Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Review: Brother bonding can’t keep DCEU film above water

The DCEU as we know it comes to a seemingly unceremonious end with Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.

Jason Mamoa and Patrick Wilson‘s brotherly chemistry as Author Curry and Orm is the only aspect of The Lost Kingdom that succeeds. The banter between the brothers is pleasant enough, but The Lost Kingdom never dives beneath the surface. There are opportunities to dig deep into Orm’s distrust of Arthur in a similar manner to how the MCU handles Loki and Thor. Mamoa and Wilson do their best to provide some depth to their relationship. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t slow down enough to dig into their issues.

The story in The Lost Kingdom is pretty simple. Arthur is doing his best to balance being a father and king of Atlantis. Meanwhile, David Kane’s (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) quest for vengeance continues. He eventually stumbles upon a black trident that gives him the power to fight back against Atlantis. Under the influence of the triton’s control, Kane begins stealing precious resources that cause global warming events across the planet. Without any answers, Arthur is forced to break his brother out of prison to save the planet.

The Lost Kingdom starts from an interesting place. Arthur trying to keep Atlantis from fighting the surface world while being a new father is compelling. Unfortunately, Director James Wan and writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick place the lion share of the story on Kane aka Black Manta. Abdul-Mateen is a terrific actor. However, I don’t remember a villain’s plan failing so spectacularly. Not a single element of his plan ends up working.

Amber Heard returns as Mera. While her role is greatly reduced from the first film, she’s still in The Lost Kingdom a fair amount. Heard still has fine chemistry with Mamoa. However, shifting the focus to Orm and Arthur’s relationship is the right choice.

The CGI and action sequences aren’t great. Similar to the first film, the most visually interesting sequences happen on land, not under the ocean. Unfortunately, most of the scenes take place underwater. Even The Little Mermaid has a more interesting visual identity compared to The Lost Kindom. Not a single action sequence stands out.

Unfortunately, brainless fun and breezy banter aren’t enough to keep The Lost Kingdom afloat. The Lost Kingdom is easily the weakest DC film released in 2023 behind Blue Beetle and The Flash.

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Review Score: 5

Average

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the depths of Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom. The DC films are available to stream on Max.

Balance between Atlantis and Surface World

Outside of the brotherly adventure, the politics of Atlantis is easily the most interesting element of The Lost Kingdom.

Arthur is king but faces obstacles from the council. He wants Atlantis to make its presence known to the surface world. With Atlantis and the surface world united, they could heal the planet from the damage caused by Black Manta. The council tells Arthur that if Atlantis decides to reveal itself it will be as an act of war, not peace.

Meanwhile, Arthur is also a new father. Arthur splits his time between Atlantis and his father Tom’s (Temuera Morrison) lighthouse where he raises his son with his wife Mera. Mamoa gets to show off his charming side opposite his son.

Honestly, everything up to the part of the film where Black Manta finds the trident is pretty solid. Unfortunately, once Black Manta attacks Atlantis, the political ramifications aren’t touched on again.

Black Manta finds The Lost Kingdom

Black Manta’s only goal remains to kill Aquaman and destroy his family. To take his quest for revenge to the next level, he goes on a treasure hunt of sorts and finds a black trident. The trident is infused with the spirit of a dead king.

With the help of Dr. Stephen Shinn,(Randall Park) Black Manta retrofits ancient underwater tech and begins stealing important resources. Dr. Shinn’s goal is to prove the existence of Atlantis. He doesn’t approve of Black Manta’s tactics. Unfortunately, he’s powerless to resist Black Manta’s plan.

The resources Black Manta is stealing to fuel his war machine is Orichalcum. Black Manta’s methods, under the influence of the dead king of  Necrus,  involve heating the Earth’s surface to an alarming degree.

Black Manta’a quest for vengeance sucks the air out of the film. Anytime the film begins to build momentum, Black Manta returns and drowns The Lost Kingdom in his wake.

The Bond Between Brothers

While predictable, the dynamic between the Orm and Arthur is fun to watch.

Arthur convinces his mother (Nicole Kidman) and King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) to break Orm out of prison. Once out, the two brothers work together to track down Black Manta. The Lost Kingdom moves at such a breakneck pace, that there’s little time to dive into the issues between Arthur.

Orm still resents Arthur for how he rules the kingdom. However, he mostly goes along with Arthur’s plan. The one element that holds back the pairing is Arthur doesn’t seem to have many issues with Orm. He breaks Orm out and suddenly they’re both pretty chummy with each other.

The lack of conflict between the brothers makes the climax more predictable. At least Mamoa and Wilson make the dynamic between the brothers a fun one to watch. Even if opportunities to dive into the issues in the relationship are overlooked or joked about.

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom final thoughts

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom starts on the right foot but slowly drowns in the wake of poor CGI, bad writing and a terrible villain in Black Manta. Still, the Orm-Arthur adventure is fun enough to watch as long as you don’t put too much thought into the rest of the film