The first Aquaman movie’s only good ideas were the casting of Jason Momoa and go-for-broke visual overkill and in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom that’s pretty much it, again.
When Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) discovers a mystical black trident he sets about freeing the kingdom of Necrus to get his revenge on Aquaman. Meanwhile, new father Aquaman, as king of Atlantis, is trying to convince the undersea kingdoms to make contact with the terrestrial world so they can work together to save the oceans from pollution. When Black Manta steals some deadly fuel from Atlantis, Aquaman decides to free his half-brother Orm Marius (Patrick Wilson) to pursue him and prevent the end of the world. But you won’t care.
It’s hard to imagine how someone could make a film as fundamentally silly as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom as boring as it is, but James Wan has managed it. The film’s pace is so breakneck that it becomes a tiresome blur, with dialogue rendered incomprehensible by gloopy effects and non-stop action so weightless, repetitive and visually confusing that it never means a thing. A film that can make an onscreen personality like Momoa seem dull is achieving a remarkable feat, but it’s nothing you want to experience firsthand. There is also the obvious feeling of Production Hell throughout, with the divisive Amber Heard making only the most token appearances, a general sense that every other scene was re-shot and some beery product placement that is so conspicuous that you are left wondering if it’s a satirical gesture.
In terms of visuals, the film is a mixed bag. There’s a lot of incredible creativity on display, with loads of fun undersea creatures and wacky monsters, but too often, everything is buried in a shower of CGI that makes it impossible to understand. Quite a few shots are genuinely stunning, but the film rushes through its locations so quickly that you never get a chance to really enjoy them. Performances are adequate, with Patrick Wilson outshining the rest of the cast, but the editing and pacing ruin whatever joy there is to be had.
If you liked the first Aquaman movie as a sort of schlocky phantasmagoria then it’s possible you might find something salvageable about Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but ordinary audiences are likely to just see it as a complete wreck.