Dec 30, 20232 min read

FILM REVIEW: AQUAMAN & THE LOST KINGDOM (12A) ESP RATING: 3/5

While the ending to the current DC Comics’ universe is as generic as they come – this is also a lot of fun.

In fact, a very passable ‘leave your brain at the door’ family movie for the festive period.

It’s just a shame that since James Gunn’s announcement for his ‘new’ franchise plans – starting in movie-terms with 2025’s Superman Legacy – that the remaining films (that had already been finished) have massively underperformed.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – after the stellar business the 2018 original did – joins Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash and Blue Beetle as big-budget flops.

This time round Jason Momoa’s superhero ‘who talks to sealife’ Arthur Curry/Aquaman is forced to protect Atlantis – and his newborn son – from devastation after the vengeful Black Mantis (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) returns under a more powerful guise,after obtaining the cursed Black Trident.

After joining forces with Randall Park’s conflicted marine biologist Stephen Shin to find the Atlantean artifact, Mantis and his cronies then raid the planet’s ancient Orichalcum reserves to power his destructive machines – which in the process is emitting high quantities of greenhouse gases causing temperature spikes on land.

This leaves Aquaman with no choice, but to recruit his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) – the main protagonist of the first film – to help try and take out Mantis, before he unleashes an evil undead warrior Kordax, in the fabled lost kingdom of Necrus. Which could be too much for Aquaman/Orm to handle.

Through various vague locales, to ‘somewhere’ in the Atlantic, to ‘somewhere’ in the Pacific, there are likeably predictable action set-pieces that do exactly what is expected. With Momoa’s injection of fun thrown in to keep the entertainment levels up.

The likes of Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman – as his wife, Mera, and mother Atlanna, respectively – are reduced to bit-part roles as Momoa and Wilson take the lead. And with their noteworthy chemistry, they just about pull it off in a fun blockbuster fashion. But for the current universe finale, sadly no more than that.

It won’t linger in the memory for too long – as this just about swims more than it sinks.

ESP Rating: 3/5

Gavin Miller