Aquaman The Lost Kingdom
[4K/Digital Download]
You gotta give it up for Jason Momoa who’s made a career for himself being the handsome knucklehead. Also, you gotta give it up for him for bringing hope to the fledgling DC Snyderverse with Aquaman. Snyder’s run wasn’t exactly filled with highlights, but some of the movies in his run at least were successful. I don’t know how much I liked the first Aquaman, but I remember there being some great action sequence. But, the universe spoke, and Warner Brothers saw an opportunity to soak up their sponge with an Aquaman sequel. So, here we are.
Unfortunately, The Lost Kingdom doesn’t really have any new ideas to bring to the table. It’s he same villain from the last movie. That guy with the big helmet we didn’t care about. He is sad his dad died in the previous movie and now he wants to kill Aquaman “and all he holds dear” because he killed his daddy. This time, however, there’s an alternate kingdom (i.e. The Lost Kingdom), full of bad guys, that Black Manta can use to help him kill Aquaman. Got it? Good.
The main takeaway from The Lost Kingdom is just how little translates from the comic book to the screen. The designs are all terrible, and the underwater special effects still look awkward and unfriendly to the eyes. The different underwater characters are laughably bad, especially when they take themselves so seriously (like Nereus and Atlana). This whole thing is very ridiculous, which at least Momoa plays with at the beginning “My thing? I talk to fish.” Look, I hate picking on the guy, but what a bummer for Atlanteans to be ruled by this clueless bro, who just wants to punch things and ride motorcycles.
There is a highlight in Lost Kingdom which, surprisingly, came in the form of Patrick Wilson in the entire second act. He brought a sense of lightheartedness and humor to the movie and made me realize that had Lost Kingdom been a comedy, it might have worked a lot better. And, the pointless heist involving Kingfish and the rainforest action sequence was pretty cool to watch. For that reason alone, the movie might be worth watching.
Aquaman The Lost Kingdom is just too lacking in ideas and runs the same tired beats to make it an interesting movie. And this is how the Snyderverse ends. With little bubbles coming to the surface.
