Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom - Review

Rating: 1 out of 5

THE DC Extended Universe has long been considered something of a damp squib, especially when compared to the more illustrious Marvel Cinematic Universe (both in terms of quality and box office). It's fitting, then, that the final film in the DCEU should be the one to officially drown the experiment, as well as one of its few leading lights.

When the original Aquaman was released in 2018, it was one of the few well regarded entries in the DCEU, thanks to a charismatic leading turn from Jason Momoa and a better than usual mix of action, drama and character/world building. It was also a rare box office smash.

Fast forward to 2023 and any lessons learned from that film are completely washed away amid an effects-heavy, brain-dead assault at the senses.

Save for a somewhat jovial opening five minutes (which seems to be borrowing from the tone of Taika Waititi’s Thor films), James Wan's film is a loud, derivative collection of set pieces, sloppily thrown together in a style more befitting pre-MCU style superhero movies.

There's a token villain, there's some mis-matched buddy camaraderie, there's a save the world scenario, and there's a seemingly endless parade of superhero smack-downs - none of which generate any sense of peril or drama.

It's like being exposed to an interminable computer game, without the ability to pull the plug or drown out the noise.

What passes for plot finds Aquaman (Momoa) pitted against long-time nemesis Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who continues to thirst for revenge for the death of his father at the hands of Aquaman in the first film.

In order to get it, however, Manta has made a sort of deal with the devil, which in turn threatens the whole of humanity from cataclysmic weather events (the film, erroneously, opts for a tone deaf climate crisis allegory in an attempt to lend it added immediacy).

In order to stop Manta, Aquaman must reunite with his turncoat brother, Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson), and regular ally King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), while also having to come to the rescue of his wife (Amber Heard).

But while this would suggest a high stakes action-adventure with plenty to allow audiences to sink their teeth into, given what's come before, Wan's sequel never really stands still long enough to allow any room for any of its potential to be realised.

Instead, he bombards viewers with largely incoherent set pieces, which feel computer generated and lack any composure or ingenuity.

What little enjoyment there is comes from the likes of Wilson, who somehow manages to endear as Ocean Master, and from Abdul-Mateen II, who shows what a villain he could make if given the right material. He seethes with plenty of conviction.

Randall Park, who has previously shone in the MCU as Jimmy Woo (WandaVision and Ant-Man & The Wasp), also gets to show some decent dramatic chops, even though his character is also under-served by a script that's content to offer only contrived stereotypes.

By the time the credits roll on this tedious affair, however, what little goodwill you may have had towards the DCEU will have been replaced by a tidal-wave sized sigh of relief that this whole ill-conceived franchise has finally been laid to rest.

With Zack Snyder also now gone, and James Gunn taking the reigns, fans of the DC Comics can at least anticipate forthcoming superhero entries with a more heightened sense of anticipation.

Sadly, Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom serves as a fitting epitaph to a largely wretched era in DC filmmaking (stand-alone entries such as Joker and The Batman aside). It deserved to sink without trace.