Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: A DCEU Retrospective (Part 16)
Rating – 3/10
**SPOILERS**
During my last entry of the DCEU Retrospective, I said Blue Beetle was the best DCEU movie of 2023. However, due to having never seen Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom at the time, I acknowledged that said statement could end up being false and I would subsequently eat my words. That being said, I felt confident that this would not be the case.
All this to say, my expectations were low but Jesus Christ!
One more time, welcome back to the DCEU Retrospective, where after 10 years, the DC Extended Universe is over. If you’ve read the most recent entries, you have an idea of the context. A soft reboot is imminent, Warner Bros Discovery still has a bunch of DCEU movies to release, they’ve just been kinda sending them out hoping some people will care enough to make a return on their investment, so far no one really has.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is not an exception to this. It did however have a ridiculously troubled journey to the big screen, almost as rough as that of The Flash. For one thing, it encountered several delays, the first two of which were due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Warner Bros/Discovery Merger. In mid 2022, the film went through several test screenings that resulted in mixed reactions, leading to recuts and reshoots. During this time, both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton would shoot cameos as their respective Batman’s, as at the time no one knew if The Flash was acting as a total reset and who would be playing Batman by the time Lost Kingdom came out (in the end, neither Batman appears here). Then, much like The Flash, the film got hit with its own bit of actor related controversy, leading to further recuts.
In the end, we’re left with a butchered film that’s blatantly been torn apart and stitched back together a few times, lacking the cohesiveness needed to tie its sparse threads of quality together. And I do stand by the opinion that the reshoots and recuts aren’t what sunk Aquaman 2. On the whole, this just doesn’t have the creativity and out-there ridiculousness of the first Aquaman, making it feel like a downgrade in almost every regard.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is again directed by James Wan, and sees Jason Momoa return as Arthur Curry/Aquaman. This time, Arthur, his family, and the kingdom of Atlantis come under attack from returning enemy Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who is actively speeding up the effects of climate change. To stop him, Arthur must track him down with the help of the other main villain of the first film, his half brother Orm (Patrick Wilson). To their credit, these three actors are probably the best part of the film, particularly Momoa. Unfortunately, that really isn’t saying much, as while they’re all trying hard with the material, the poor writing and extensive recuts gives them very little to work with.
While the script for the first Aquaman had its flaws, there were plenty of highpoints to distract from them and keep them from dragging the rest of the film down. In the sequel, the script doesn’t have that advantage, and it's hard to ignore the various jokes that just don’t land, and some of the worst exposition in the entire DCEU. There is very little attempt to make the exposition feel organic. It feels very much like a series of lectures to keep the audience informed, awkwardly spliced in with the actual plot. As for the plot, several aspects seem to dip in and out when convenient. The plot begins due to a plague afflicting Atlanteans globally, however that isn’t mentioned again beyond the first act. There’s also an Atlantean council that Arthur comes to blows with that seems like they’ll be an obstacle for the rest of the movie, but they too disappear from the proceedings. There’s a few plot elements like these that are built up early on to be important throughout the film, but just don’t come up often enough that is just, again, awkward.
It’s hard to blame only the script however, as it’s known that the several rounds of recuts left plenty of footage cut out of the film. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was footage shot that would have resolved a few of these problems, at least a little. A lot of the film feels rushed, hurrying from one scene to the next as quickly as possible. As a result, I assume many of those cut scenes revolve around the plague, or the Atlantean council, or some of the real meat of the emotional arcs presumably deemed not entertaining enough (by either test audiences or studio execs, take your pick). I say this because the core emotional arc between Arthur and Orm feels stripped down the most. The relationship between them is there, but doesn’t seem to be strong enough that the resolution where they accept each other as brothers feels earned. One of the main reasons I think this got so cut down is the repeated use of archival footage from the first Aquaman, seemingly repurposed to quickly fill emotional and contextual gaps left by longer, more in-depth scenes fleshing the pair out. These arcs are not the only aspects of the film suffering from massive cuts.
Hooray, it’s time for more behind the scenes actor drama!
In 2022, a highly publicized court case began between Amber Heard, the actress playing Arthur’s wife, Mera, from the first film, and her ex-husband Johnny Depp. This case dominated pop culture while it was happening, and the vast majority of people on social media sided with Depp over Heard. To address that case real quick, personally I think both Depp and Heard are guilty of wrongdoing on some level, but it’s not mine or anyone else’s business to know for sure what, and frankly we’re all much worse off for getting so invested in the whole scandal. The main point is, the controversy surrounding Heard brought bad press onto Lost Kingdom, with petitions getting millions of signatures to have her removed from the film, mainly in response to Johnny Depp losing his role in the Harry Potter spin off series, Fantastic Beasts.
Regardless of whether or not this was fair on Heard, it was alleged that Lost Kingdom was recut again to reduce her presence in the film, and it’s really hard to argue with that. Heard’s Mera is there technically, but only really gets an occasional reaction shot and some brief, seemingly obligatory action beats, one of which leaves her injured and completely sidelined for a major chunk of the film’s runtime. She rarely even gets to speak, and it’s bizarre and a bit suspicious that such a major part of the first film is reduced to almost nothing here. Personally, I think it’s a shame, because while Heard’s line readings weren’t always great, her chemistry with Momoa and action scenes were a strong part of the first movie to me, and I feel Lost Kingdom loses a lot of the first film’s charm without her relationship with Arthur.
Most of the other characters are pretty poorly served as well. Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgren come back from the first film, but both are just kind of reduced to delivering poor exposition (Lundgren also puts on a weird voice I don’t think he did in the first film, which I can only describe as a bad Sylvester Stallone impression). Willem Dafoe was supposed to come back at one point, but was unable to, and was randomly killed off between movies as a result of the aforementioned plague. Most disappointingly, Black Manta went from an intimidating villain to something much more bland. After finding an ancient trident imbued with black magic in the first act, he becomes possessed by an ancient Atlantean king (the real main villain of the film, a boring CGI monster man that spouts stereotypical villain lines and is defeated so easily it would be funny if I felt more than apathy). With the trident, Manta becomes a superpowered being with strength comparable to Aquaman, and it’s just kinda boring. In the first film, he had limited screen time, but he was just a normal guy trying to use technology to stand up to him, and it was just more interesting than this boring, possessed superhuman thing they’re doing.
But the thing that really brings Lost Kingdom down is the lack of visual flair. James Wan’s directing was my favorite part of Aquaman, as that film was packed with stunning colors and visuals. Here, very little of the film feels quite as memorable. There are some high points. Some of the action scenes are fun, the massive volcano island where Black Manta hides out is the best taste of the gorgeous color I wanted here, and there are a number of well designed shots and locations. However, they don’t stack up to most of what was seen in the first Aquaman, usually having a much more monochromatic color palette compared to the diverse stylings of the first film.
On top of this, Wan just isn’t as willing to go in the weird directions he went in 2018. We don’t get anything as wild as the Julie Andrews voiced sea monster or Mera slinging blades made of wine at people (the drumming octopus does come back, now amazingly revealed as an Atlantean black ops specialist, but even this feels like we could have gotten more out of it). Wan’s roots in the horror genre makes another appearance as well, resulting in some solid creature designs and one awesome scene where Black Manta invades the home of Arthur’s father, but it still feels like it’s James Wan running on autopilot, giving a watered down version of his style that ultimately leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction rather than wonder.
As for CGI, the effects feel noticeably worse than the already somewhat middling effects of the first film, with several extremely fake looking digital models of characters, some terribly rendered shots and action beats, and floating hair effects that are much more distracting. Thankfully, the CGI never gets as bad as that of Black Adam or The Flash, but it isn’t much better, hovering a bit too close to Suicide Squad (the 2016 one) levels of quality.
I feel a little bad criticizing Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom quite as much as I am here, because I do think it’s a victim of its circumstances, as I think it could have been better if Wan had been able to tell the entire story without all the recuts. That being said, it’s hard to judge what could have been, and it would take a lot to make up for the downgraded visuals, weaker characters, and iffy script found here. It’s a disappointingly dull note to leave the DCEU on.
That’s another major point. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is an unceremonious and forgettable conclusion to the DC Extended Universe, not at all functioning as a farewell to the 10 year old franchise. But the thing was, it was never meant to. This was never a movie that was written to have the expectations of a finale on its shoulders, the responsibility was just thrust upon it. It feels odd to talk about this as the end of a series, because there’s no sense of finality about it. It’s hard to stress just how lackluster of an ending this is, but there’s just nothing else to say really. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom came out, and then it was over. The DCEU finally came to an end, and no one even blinked.
Two days from when I’m writing this review, and a matter of hours if not minutes after it’s scheduled to come out, the first screenings for James Gunn’s Superman will begin. The DC Universe series will begin, and the old Extended Universe will be fully swept away. Time will tell if the DCU will fare better with audiences, if it will suffer the same controversies, studio meddling, and lack of direction that plagued its predecessor. Before the next chapter begins however, it’s worth reflecting on what came before. The DC Extended Universe was an anomaly in the cinematic landscape of its 10 year run. It never reached the heights of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it didn’t fizzle out immediately like the many other failed cinematic universes of the time. For all its flaws, the DCEU adapted, went in different directions, and made something messy, but unique. Going back through the franchise, it’s filled with different styles and asthetics, and a wide variety of filmmakers brought their own voice to different projects, from Zack Snyder’s stylized gloom, to Patty Jenkins’ mix of grit and color in Wonder Woman, to the color and outlandish absurdity in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, to the heart and affection for its characters in Shazam! and Blue Beetle. Whereas the MCU was known to bring a more standard, uniform style to its releases, the DCEU showed it was willing to experiment and go against the grain, and while not every experiment succeeded and behind the scenes things would get messier with each failure, the franchise was often able to provide something that, while wasn’t always described as good, would often be different. And I think that’s a good quality to have.
So to conclude, on the off chance they read this, all I can say is thank you and well done to the actors and filmmakers who brought this messy, bold, often confused, usually awkward, but at times beautiful series to life. And if you’re a reader who’s willingly gone through my thoughts on all 16 of these movies (and Batgirl), I’ve got to thank you too.
Before I forget, I mentioned a potential tier list back in the Batman v. Superman entry. Might as well throw that in.
Look at how symmetrical that is. I didn’t even intentionally do that, it just kinda shook out like that. That’s nice. That’s a satisfying way to end this. Okay, I’m going to take a break from reviews for a little while.
