At last, we have come to the final chapter in the DCEU.
“The Lost Kingdom,” takes place few years after Aquaman, AKA Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), became king of Atlantis and prevented a war between the ocean and surface worlds. Now a husband to Mera (Amber Heard) and father to a baby son, Arthur is trying to find a good balance between being a monarch and a dad.
At the same time, a threat emerges in the form of an old enemy, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen). After losing to Arthur in part 1, Manta is out for revenge and plans to do so with an evil trident. To stop the villain, Arthur partners with his brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), who he defeated for the throne.
“Aquaman 2” feels like a mishmash of ideas pulled from several other genre movies. Examples include a brother breaking his dark sibling out of a prison and them working together like in the second “Thor,” and the heroes visiting a shady outlaw hangout like that in “Star Wars,” complete with its own Jabba the Hutt-like character.
Don’t just take it from this review either, there’s a point where the ocean hero calls his brother “Loki,” which suggests the MCU exists in the DC Universe considering that Orm doesn’t act much like a God of Mischief, but rather a warlord. Even if the film’s derivative aspects can be forgiven, though, “Aquaman” still doesn’t work all that well.
There are some fun moments between the bickering brothers as they go along their journey, sure. Yet that journey is just a generic, predictable adventure with little sense of wonder or discovery, and along for the quest is a superhero who isn’t exactly the most best the genre has to offer.
The fact is, this version of Aquaman can only go so far cinematically. When Momoa was brought on board, it seemed like a decision to give audiences a cooler Aquaman, which was basically a surfer-bro with a wild side.
While the edgier version of the character won people over in 2016’s “Justice League” and the first “Aquaman,” thanks in large part to Momoa’s charm, it’s worn out here. It doesn’t feel like the character has evolved much since his initial appearance, so his unrefined personality is played out.
At the very least, though, his banter with the character Orm is amusing. Plus, Patrick Wilson is fine in the film and the chemistry he has with Momoa makes their brotherly rivalry convincing.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is a let down. Nicole Kidman seems to be phoning it in as Aquaman’s mom, Amber Heard is sidelined for most of the film as the protagonist’s wife Mera, Randall Park is annoying as a bumbling scientist and Mateen continues to be completely lackluster as the villain Black Manta.
As for the action, some of it works, but there’s plenty that doesn’t. Moments with more grounded action, such as Aquaman and the villain dueling with tridents, are enjoyable. However, the larger scale battles with a ton of CGI are harder to follow and become messy.
“The Lost Kingdom” has its pros in a few action set pieces and the sibling relationship between Arthur and Orm. There are more cons overall, though, making this one not really worth the investment of one’s tim. 2 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 
Good review. I felt that this movie was pretty underwhelming and undercooked throughout the entire process. I personally loved the first Aquaman movie, but this sequel was definitely poorly executed and clunkily handled. Everything about it felt rushed and haphazardly mess. Such a shame that this was to be the “last hurrah” for the DCEU by ending on a sour note.
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