Aquaman and
the Lost Kingdom

3 outta 5

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is apparently the final entry in the latest version of the DC Cinematic Universe that (retroactively) started with Man of Steel with yet another DC universe reboot on the horizon. The slate 2023 of DC films, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash and Blue Beetle, has had some fun in there, some better than others, and this second Aquaman outing lands somewhere in the middle. It certainly isn’t awful or unwatchable, the film is incredibly zippy and works as a amusing underwater buddy cop comedy. And so this version of the DC Cinematic universe does not go out with either a bang or a whimper, it just kinda goes. But this is a mostly entertaining exit for Aquaman.

Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is the Aquaman, the king of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. He is now spending most of his time above the seas, raising his son with his wife, Queen Mera (Amber Heard) and his father, Tom (Temuera Morrison). Unknown to Arthur, his old nemesis, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), has amassed an army and technology that is devastating the Earth’s oceans. Manta has been powered up by a Black Trident and going crazier talking to a long-dead underwater sea monster guy. To combat the threat of Black Manta, Arthur must retrieve his half-brother and former King of Atlantis, Orm (Patrick Wilson), from prison. But Orm isn’t the biggest fan of Aquaman as he thinks the Throne was rightfully his so Arthur must keep a close eye on his brother as they can defeat Black Manta together.

Momoa is still fantastically enjoyable as Aquaman, and his enthusiasm shows. The character has extreme goofball energy, even more than in the first film. Arthur refers to his new occupation as king as just “a job”, one that he feels takes time away from his adventuring across the seas. There’s lots of classic rock needle drops for various sequences of Arthur kicking ass, it is a little hokey and similar to the overabundance of classic needle drops in 2016’s Suicide Squad, but it fits Arthur’s character. Even seeing him with mundane tasks like taking care of a baby or hanging his elaborate golden Aquaman outfit on a clothesline to dry is amusing. And the end of the movie features Momoa hollering at the camera “I am Aquaman!” joyously and is quite engaging.

The film goes more of a buddy-cop vibe with Aquaman as the crazy guy and Wilson’s Orm as the straight man, perpetually annoyed by Arthur’s inability to stick to a plan. Also, Arthur keeps messing with Orm, like when he saves Orm from captivity, but Orm has been dehydrated and he asks Aquaman for something to drink. Arthur says that he had some water, but he drank it all because it’s hot above the surface which just makes Orm dejected. And there’s a funny bit when Orm even despises even the names of surface dweller’s food and Arthur tells him that his prejudice has kept him from experiencing life to the fullest. Then Arthur tells him that cockroaches are edible delicacies leading to a gag that pays off in the mid-credits scene. Their banter isn’t particularly innovative, but it is fun. The movie is so focused on Orm and Arthur, the other returning characters get left behind. Heard’s Mera is hanging around in the background, Morrison as the father has some lines about raising kids with Arthur at the start then is used to create plot jeopardy in the climax. The return of Nicole Kidman as Arthur’s mother is limited to exposition.

Mateen II can play various shades of menacing, and while Black Manta has only one motivation, to destroy Aquaman, he conveys it convincingly and Manta gets all the movie’s coolest shots. The design of Manta is straight from the comics and the bulbous head gives him an alien look. When Manta takes Arthur’s baby, it is a standard bad guy play, however in the comics history, one of the versions of Manta did kill Arthur’s son so it has more heft if one knows the source material. He gets a whole army of disposable minions, the only memorable one is Randall Park as a doctor who was obsessed with discovering Atlantis and ends up in over his head with the psycho Black Manta. Park a good actor and gets in solid moments, like when he tries to be tough to Arthur and Orm and then immediately surrenders when he’s sure they’re alone.

The spectacle in the movie is decent, even if it doesn’t look very realistic but it has a comic-booky vibe. All the underwater Atlantis stuff glows, and there’s lots of details like giant octopuses preparing fish. It is a bit weird that the fish and the Atlantis citizens in the movie eat fish, though. And Black Manta’s army of giant robots provide lots of boom, and the finale featuring a resurrected sea monster king guy has bombastic action moments. This is a fun entry of DC films, even if it isn’t memorable and will never be mentioned again in the newest DC reboot. But if one just wants a superpowered buddy comedy, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will do fine.