The first Aquaman Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom , is in fact out in cinemas now. There’s been very little marketing around the film and the review embargo was much later than usual, indicating Warner Bros may not have had much faith in the movie. Now that we’ve seen it, does the DCEU bow out with an epic bang or more of a wet whimper? Let’s find out. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom largely features the same principal cast as the original film. James Wan is back in the director’s chair and Jason Momoa returns as Arthur Curry, the half-human, half-Atlantean who is now the King of Atlantis. A few years have passed since the first movie and he’s since married and had a kid with Mera (Amber Heard, back in a bigger role than trailers would have you believe but smaller than the first movie). The main threat comes from Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who acquires the mystical Black Trident and seeks vengeance on Arthur for killing his father at the beginning of the first movie by threatening the whole planet. So Arthur seeks out his imprisoned half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to help save the day. Notably absent however is Willem Dafoe as Fulko due to scheduling issues. As a note, I should say that I actually rather enjoy the first Aquaman. It’s not without fault but I still had fun with the swashbuckling adventure and James Wan’s aesthetic. With that in mind, it pains me to say that The Lost Kingdom is not a very good movie. In fact, it’s actually a pretty bad movie. Gone is the rogueish swashbuckling adventure of the first with an epic scope and imagination in spades. What’s left is a generic, hollow film that feels dumb, uninspired and sloppy, with some truly clunky dialogue, exhausting exposition, tiring action scenes and bad humour. I think the biggest sin is that it simply does not look or feel like a James Wan film. The first film was shot in such a way that there was clearly effort being made, from tracking one-shots, wide angles during action scenes and creative camera angles, not to mention it looked stunning at times. The Lost Kingdom has none of this and ends up feeling like a generic film that any B-director could’ve made, as there’s no distinct style to this movie at all; it’s generic and soulless. In fact, I honestly forgot the movie was called “ The Lost Kingdom ” until they brought it up with forty minutes left in the runtime, I know because I checked. Likewise, I also noted that there was an action scene seemingly every seven to ten minutes and it felt like they were inserted to try and wake up the audience with CGI nonsense all over the screen, but the action is so dull that it only frustrated me with boredom. The acting feels incredibly stiff, stilted and unbelievable. Jason Momoa in particular feels like he’s phoning it in and his character comes across as bland and half-baked. Black Manta is just a villain possessed by a MacGuffin to become even more evil; with the power of the Black Trident, he then seeks out another MacGuffin to find a third MacGuffin. Randall Park gets a much bigger role in this movie, but I always found his acting to be very forced and the added runtime only highlights his shortcomings. The only actor who seemed to do well with what was given was Wilson as Orm. Sure, his arc was more obvious than knowing water is wet, but Wilson at least came off as trying to make the best of it and he sometimes elevates Momoa’s acting thanks to their chemistry. You can tell reshoots played a big role in how choppy and disjointed the movie feels. Hell, the film actually has two different babies playing Arthur Jr and let me tell you, those babies do not look anything alike and the movie just expects you not to notice that the ethnicity of the child has changed. The costumes also feel cheap, with Aquaman’s suit in particular looking very obviously like rubber padding this time around. I guess Momoa didn’t feel like working out and the studio couldn’t hide that he’s not been keeping in shape. The CG and water effects also feel inferior to that seen in the original and come off as even more lacklustre after last year’s Avatar: The Way of Water showed how CG oceans can look. Half the time I couldn’t tell what was underwater and what was, and all the wonder from the first movie was simply eroded. The DCEU has been a troubled cinematic universe, one mired with controversy and inconsistencies. But it will mark its ending with a resounding and deafening disappointment. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom isn’t worth your time or money and closes out the DCEU on a sour, sad note, like a fish flopping around on the beach. Save your money and go see something else instead, there’s no shortage of better movies out right now.
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