Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
WARNER BROS
It only seemed fitting that the DC Extended Universe would end on such an aggressively mediocre note, even if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the sequel to one of its best installments. James Wan’s 2018 solo Aquaman spinoff is such a breath of fresh air for a comic book franchise that has gone through so many studio mandates and aesthetic swings from the brooding nihilism of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel to the Avengers-lite quippy factory of Joss Whedon’s bastardization of Snyder’s Justice League, the DCEU never got its time to shine from all of its messy first steps it took.
With James Gunn and Peter Safran hitting the reset button with the Max television series Creature Commandos leading into Superman: Legacy for a fresh new start with the DCU, some pundits have expressed that it’s too little too late for the DC brand to resurrect itself from a series of critical and commercial duds. But as a final nail in the coffin, here’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: one of the movies of all time.
While Wan’s Aquaman had plenty of soul-stirring action sequences to make up for its goofy screenplay, his sequel simultaneously has many things happening but nothing truly significant. It’s essentially a revenge story for David Kane/Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who plots the murder of Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and his family for having killed his father in the 2018 film. While on an expedition with Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park), he discovers the Black Trident and gets possessed by the spirit of Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), who tells him to free his inanimate body in the Lost Kingdom so he can kill Aquaman and “everything he holds dear.”
Kane’s expedition and quest to free Kordax have massive environmental repercussions, prompting Curry to defy Atlantean law and free his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), who knows Manta better than anyone. This brings skepticism to King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), who warns Arthur that even trusting Orm is a bad idea, while Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) believes the two could unite the seas to stop Kane from destroying Atlantis and, by extension, the planet.
Who doesn’t like a superhero movie where the heroes save the planet from its extinction, right? Wan’s messaging on the environment is certainly welcomed, and the point of protecting the seas is expressed quite clearly. However, it feels haphazardly shoved into the narrative to remind audiences that the planet is dying and that “we” must do something about it, instead of making the message a core part of the narrative beyond the obvious winks at the camera to encourage audiences to take action. The funniest part of the messaging sees Aquaman make a speech at the United Nations, a massive wink at Sidney J. Furie’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, where its titular character walked into the UN to declare total denuclearization…only for him to adopt a centrist position on the matter once Nuclear-Man was breed by throwing each nuclear missile in the sun.
But the comparisons to Superman IV don’t stop there. Like the Golan-Globus produced film, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is hacked to shreds. Side characters who had a great importance in the first film are pitifully undercooked and shamelessly sidelined. Kidman, in particular, had loads of agency in the original movie and her fair share of ass-kickery. In the sequel, she virtually has nothing to do but spew the most clichéd lines on family since the last Fast & Furious installment. The same can be said for Lundgren, whose King Nereus was one of the best parts of the first film, only for him to be there and do virtually nothing for the entirety of the film. Hell, John Rhys-Davies’ Brine King has more to do than Nereus, Atlanna, and Mera (Amber Heard), who is consistently in frame but says virtually nothing.
Of course, there were external circumstances that caused Warner Bros. to reduce Amber Heard’s role in the sequel, but at this point it’s better not to include her in the film if Mera’s screen presence would be as invisible as this. Mera was Arthur’s sidekick in the original. Making The Lost Kingdom a buddy comedy between Arthur and Orm is fine, but one should absolutely include his family into the proceedings. Sidelining major characters with zero development from the first film to the sequel isn’t the best idea when audiences want to see the old characters evolve from film to film.
Part of the core story is also missing. An extended flashback involving Kordax and his brother, Atlan (Vincent Regan) is briefly glossed over, like the Motherboxes origins scene in Josstice League. So many scenes are left in the cutting room floor that might have enhanced the development of the antagonist, but audiences ultimately have to contend with another raspy voiced villain who wants to plot extinction but doesn’t do anything beyond ordering his minions, with one being Manta. While Abdul Mateen-II is such a highly-talented actor who had his time to shine in the original Aquaman, his corruption by the Black Trident is never treated as an important plot point in his arc, but the point A to get to point Z.
Only Curry and Orm have legitimate development here, and they’re unsurprisingly the most interesting parts of the film. Wilson, in particular, is a hoot as Orm, but that’s only because of the rapport he has with Wan, having previously worked with him on the Insidious and Conjuring franchises. He’ll do anything with him, making the chemistry he has with Momoa feel naturally fun. Momoa is also very comfortable in Curry’s shoes, giving one last hurrah to the character that made him a household name in Hollywood. Time will tell which character he will play in the DCU (*coughsLobocoughs*), but his time as Aquaman will forever be immortalized as being the only actor who ever took the role seriously and brought it to the masses.
It’s also good that Wan’s eye for eye-popping action hasn’t lost its touch from Furious 7 and the original Aquaman. It may not be as refined as the first film, but it does have its fair share of excitingly-constructed action scenes shot (in IMAX) with expert kineticism by cinematographer Don Burgess. The camera consistently moves with the actors in the frame, giving the illusion of extreme movement and complete immersion on IMAX 3D. With the entire film shot with IMAX cameras (compared to 90% in the first film), seeing it large helped getting plunged into the world of Atlantis for one last time. The only thing missing would be a score from frequent collaborator Joseph Bishara who would’ve given its odd tone the perfect sonic atmosphere for the film. Alas, Rupert Gregson-Williams returns from the first film and re-hashes the same beats without adding much color to the new material.
Because of this, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom isn’t as disastrous as a Josstice League or a Wonder Woman 1984. But it won’t be remembered as the finest entry in the DCEU. But it seems to be only way to conclude the franchise, with a picture so aggressively mid it encapsulates the tonal inconsistencies it went through for the past ten years. Only ZSnyder’s Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be remembered as cornerstones of superhero cinema that attempted to push the artform forward (and “keep it moving,” as Connie Nielsen’s Hippoylta so astutely said in ZSJL), while other DCEU entries are movies that certainly exist. Add Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to the mix.