Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom review – The DCEU ends with soggy seconds

The erstwhile final chapter of the doomed DCEU (DC Extended Universe), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom should have been a go-for-broke last hurrah for the comic book movie franchise before new DC Studios overlord James Gunn reboots the entire affair. Instead, feeling more like a clumsy corporate curated collection of reheated leftovers than a singular filmmaker’s coherent vision, this Aquaman sequel undoes all the cheesy goodwill of its 2018 billion-dollar-earning progenitor with one limp-wristed wave of a magical trident.

The first Aquaman film was an infectiously fun, swashbuckling adventure that leaned into the classic superhero’s admittedly silly comic book mythology, and kept it all working through a combo of star Jason Momoa’s highly affable himbo charm, director/co-writer James Wan’s eye for creative action flair, and a devil-may-care approach to brightly coloured worldbuilding. Most of those aspects are missing here, though, as we end up with an overlong sodden mess filled with unfunny gags, a garbled tone, terrible writing, lacklustre action, and even a hacked-in climate change subplot with all the subtlety and effectiveness of a primary school science project.

To be fair to the returning Wan, this is not the movie he was supposed to make. Prior to the death throes of the DCEU becoming official, Wan had planned to go back to his horror roots with The Trench, a creepy, monster-filled spinoff from the first film, before eventually circling back around to a full-blown Aquaman follow-up. However, once The Trench was shelved after the overall franchise imploded, a fraction of the spinoff’s ideas got recycled here into the titular “Lost Kingdom”, a threat so laughably undercooked that it actually doesn’t even get mentioned by name until the third act of this sequel.

Adding to Wan’s filmmaking woes, indecisive studio-mandated reshoots saw not one but two different Batman cameos being filmed, courtesy of Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton, respectively, only for both to be left out of the film’s final cut, along with whatever shared universe plot threads they were supposed to introduce (this film is bafflingly standalone!). What wasn’t cut from the film, much to the dismay of certain corners of the internet, is Amber Heard as Mera, Aquaman’s wife and mother to their newborn son. While Wan and co were in post-production on the film, the actress found herself embroiled in a nasty, highly publicised court case with ex Johnny Depp, leading to calls for her to be dropped from the project entirely. The-Powers-That-Be didn’t relent, but they may as well have. Heard’s Mera has plenty of screen time here, but she’s so devoid of dialogue, personality, or narrative agency that you could be forgiven for thinking the character was a poor AI-generated replacement.

Meanwhile, Momoa’s Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, is found on the opposite end of the acting spectrum. The film’s admittedly charming opening does well to establish his new dichotomous state as both a first-time dad and a superhero-turned-reluctant-monarch. Arthur finds himself frustrated and bored with the bureaucratic monotony of running an underwater kingdom that won’t even make itself known to the surface world. Momoa is clearly having a blast in his role (and kudos for injecting so much of himself into the character, including his boho chic wardrobe), but takes things too far. By Act Two, I felt that his ultra-quippy frat bro schtick had veered into annoying territory, a remarkable achievement for somebody normally so likeable.

Momoa does get more mileage when paired with Patrick Wilson’s Orm though. Yes, Aquaman’s brother and former rival is back, as events force the hero to break Orm out of the very prison he sent him to at the end of the first film. This scenario gives us arguably the film’s high-point as the two bickering siblings – Wilson effectively playing the straight man to a snarky Momoa – are forced to work together to survive. Oh, and they’re helped by a hyper-intelligent octopus spy. Just roll with it.

The aforementioned events precipitating this jailbreak also see the return of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s David Kane aka Black Manta (Is recycling antagonists another thinly veiled environmental message?). Out for revenge after Aquaman’s actions led to the death of his mercenary father in the first film, Black Manta finds himself elevated here to the capital “S” supervillain status worthy of his comic book roots after stumbling upon lost Atlantean technology and a mysterious black trident with magical abilities.

Abdul-Mateen cuts a menacing figure (his suit, just like Momoa’s golden Aquaman costume, is perfection!). He even boasts a proper supervillain lair hidden in a volcano, complete with henchmen in dumb matching uniforms, a bumbling lead scientist (played by a likeable Randal Park) in support, and an absurdly impractical giant hammerhead shark-shaped submarine with its own superweapon. 

This is exactly the type of pulpy Saturday matinee storytelling that you expect from a movie starring a guy who can talk to fish. However, given how rushed Black Manta’s story intersects with that of the Lost Kingdom, we end up with a baddie who is physically imposing but painfully one-note, despite Abdul-Mateen’s efforts on screen. And, to add insult to injury, he has a rather nonsensical revenge plan, once you think about it.

But that’s bad advice in general when watching this movie. Thinking, that is. Rather look at the undersea visuals, which are beautifully realised, even if they don’t have quite the noteworthy creativity and overall sense of wonder that Wan brought to proceedings the first time around. That description actually applies across the board here. There are a lot of things happening in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – especially since Wan and co can’t decide if this should be a rollicking sci-fi adventure, screwball buddy comedy, grim creature feature, or serious superhero drama – and yet almost none of it is memorable. This is a movie which takes the spectacle of Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, in a glowing white jumpsuit, embarking on an underwater chase scene by riding a neon red robotic shark… and makes it feel frustratingly mundane.

As both a sequel and the final instalment of a decade-long shared universe, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is just too sloppy and underwhelming, lacking in originality and ambition despite its “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to storytelling. The DCEU was far from perfect but deserved a better closing chapter. Instead, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a watery gurgle. 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is in cinemas now, having released on 22 December.