: sometimes too hard.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Manta is just another placeholding villain, but the idea of the Black Trident isn’t bad, with its link to the seventh kingdom and their fate. Randall Park shows us again why Marvel needs to do a Special Presentation with his Agent Wu and Michael Pena’s Luis in a buddy comedy: security specialist helping the FBI agent.
Magic.
But I digress.
Look, ultimately, Aquaman 2 means nothing, cinematically. It’s the Warner Brothers equivalent of Fox releasing The New Mutants after its delays and the sale to Disney.
I mean, with Blue Beetle, James Gunn could easily fold that film into his new DCU, but this one… not so much.
There’s just too much of Zack Snyder’s DNA in this film.
Once the script pulled the stick out of Patrick Wilson’s butt, the interplay between his Orm and Momoa’s Arthur was mostly entertaining, with Wilson generally playing the straight-man to Momoa in a (literal) fish out of water role.
In the end, I have to honestly say the film isn’t all bad, but it certainly is more bad than it is good.
And with that, we can reiterate that the DCEU is dead.
Ironically, at this particular moment, that might mean that it’s on the same level as Marvel.
After all this time. The tortoise has caught the hare.
They even stole from the endings of Black Panther and the original Iron Man to wrap this one up.
Can we restart the race, please?
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters December 22 and stars Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, Randall Park, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, and Dolph Lundgren.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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