Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) Review

Aquaman and the Lost Interest

Let’s Start By Showing Y’all The Trailers Shall We?

You know what jason momoa makes a way better lobo than he does aquaman, so glad he’s getting to play Lobo. In the new supergirl, movie gets, we’ll see how he does.

Because also apparently lobo is his dream row apparently. Also, yes, I know.I have been holding off on this review. I don’t know why.

When the trailers for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom started coming out, I remember sitting there with the same energy I had for most late-stage DCEU movies, which was basically, “Well, I guess this is still happening.” By this point the DCEU was already on life support. Everyone knew James Gunn was coming in to reboot things, nobody knew what mattered anymore, and these last few movies felt less like important chapters in a cinematic universe and more like leftovers Warner Bros. still had to throw into theaters because they already spent the money.

The first Aquaman was not some masterpiece, but it was fun. It had ridiculous underwater kingdoms, giant crab armies, Patrick Wilson yelling underwater, Jason Momoa being Jason Momoa, and James Wan somehow taking one of DC’s easiest characters to make fun of and turning him into a billion-dollar movie. It was big, colorful, dumb, loud, and at least memorable. So even though I was not exactly dying to see Aquaman 2, I hoped it would at least capture some of that same goofy underwater adventure energy.

Instead, this movie felt like the cinematic equivalent of watching a fish slowly flop around on dry land.

Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

The movie follows Arthur Curry after he has become king of Atlantis and is now trying to balance ruling an underwater kingdom with being a husband, father, and superhero. Meanwhile, Black Manta returns with a new ancient weapon, the Black Trident, which begins corrupting him and leading him toward a lost underwater kingdom tied to an old evil force. In order to stop him, Arthur has to team up with his half-brother Orm, who was the villain of the first movie, and the two basically go on a buddy adventure across different underwater and surface locations.

On paper, that does not sound terrible. Aquaman and Orm teaming up could have been fun. Black Manta coming back for revenge could have been strong. Arthur having to protect his family while dealing with the responsibility of being king could have given the story some emotional weight. The problem is that the movie handles almost all of this in the most forgettable, rushed, messy way possible. It feels like a movie made from pieces of a better movie, but those pieces were edited together in a panic while everyone involved knew the universe was already dead.

Character Rundown

Jason Momoa is still Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and honestly, that is both a strength and a weakness at this point. He has charm, he has energy, and he is clearly trying to keep the movie alive through personality alone. The problem is the movie leans so hard into Arthur being this goofy dude-bro king that he starts to feel less like a character and more like an exaggerated version of himself. In the first movie, that approach worked better because Arthur still had an actual journey. Here, he mostly bounces between jokes, action scenes, and half-baked emotional moments.

Patrick Wilson as Orm is probably the best part of the movie, which is funny because he was the villain last time. The brother dynamic between Arthur and Orm is easily the most enjoyable part of the film. Their banter works better than most of the jokes, and Patrick Wilson seems to understand exactly what kind of ridiculous movie he is in. There are moments where I genuinely wished the entire movie had just focused more tightly on Arthur and Orm being forced to work together, because that is where the movie actually has some life.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta deserved a better movie. I like Black Manta as a villain, and I liked that he had a clear personal vendetta against Arthur. His hatred makes sense. His obsession makes sense. His suit still looks cool. But the movie saddles him with this ancient evil trident plot that makes him feel less like a personal revenge villain and more like a pawn for a generic world-ending threat. That is frustrating because Black Manta does not need that. He is already interesting because he hates Aquaman. Sometimes that is enough.

Amber Heard as Mera is barely in the movie, and whether that was because of behind-the-scenes drama, studio decisions, or reshoots, the result is obvious. Her role feels weirdly reduced, and the movie never really finds a natural way to work around it. Nicole Kidman and Temuera Morrison also return, but again, most of the supporting cast feels like they are just popping in so the movie can remind you they still exist.

Pacing / Episode Flow

The pacing is one of the biggest problems here because the movie feels both rushed and boring, which is honestly impressive in the worst way. Things are constantly happening, but very little actually feels important. The movie jumps from Atlantis politics to Black Manta searching for ancient technology to Arthur and Orm escaping places to random creature action scenes to environmental warnings to lost kingdom mythology, and yet none of it has the weight it should.

There is also this weird sense that chunks of the story are missing. Certain emotional beats happen too quickly, certain plot points feel underdeveloped, and some transitions feel like the movie is trying to sprint past its own problems before the audience can notice. Unfortunately, I noticed. A lot. The first Aquaman was messy too, but it had momentum and spectacle. This one has noise, but noise is not the same thing as excitement.

Pros

The best part of the movie is Arthur and Orm. Whenever Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson are together, the movie becomes more watchable. Their dynamic has a decent amount of comedy, tension, and reluctant brotherly energy. Orm being forced to deal with Arthur’s personality is fun, and Arthur dragging Orm into his chaotic world gives the movie some of its only genuinely entertaining moments.

Some of the visuals are still creative. The underwater world has always been one of the more visually distinct parts of the DCEU, and there are moments where you can still see James Wan’s imagination trying to break through. Certain creature designs are fun, and a few action beats have that big comic-book silliness that made the first movie enjoyable.

Black Manta still looks cool. I will give the movie that. The suit, the helmet, the red eyes, the weapons — visually, he remains one of the better-looking villains in this corner of DC. I just wish the movie gave him a stronger story instead of turning him into another villain chasing ancient evil power.

Cons

This movie has a gag where Aquaman has Ohm eat a cockroach, yeah so uh thats a gag. Sure its a gag if your gagging ar it, lolo.

The biggest issue with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is that it feels pointless. Not just because the DCEU was ending, although that definitely hurts it, but because the movie itself never feels like it has a strong reason to exist. It does not deepen Arthur in a meaningful way. It does not give Black Manta the revenge story he deserved. It does not make Atlantis more interesting. It does not push anything forward because there is nowhere left to push it.

The humor also does not work nearly as well as the movie thinks it does. There are jokes that land here and there, mostly between Arthur and Orm, but a lot of the comedy feels forced. The movie keeps trying to remind you how fun it is, which usually has the opposite effect. If you have to keep screaming “look how fun we are,” there is a decent chance I am not having fun.

The story is generic. The ancient lost kingdom, the evil artifact, the corrupted villain, the world-ending threat — all of it feels like superhero movie leftovers. There is nothing here that feels fresh, and even the environmental message feels clumsy. I understand what the movie is trying to say, but it is delivered with all the subtlety of someone throwing a brick through an aquarium.

The emotional stakes also feel weak. Arthur has a family now, he has a kingdom, he has responsibilities, but the movie never explores those things with enough depth. It brings them up when it needs drama, then rushes back to jokes and CGI action. The result is a movie that wants to be about legacy, family, brotherhood, revenge, leadership, and environmental destruction, but somehow makes all of that feel hollow.

Final Thoughts

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is bad. Not “kind of disappointing but still fun” bad. Not “maybe I’ll revisit this later and enjoy it more” bad. This is just a messy, forgettable, tired sequel that feels like it arrived years too late and with almost no real purpose. The first Aquaman worked because it was ridiculous but confident. It knew it was goofy and leaned into the underwater fantasy spectacle. This sequel feels like it is trying to recreate that energy, but everything feels weaker, cheaper emotionally, and more exhausted.

It also suffers from being one of the final gasps of the old DCEU. Watching it, you can feel the universe collapsing around it. There is no excitement for what comes next because everyone already knows this version of DC is basically done. That does not automatically make the movie bad, but it makes the emptiness feel even worse. It is hard to care about a sequel that barely seems to matter even to its own studio.

There are small things I liked. Arthur and Orm have moments. Black Manta looks cool. Some of the creature designs are fun. But none of that saves the movie. By the time it ended, I did not feel satisfied, entertained, or even angry in an interesting way. I just felt tired. This was one of those superhero movies where the credits roll and your first thought is, “Well, thank God that’s over.”

Rating

3/10

Spoiler Warning

Everything past this point contains spoilers for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Spoilers

The Black Trident storyline is one of the most frustrating parts of the movie because it takes Black Manta, a villain who already has personal motivation, and attaches him to a generic ancient evil plot. Black Manta wants revenge because Arthur let his father die in the first movie. That is enough. That is personal. That gives him emotional weight. But this movie decides he also needs to be influenced by an ancient king named Kordax and a lost kingdom frozen in ice, because apparently every superhero sequel needs a big glowing evil object now.

Arthur and Orm teaming up is easily the best part of the movie, and I wish the film trusted that more. Their relationship has actual development because Orm starts as someone who still sees himself as superior and slowly learns to respect Arthur in his own weird way. The problem is that the movie keeps surrounding that dynamic with weaker material. Every time the brothers start becoming fun, the plot drags them into another generic action sequence or exposition dump.

The ending also does not hit the way it should. Arthur publicly revealing Atlantis to the world should feel like a massive moment. This should be huge. This should change everything. Instead, because the DCEU is ending, it feels almost hilarious. Arthur reveals Atlantis to humanity, and I’m sitting there thinking, “Okay, and this matters where exactly?” There is no future payoff, no larger consequence, no real excitement, because the universe this belongs to is already getting packed into a cardboard box.

Black Manta’s defeat is also underwhelming. For a villain who has been built up across two movies as someone with deep hatred for Arthur, his final moments should have felt stronger. Instead, it all gets swallowed by the lost kingdom chaos and the ancient evil plot. I wanted a more personal ending between Arthur and Manta. What we got felt like another superhero finale where CGI things happen until the movie decides it is done.

And that really sums up the whole movie. Things happen. Loud things. Expensive things. Underwater things. But very little of it sticks. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom should have been a wild final underwater adventure for this version of the character. Instead, it feels like the DCEU limping to the finish line while everyone involved quietly hopes the reboot gets here soon.