Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom (2023) — Not as bad as people made it out to be
It’s still not good, though.
I enjoyed the first Aquaman when it came out in 2018. A large-scale audiovisual extravaganza, an unabashedly cheesy and FUN foray into the underwater world of the DCEU, helmed by James Wan and led by Jason Mamoa, that went on to surprise everyone by grossing over a billion dollars.
Fast forward to 2024 and the DCEU is dead. The cinematic body turned into a zombie and crept along for years after ultimately being put down and laid to rest. The final nail in the coffin is Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.
Granted, it’s not as bad as the impression I got from the general response and that took me by surprise.
It’s a by-the-numbers superhero flick that is busy rushing to the finish line. A cookie-cutter affair to the core that doesn’t enthrall nor does it disgust. In every sense of the phrase: a mixed-bag experience.
Since the superhero blockbuster film genre is floundering — by and large —, this mediocre offering is right at home with its siblings The Flash and Black Adam, and its cousins Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania, Thor Love and Thunder, and Black Panther Wakanda Forever.
Inconsistent visuals with downright awful instances of CGI despite gigantic production budgets, lazy and poor writing riddled with incoherency and asinine world-building, and relying on bankable celebrities to fill in the seats, yes, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom slots right in perfectly.
The only difference is that, unlike its MCU cousins which had a solidly built connected universe completely ruined by the new lot resulting in a stronger emotional kickback, the DCEU never properly took off and so, currently at its grave, without that attachment, The Lost Kingdom and its siblings fare better in comparison.
When you don’t care, you are spared the disappointment.
What worked:
- Arthur and Orm’s buddy comedy routine and sibling rekindling. The highlight of the movie and the humour here landed the most.
- Patrick Wilson as Orm. Easily the best performance in the entire feature.
- Jason Mamoa, when he worked — mostly his scenes with Patrick Wilson.
- The practical effects and sets. They looked nice.
- Some of the CGI looked nice too.
- Moments that showed the regular life of the sea folk in various locations of this underwater world.
What didn’t work:
- Manta’s revenge storyline. Lame. He was better in the first movie. His dark magic juiced-up version here packs a feeble punch whereas his weaker version in the first movie was a relative wallop.
- The villain holding the strings. Even lamer, especially when the plot had the ingredients to make it worthwhile. Sibling rivalry juxtaposed with Arthur and Orm’s one; a solid thematic throughline. But nope, a quick lousy flashback is all you get.
- Jason Mamoa, when he didn’t work. He felt less like Aquaman and more like himself in real life.
- The humour. Often it fell flat on its face.
- Most of the CGI didn’t look nice. Too fake, despite some of the action sequences not being awful.
- Dramatic portions. Aside from Arthur and Orm’s ones, they were cringe and awful.
- Amber Heard
Wrapping this up, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom surprised me. It surprised me because I expected it to be far worse than it ended up being. It’s still not good but combined with the DCEU being dead and any attachments I had having been cut turned it into a mediocre ride.
This movie just didn’t care about doing anything other than the basic shtick and that definitely has to do with all the issues it faces during its production cycle. I don’t know what the original version by James Wan would have been like (wish I could see it) and going from the first Aquaman, I have a feeling it would have been better.
I wouldn’t recommend this unless you have 2 hours of boredom coming up and want something brainless to ease you through it. Or if you’re a completionist and want to put this whole DCEU saga to rest.
And if I were to rate Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, I’d give it a 5/10.
