“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” made for an entertaining family film that kept up with the spiraling projection of the DCEU.
The film picked up a year or two after the events of “Aquaman” (2018).
Continuing to rule over Atlantis, Aquaman (played by Jason Momoa) also starts a family with his wife Mera (played by Amber Heards. Seemingly, his life is going great.
However, Black Manta returns as the villain once again, finding the Black Trident that grants him abilities comparable to Atlantians.
He later surrenders his mind to Karshon, a villain defeated hundreds of years prior to the movie and that is now trapped in ice.
Learning new information from Karshon, Black Manta sets out on a mission to acquire an ancient power source that releases radiation to free Karshon by increasing the global temperature and melting the ice caps that he is trapped in.
This alerts Aquaman and the people of Atlantis, which leads to Aquaman breaking his half-brother Orm out of prison to aid in the fight against Black Manta.
This movie is overridden with corny jokes, funky-looking costume designs and a predictable plot that drown out the good aspects of the film.
The comedy in this movie was just like the first but more frequent and worse.
It is okay to have a funny character cracking jokes occasionally, but when 40% of all characters in the movie are there to be funny they ruin it.
The Brine King went from a serious character in the first movie to a complete joke in the second.
Every single word he spoke was in a joking manner and it ruined his character.
The costume design in this movie was also very strange. Black Manta’s henchmen adopted an underwater “Spaceballs” look that was horrendous.
Additionally, Aquaman’s classic green/gold suit and King Nereus’ armor looked awkwardly bulky.
On the other hand, Aquaman’s stealth suit, as well as Black Manta’s new suit, looked awesome on screen.
Now, for the plot, there were many admirable things that made for an entertaining superhero movie.
Family played a vital role in this film, with brotherhood, father-son and husband-wife relationships taking a significant role in the movie.
By the end of the movie, we see Aquaman and Orm make up, we see Aquaman protecting his son with his life and we see the love he has for his wife.
This part of the movie was heartwarming. Along with the importance of family, the movie also featured more lessons that the audience can take away from.
In the first film we see Aquaman leave Black Manta’s dad for dead, which leads to Black Manta seeking revenge for his father.In this movie, Aquaman is given the chance to save Black Manta and he offers his help, which he refuses, resulting in his death.
Aquaman being the bigger person and wanting to save the villain showed growth.
Another character that experienced growth was Dr. Stephen Shin.
In the first movie he was an Atlantis conspiracy theorist but, after being taken in by Black Manta, he is forced to use his research for evil. In the final fight of the movie, Shin puts his life on the line to save Aquaman’s infant son. Seeing him step up and do the right thing redeemed his character.
This movie also raises awareness for global warming.
Comments throughout the movie send the message that we should work together to undo the damage that has been done to both the skies and the seas by humans.
In the end, it was a fun watch, but by no means was it a good movie.
It had a few cool aspects like some new suits and a touching brotherhood, as well as some bad aspects like the humor, costume design and predictable plot.
With this being the final movie in the DCEU, the DC superhero fan base hopes for better projects in the future.
Overall rating: 4/10