Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: A boring and disjointed conclusion to the old DC universe
2018's Aquaman was one of the surprisingly good box office draws in the world of superhero movies. After several years and at the very end of the mishandled and polarising run of the DC Extended Universe, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom concludes the tenure of that failed cinematic franchise as an underwhelming sequel with horrible pacing and the absence of an actually cohesive plot.
The movie picks up some years after the end of the first film, and shows Arthur Curry going about his life as the king of Atlantis and the father of a baby boy. Black Manta, the secondary villain from the previous film, seeks his revenge on Aquaman and stumbles upon an ancient king's trident, which might enable him to defeat Aquaman, albeit at the expense of destroying the entire world. And it's up to Arthur to stop Manta's plans, along with the help of his brother Orm, the primary antagonist from the first Aquaman movie.
That was a basic rundown of the plot, but to say that this movie has a well-realised story would be borderline falsehood. The story progresses so disjointedly and is paced so awkwardly that it all feels hectic yet anti-climactic at the same time. The entire movie feels very rushed, and the end product is a film which has a lot going on yet ends up being incredibly boring to watch.
The primary "narrative" involves the heroes banding together to stop an ancient tyrant ruler, who requires a mystical item (that grants power to the yielder yet also enables the ruler to control them) be returned to him so that he can be freed from his dormant state and take over the world. If that sounds familiar, it basically is a rip-off of the plot of The Lord of The Rings. That is the issue with this movie, it derives most of its storyline from better movies like The Lord of The Rings and Black Panther and does all of it significantly worse.
Character work and development is virtually non-existent in this film. The themes of "family" and "purpose" vaguely touched upon, such as Arthur's relationship with his brother, his ordeals as a father as well as his conflicting feelings towards being a ruler, but the pacing and writing prevent those potentially interesting aspects from being realised. Many of these moments are simply wrote off as (not very good) jokes.
The few positives I can find in this film are the performance of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta and a few entertaining scenes sprinkled throughout. Black Manta's revenge sub-plot from the first film had a lot of potential, but was unfortunately concluded in an unsatisfying way. The first movie had innovative and epically scaled set pieces and visual design which showcased the potential of the lore of Aquaman and Atlanteans. While this movie fails to carry over that same sense of awe, it still has some great visuals at certain points.
Overall, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is not entirely an unwatchable mess as there are some decent parts which may pique your interest and provide some enjoyment, but it offers very little in the storytelling department to make it a worthwhile watch. Which is a shame, considering the first film was genuinely good and this is officially the last movie in the DC Extended Universe before the upcoming franchise reboot in 2025. What could have been a solid way to end things with a bang, unfortunately ended things with a whimper.