Movie Review: 'Aquaman 2 The Lost Kingdom' is Bad

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom (2023)

Directed by James Wan

Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Will Beall

Starring Jason Mamoa, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Release Date December 21st, 2023

Published December 29th, 2023

Wow! Aquaman 2 The Lost Kingdom is quite bad. I truly did not care for this DCEU sequel to what wasn't a bad first film. The sequel is lazy and dimwitted, ponderous and often quite ugly to look at. It's everything we've come to dislike about modern comic book blockbusters. The worst element is the CGI, a rubbery mess of indecipherable visuals and some of the worst fight scenes since Michael Bay assaulted our senses in the Transformers franchise. The biggest disappointment, however, is director James Wan, a supremely talented director who appears to be on complete autopilot in this lazy sequel.

The film begins with a hacky sitcom monologue which sets up the new dynamic of the Aquaman movie universe. Aquaman, AKA, Arthur Curry (Jason Samoa), delivers a monologue that appears to break the fourth wall except that it is couched as a dialogue with his new baby, Arthur Jr. He's bringing the baby up to speed on where we stand now with Arthur as the King of Atlantis, hating the restrictions of being King and finding ways to be the Arthur of old, a superhero who fights evil and protects the good. His wife, Hera (Amber Heard), is also around... somewhere.

Much of the early portion of the film is Arthur with his baby and sharing beers with his dad, Tom (Temeura Morrison). That is until, David Kane, ,AKA, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), makes his presence felt. He's somewhere in Antarctica searching for The Lost Kingdom. With the aid of a genius scientist, Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park), and the effects of Global Warming, he does find something, an ancient weapon called The Black Trident. The possessed weapon begins to infect Black Manta's mind, using his hatred for Aquaman to drive him to free the Lost Kingdom from a centuries long curse.

In order to find Black Manta, Arthur must do the unthinkable, break his brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), out of a desert prison where he's been held since the end of the last movie. Thanks to the power of lazy screenwriting, Orm knows where to find Black Manta, or the Star Wars cantina where someone else knows where Manta is. It is one of the most boring prison breaks in movie history. It's remarkably by the numbers, hampered by bad CGI, and wildly underwhelming villains guarding Orm. Same can be said for the visit to a pirate bar featuring rejected Star Wars aliens.

Aquaman 2 The Lost Kingdom is a shockingly thudding bore. Where the first film embraced a bit of the absurdity of Aquaman and leaned into the party bro energy of star Jason Mamoa, Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom spends time trying to take Arthur/Aquaman seriously. Thus, we get tonally bizarre moments where we whipsaw from ponderous melodrama to Arthur being a big dork. Mamoa is not terrible, honestly, his work is what keeps Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom from worst of the year levels, but he's far from good enough to make this worth anyone's time. I like Arthur the bro-dork far more than Arthur the dad or Arthur the King.

The elephant in the room in Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom is the needless working around of Amber Heard. The filmmakers appear desperate to downplay Heard after she lost the P.R proxy war with her abusive ex, Johnny Depp. Therefore, we end up awkwardly wondering where Hera is in several big scenes until the movie cannot escape her after her son is kidnapped by the baddies. It's only my projection, I'm sure, but I felt as if I could feel how awkward the set was when Heard is onscreen. She's upset by everyone walking on eggshells, they're worried that her bad P.R is going to sink the movie. It's all a weird vibe.

That said, Heard was never going to be the real problem with Aquaman 2 The Lost Kingdom. The biggest problem is a disinterested director, boringly going through the motions of overly familiar scenes in a deeply predictable plot. The excitement and color the first Aquaman are almost completely gone, replaced by a sense of obligation, as if everyone were just fulfilling their contract and are eager to get on to projects that they actually care about. Poor Amber Heard tries but cannot get anyone to even try to match her energy and she ends up looking desperate and alone on screen.

The DC Movie Universe, the one shaped by Zack Snyder, ends with a whimper, a sigh, and a shrug. It ends as an obligation that no one seems to have wanted to fulfill. The DC Movie Universe rarely showed the kind of promise that marked the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it did work sometimes and the first Aquaman movie was one of those elements that did work. Jason Mamoa found the character of Arthur/Aquaman by embracing the absurdity of the character. Meanwhile, Mamoa's hunky good looks and giant muscles made a character who has often been a punchline among comic book fans into a formidable hero. Mostly though, he was a big goofy bro. Mamoa's bro-dork Aquaman was fun in the Snyderverse and in his first spinoff movie but that sense of fun is almost entirely absent from the clumsy, half-assed sequel.

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