When Aquaman hit theaters back in 2018 it was the global hit of the year pulling in well more than a billion dollars at the box office. Superhero films and sequels also go together like peanut butter and jelly. Life however has not been kind to this ocean dwelling hero’s follow-up film. Amber Heard was in what some would call a notable legal battle with her ex-Johnny Depp where she was found guilty of defamation in a court of her peers. The DCEU has also essentially crumbled since the first film with scrapped projects and management changes. There have been delays, multiple rounds of reshoots, and all signs pointed to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom being more like Aquaman and the Lost Cause.
My expectations were low going into Lost Kingdom but surprisingly the result was a mildly enjoyable superhero film that I wouldn’t call great but wouldn’t necessarily label as terrible either. It’s just a very mid-movie. It does start strong with a blend of dazzling action, event recapping, and spots of humor, all set to bold and vibrant visuals. Early on this movie feels like it’s actually having fun with itself, and it translates on the screen very well. I was engaged, connected with the endless charm of Jason Momoa, and enjoying the nicely framed action sequences.
The Lost Kingdom eventually plays like a buddy action-comedy and for stretches it works. There’s a natural chemistry between Momoa and Wilson that helps land many (not all) of the attempts at humor. This story also brings these characters to land for longer stretches which was a unique change for this hero that traditionally does more of his work underwater. This gives Wilson and Momoa time to work off one another and I do think these scenes were the more genuinely fresh and enjoyable spots of the film. As mindless as they were. Seeing Wilson’s Orm learning to run on land or eating a bug as a prank from his brother, as juvenile as they were, did serve well for this film to lighten the tone since its dramatic intent was far too shallow.
This plot, as generic as it is from the jump, slowly begins to fall apart as the effects of clear reshoots and editing room changes show their effects. The villain arc with Manta returning is nothing more than a wash-and-repeat of the first film resulting in close to zero impact in this movie’s focal plot. The second act outside of spots of amusement from Momoa and Wilson is slow and sadly boring despite all the visual fluff. With Randall Park delivering some of the most on-the-nose exposition in the history of cinema.
Momoa is strong once again, he’s charismatic and plenty charming but he feels so much more lighthearted than he ever has in this role. He attempts to veer between joking and jovial to intense and emotional and it doesn’t work and really it only grows the divide between what this movie wants to be from an emotional aspect. This results in a film that starts by feeling like its having fun in creating a wild and unique comic-book movie, to closing by blatantly making fun of itself with a patchwork of self-aware jokes and reshoots.
When the final act kicks in and the melodrama amps up it’s far cheesier than it ever is compelling as story-arcs fall apart or fail to connect. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom does deliver spots of charm and long doses of strong visuals and when the action set-pieces kick in it’s a visual treat. It was also an added immersive element seeing it in 3D which I would recommend. However, there are also spots of messy visuals (natural for a film that’s 98% CGI) and its runtime far exceeds the needs of the story. So, in the end this sequel was just fine, and ultimately a bland send-off for a cinematic universe that was never quite able to get both feet off the ground to soar into success.
Grade: 6.5/10
CAST: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Randall Park, Temeura Morrison, Doplh Lundgren, Martin Short (voice), Jani Zhao, Amber Heard DIRECTOR: James Wan WRITER(S): James Wan, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jason Momoa, Thomas Pa’a Sibbett, Mort Weisinger (Created By), Paul Norris (Created By) DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes RATING: PG-13 (For sci-fi violence and some language) YEAR: 2023 LANGUAGE: English GENRE: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Anthony J. Digioia II © 2023 SilverScreen Analysis
