TL;DR – While Aquaman is quite fun in places (the whole volcano fight), you could feel that they struggled to find the right tone, so it bounces all over the place and never settles into its rhythm. Also, it can’t escape the fact that it feels fruitless watching it because you know it is about to get hit by a big re-do button.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Review –

Oh my, look, a lot is going on with this film that is not its fault. It did not go into production knowing that it would be the final entry of the DCEU, and much like The New Mutants, it does not deserve that kind of legacy. But we can’t go into it ignoring all the stuff around it because I brought that baggage in, and I don’t think I am alone here.

So to set the scene, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is now living two lives. By day, he is the King of Atlantis with all the responsibilities and limitations that come with it. But at night, he is a father to a son they had with Mera (Amber Heard). This is not an excellent combination for a sustainable life. All it would take is one issue to torpedo everything. Enter Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who has had Dr Stephen Shin (Randall Park) search the globe for Atlantean tech so he can repair his suit when he discovers an even greater power lurking in the ice.   

Now, I am going to be quite critical here, but that is not to say that there were a couple of nuggets here that got me through the film. The first is that Jason Momoa was clearly having so much fun here, and those moments when they let him go wild are the best in the film. I wish there were more of Curry and Orm (Patrick Wilson) growing as brothers because the volcano fight is the height of the film. The visual effect was also generally quite good. Atlantis still feels like a sort of magical place, and I do like the creature creation around the ocean denizens. Also, I am here for more sassy infiltrating octopuses, and Randall Park doing his best to keep the narrative working.

However, it is clear that they struggled with the screenplay because the film could not decide what tone it wanted to be. It oscillates from serious to jovial in the same scene. Different actors are in different movies, and there is no consistent throughline throughout the film. You can feel the movie swerving around, unable to find its lane, bar the product placement for Guinness Beer. In addition to this, it never felt that there were any real stakes in the film to care about; they even struggled to make the audience care for Atlantis. Some editing choices felt ripped from a mid-2000s Sci-Fi TV Show that had to use them to cover budget shortfalls.

The tonal whiplash would have been an issue, but if there was any substance going in under the hood. But I am not sure that it did. It tried to say something about climate change but didn’t know what it wanted to say. It tried to say something about global politics and power but could not even shell out for the licence to show the UN Building. There is the standard fantasy backstory that clashes with the family dynamics that feel more forced than anything else. Unfortunately, you could feel the audience in the room just not connect to anything that was going on.

In the end, do we recommend? Unfortunately, not. There are some fun moments here and there. It just never comes together as a whole. I do feel sad that it has been lumped with this legacy that it does not deserve, but I hope DC can finally find its feet because it has been sad watching this slow decline over the years. If you liked Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, we would recommend to you The Legend of Baron To’a.       

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 


Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Directed by – James Wan
Screenplay by – David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Story by – James Wan, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jason Momoa & Thomas Pa’a Sibbett
Based on – Characters from DC
Music by – Rupert Gregson-Williams
Cinematography by – Don Burgess
Edited by – Kirk Morri
Production/Distribution Companies – DC Studios, Atomic Monster, The Safran Company, Domain Entertainment, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros Pictures.
Starring – Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, Martin Short & Nicole Kidman with Vincent Regan, Jani Zhao, Indya Moore, Pilou Asbæk & John Rhys-Davies
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13