Aside from getting married and having a son, Arthur Curry (played by Jason Momoa) has been the King of Atlantis for a few years now but he’s having a hard time building the idealogical bridge between his two worlds, the land and the sea. Meanwhile, David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) still seeks revenge for the death of his father at the hands of Aquaman. While searching for Atlantis, Kane goes through a discovery event that leads him to the Black Trident, possessing him and promising him the power to destroy Aquaman. Fast forward a few months and Kane, as Black Manta, attacks Atlantis for it’s orichalcum reserves. Orichalcum powers Kane’s ships and machines but it also emits so much greenhouse gas that it nearly caused planetary extinction when used by an Atlantean kingdom in ancient times. To beat Kane, Aquaman must break his brother (Patrick Wilson) out of prison so the two of them can team up to defeat Black Manta and secure a safe life for his family and the Atlantean people.
Unfortunately, James Wan has made something here that nobody can be proud of. The actors did the best they could with what they had but what they had was so pedestrian you can’t help but feel sorry for everyone involved. Sure they got paid but at what cost?
Put simply, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is a gigantic waste of two hours. Other than Momoa’s charm, acting ability and charisma, this movie has nothing going for it. The writing is amateur, the special effects look like they were done in 2004, the editing is curious to say the least and the story is so unnecessarily complicated that it’s maddening.
The only reason this isn’t the worst movie of 2023 is because Momoa is so easy to root for. You actively want it to get better with each and every scene but it just doesn’t. There were maybe three laughs throughout the entire two hour run time and twice as many eye rolls. When the biggest crowd reaction is the eating of a roach, that tells you all you need to know. People wonder why there’s fatigue in the super hero genre? Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is one of the reasons why.
JKG SCORE: 2.0
Untitled Film Project 