“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” released on Dec. 22. When I heard there was going to be a sequel to 2018’s “Aquaman,” I was nervous. In the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), sequels don’t work so well. For example, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” was a big disappointment, “Wonder Woman 1984” turned out to be only so-so and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” (if you count that as a sequel) was a little better than the first, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want to take four hours out of your day to see it. I came in with minimal expectations because “Aquaman,” on its own, was a very average movie. It was nothing that would turn your head, and it’s probably a movie you wouldn’t watch again. When “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was released it did deliver as a sequel, but not in a good way.
The first movie left off with Aquaman (Jason Momoa) becoming king and defeating Orm, his younger brother, (Patrick Wilson). The brother-on-brother dynamic does not change as Aquaman is forced to bring him along for the ride. Meanwhile, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) comes back after his defeat in “Aquaman,” vowing revenge after Aquaman didn’t save Manta’s father. The movie boils down to being very black and white as there aren’t many layers to it. This movie is essentially hero vs. villain.
My biggest pet peeve with this movie was the plot. Finding a lost kingdom, dealing with curses, family bickering, I could have pulled out pretty much any Disney movie, and it would have the same themes as this movie. A lot of this movie just felt unoriginal. The movie didn’t have a “wow factor” either. Sitting through the whole movie I felt kind of numb to it. After feeling like I’ve already watched it and having nothing that makes this movie stand out to me, the movie just felt plain and stale.
You could also tell there were some scenes with just bad writing or lackluster in general. I think that all boils down to the fact that the general importance of the movie for the crew and the producers isn’t there. Just like the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), the DCEU needs to have movies intersect in a way to build movies like “The Avengers” or “The Justice League” that have big team ups. However, the DCEU is getting a reboot, which means new actors for parts and new changes in superheroes, so on the surface, this movie is only being made because it’s one of the last ones the DCEU had already in production. In the movie, you’ll notice corny lines or easy solutions with mediocre acting, and I think that connects to the movie’s insignificance overall.
I wouldn’t be lying if I said I found the movie entertaining. I wasn’t a huge fan of the plot or writing, but you can tell they put a lot of their budget into the CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) and visuals, which was pleasing to see. For example, Atlantis was very pretty and the chase scenes were very detailed. Although the movie was a very black and white, good guy versus bad guy type deal, I liked the characters. The villain, Black Manta, who is out for blood, Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park) on a mission to see Atlantis with his own eyes and, of course, Aquaman, who is king of Atlantis. This movie is for me seen as a guilty pleasure. Although the quality of the story overall isn’t great, the visuals get you through the rest.
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was a bittersweet movie. It had nice visuals and good characters, but due to the story’s bland taste and its overall carelessness in quality, it makes the good elements easy to look past. After all of that, everything in me wants to give the movie one star. But what is important in a movie is if people found it entertaining, and even though a lot of it was mediocre, I did.
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”: ★★☆☆☆
