Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom comes with great responsibilities. Aside from matching the expectations set by its 2018 predecessor Aquaman, the film also had to satisfy the fans of the DCEU, being the last product of the lineup. The film’s journey to the theatres was further obstructed by the change of DC leaders, reshoots, controversies surrounding the lead cast, and... of course, the pandemic too. Despite all these challenges, the film delivers and as the film’s director had shared in the promotional interviews, it is indeed ‘a James Wan film at the end of the day.’
Make no mistake, when I say this I am not comparing the film to his superior works like Saw, Conjuring films or even Malignant. In fact, it would be unfair to draw such a comparison as Aquaman 2 would score very low when pitted against the novelty of these films. However, it is the seamless blend of humour, drama, and action that keeps the final DCEU film afloat despite the severe shortcomings in form of the predictability.
Though the source material of all the DC universe films is majorly comics, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom carries a heavy The Lord Of The Rings hangover. While Kordax and his army resemble Sauron and his orcs, the black trident possessed by Black Manta here is assumably the equivalent of the precious ring. The trident and ring have a lot more in common than what meets the eye. Both of them bring out the evil in the bearer and turn them extremely possessive over the newly acquired relic.
Aside from these heavy inspirations in the story, the film also suffers from the dearth of original dialogues. Even though the exchanges are effectively funny in places, it doesn’t take us long to remember a similar dialogue from a classic film. However, the damage incurred by the extremely familiar writing is salvaged by the invested performances of Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, and the antagonist Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. It is the effortless portrayal of the love-hate relationship of the half-brothers that makes Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom a compelling watch.
I also found David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick’s efforts to sandwich ingredients of horror in this superhero adventure to be quite interesting. James Wan also hits it out of the park whenever the narrative ventures into his forte, ensuring a visual feast that merges the mythical and scary elements into a delectable spectacle.
Though at many places it feels like the makers have traded nuanced storytelling for the visual extravaganzas.
While not fully living up to its predecessor’s expectations, the film provides ample thrills and a fairly entertaining farewell to the current era of the DCEU. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, despite facing stormy waters, emerges as one of the better live-action superhero films in recent times. It bids farewell to the besieged DCEU with a visually stunning and action-packed adventure and leaves us with a hope for the fresh lineup in the new DC Universe films, headed by James Gunn.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park
Director: James Wan
Rating: 2.5/5 stars