Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the latest cinematic misadventure from DC Studios and Warner Brothers. James Wan directed this film and shares story credit with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jason Momoa, and Thomas Pa’a Sibbett. Johnson-McGoldrick wrote the screenplay. Momoa reprises his role as Arthur Curry/Aquaman and is joined by Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Dolph Lungren, and several others.
In this film, Aquaman splits his time between the land and the sea after he has been married and produced a son. He’s enjoying some family time and rules Atlantis after his brother was imprisoned for his misdeeds in the previous film, simply titled Aquaman. David Kane, also known as Black Manta, has yet to give up his thirst for revenge on Aquaman. Kane is enraged that Aquaman chose not to save his father’s life after defeating him in battle. Aquaman tended to help out against any pirates who chose to terrorize any ships traversing the oceans. Anyway, Atlantis is attacked, Aquaman needs some help to locate Black Manta and decides to break his brother out of prison. Wilson’s Orm Marius is not too pleased to be allied with Aquaman, but he decides that it is better than languishing in prison far away from his ocean home. Anyway, a global chase ensues across the land and the seas. There are plenty of super-powered brawls. The CGI effects are unleashed with abandon. There is also an ancient evil that is using Black Manta’s bloodlust for his its own ambitions of freedom from an eternal prison. This has all the usual trappings and visual spectacles of a comic book movie.
The bright spots in this film are few and far between. Momoa is a compelling and charismatic presence in this film-sometimes. He just could not manage to hold my interest with any real consistency. Patrick Wilson’s performance was a bit more intriguing to me, but he was still having to contend with a pretty lackluster script. The landscapes and seascapes were pretty spectacular but without a sense of authenticity. There were some action scenes that were almost exhilarating. If Amber Heard’s career is ruined after her courtroom debacle with Johnny Depp, I suspect that I would be hard-pressed to miss her. Her performance almost reaches the level of just being dreadful. I suspect that she did not entirely hit the bottom of her acting barrel due to not having much screen time. The other more known cast members were such as Kidman or Lundgren were fine, but the plotting did not do them many favors either.
I will confess that I am not a major expert on Aquaman from the comics, and I know there were some artistic liberties taken when it came to this onscreen iteration. Momoa portrays this version with a bit of immature machismo that is rather off-putting. Aquaman relies mostly on his brute strength other than showing any real sense of cunning or ingenuity. He is complicated later for his humility and willingness to ask for help to protect Atlantis, and that’s fine, but it makes for a bit of a boring lesson when presented in a comic book action movie.
If DC Studios plans on doing a reboot of their franchise after this film, the current range seems to have ended with a bit of a whimper. The more official reviews of this film have not been all that favorable, and the scorn is somewhat deserved here. The film is watchable for the most part, so it’s not a complete failure. It does reach near-perfection in one sense. It’s a clear example as to why this genre of film is sinking in popularity at the box office.
Better luck next time, kids!
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