Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Temuera
Intro:
...a big, fun, knowingly silly slab of studio superhero madness that anchors itself with enough emotion and characterisation to keep things on course ...
If The Flash was the last strange, strangulated dying breath of what was termed the DCEU, then Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is the final reminder that this deeply troubled superhero franchise was always at its best when it focused on its singular tentpole characters rather than entering into the complicated machinations of having them team up together. The first Wonder Woman film, the much-debated Man Of Steel, James Gunn’s largely self-contained The Suicide Squad (and its TV branch-off Peacemaker), and Aquaman were all solid, coherent works indicating that the DCEU worked best when it had tunnel vision. Boasting (spoiler alert!) no cameos, no links to existing (and definitely not future) projects, and a sense of fun particular to nothing else but itself, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (like its predecessor) stands entertainingly alone, and entertainingly tall. High on the same Indiana Jones-style pacing and rollicking brand of swashbuckling fun that made the first film such a joy, director James Wan throws pretty much everything at the wall with Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, and most of it sticks.
Kicking off very amusingly with Aquaman (Jason Momoa once again literally explodes with charisma and personality, nailing it as both action man and comedic force) struggling as an almost-single-parent (due perhaps more to Amber Heard’s ugly, career-marring public spat with Johnny Depp than anything else), complete with nappy changing and random piss-spurts, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom quickly ramps up with the return of the villainous Black Manta (excellent instant-gravitas-machine Yahya Abdul Mateen II), who is out to take Aquaman down. This involves some convoluted business involving an ancient trident, the titular lost kingdom of zombie monster things and its evil ruler, a plot to accelerate global warming, and, well, the destruction of the world. It also involves the elevation of the first film’s villain and Aquaman’s half-brother Orm (the solid as always Patrick Wilson) to near co-lead status as the film takes on a charming Thor-Loki (it’s even cheekily referenced in dialogue), mismatched buddies dynamic. There’s a bit of work for Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren and Amber Heard to do too, but this is mainly about Momoa and Wilson, who work very, very well together.
Proving once more that Australian director James Wan really knows what to do when it comes to action, humour, a gargantuan budget, and pre-existing IP, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom retains all of the splashy charm of its predecessor while layering in more than enough new stuff to keep things fresh and worthwhile. The script by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (incorporating story elements provided by Wan and Momoa) enjoyably and cannily never lets up. It’s a big, fun, knowingly silly slab of studio superhero madness that anchors itself with enough emotion and characterisation to keep things on course for its entire duration, thanks in no small part to Jason Momoa’s larger-than-life screen persona. The only real bummer about Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is the sad fact that there won’t be a third film, and also the manner in which it acts as a painful reminder of how disastrously Warner well and truly sank its DC franchise.
