I’ve been on the fence about seeing “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” since its first slew of trailers hit last year and finally took a chance to see it last week.
Needless to say, I’m glad I only went during the matinee viewing and don’t have much to report in the hopes of swaying you to see it either.
I’m pretty sure they just let Jason Momoa run wild in Hawaii and New Zealand with cameras just there to catch the footage.
There are plenty of comedic moments sprinkled throughout this film that seem to hit their comedic timing off the mark more often than being on target.
Still, it isn’t the worst movie I’ve seen in the past few months.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a superhero film based on the DC character Aquaman.
Produced by DC Studios, Atomic Monster, and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sequel to Aquaman (2018), and the 15th film and final installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).
The film was directed by James Wan from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, and stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman, alongside Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, Martin Short, Pilou Asbæk, and Nicole Kidman.
Clocking in at 124 minutes long, it’s also rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some language.
Several years after becoming king of Atlantis, Arthur Curry (Momoa) married Mera (Heard) and had a son, Arthur Jr., while splitting his life between land and sea.
Meanwhile, David Kane / Black Manta (Abdul-Mateen) continues to seek revenge against Arthur for his father’s death, working with marine biologist Stephen Shin (Park) to find Atlantean artifacts.
Kane finds a black trident that possesses him, its creator promising to give him the power to destroy Arthur.
Five months later, Manta attacks Atlantis and breaks into its orichalcum reserves to power Shin’s Atlantean machines.
Arthur learns that this usage of orichalcum, which emits high quantities of greenhouse gases, has not only raised planetary temperatures and caused extreme weather and ocean acidification but nearly caused a planetary extinction in the past when used by an ancient Atlantean kingdom.
To learn where Manta is hiding, Arthur breaks his half-brother Orm (Wilson) out of prison.
The duo seeks out information on where Kane has holed up and the brothers have to work together despite their differences to get to the root of the problem with a few hilarious snippets of banter between them, too.
Luckily, information leads them to a volcanic island in the South Pacific, where they stumble across Manta’s hideout, the stolen orichalcum, and the black trident.
Orm learns the trident was created by Kordax (Asbæk), the brother of King Atlan and ruler of the lost kingdom of Necrus.
Kordax was imprisoned with blood magic following a failed attempt to usurp the throne.
Realizing the blood of any of Atlan’s descendants could release Kordax, the pair learn that Manta has kidnapped Arthur Jr.
Naturally, it’s a race against Manta and time to save Arthur, Jr. and to keep Kordax from being freed – a very basic and cliché sort of conflict.
Still, there are more obstacles in the way and a final test for the brothers – will Orm betray them all or not?
Overall, I think if you aren’t a die-hard DCEU fan, then feel free to skip this until it comes out on DVD or to stream.
