Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom came out way too late and frankly, it was way too little to save the moribund DC Extended Universe. That being said, similar to the original, it's hard to really *hate* this movie. James Wan does a lot of things very, very well and I appreciate that unlike Marvel (although, I suspect this will change), his stamp is all over this movie.
There's one sequence where Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and his Loki-esque brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) are fighting in an undersea laboratory that reminded me a lot of 12 Monkeys. Moments like that make Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom worth watching. Wan and cinematographer Don Burgess have the camera whizzing and wirring all over the place in a style reminiscent of video games, and it works. For the most part.
This movie, like the last one, is at its best when its weird. There's a confidence to the movie that I really enjoyed; a film where Nicole Kidman acts alongside a giant crab man, where people's homes are made of reefs and skyscrapers are giant jellyfish. Where ancient zombie people left behind after the Sahara dried up and became a desert house undersea prisoners. When this movie is at its weirdest, it's a lot of fun.
Wan also knows how to keep it light and give us a feel good adventure movie, and I can't deny that Momoa and Wilson have excellent chemistry. I do acknowledge though...a lot of this was trodden by Thor and Loki from the MCU. It's very similar to the point of ripping it off.
Unfortunately, the problems don't end there. From Amber Heard (conspicuously and hilariously absent through most of this film, although I have to admit, she rocks that Meera outfit VERY well) to Dolph Lundgren (who's doing his best but comes off as a frat guy attempting a Swedish accent) to Yahya Abdul Mateen (who lacks the menace factor to truly make Black Manta work), the acting in this movie is underwelming.
Even Momoa, the heart and soul of this franchise, comes off a bit too dumb and goofy. They decided to go full Thor: Love and Thunder with him, and aspects of this movie actually make it feel like they didn't really care about the preceding events of other films. (For example, why does the movie rip off the classic ending from Iron Man again? In universe, EVERYONE knows who Aquaman is). I wouldn't say he's as bad at the last depiction of Thor, but he's not far off.
The CG is also quite choppy at times; sometimes looking fantastic and at other moments looking absolutely terrible. Anytime the characters are CG and doing something (specifically, I'm thinking of a part with Meera in this big underwater action scene in the middle), they look BARELY any better than Spiderman in 2002. It's mind blowing considering the budget and I'm probably a bit biased, JUST having seen Dune.
Overall, this is a fun movie that's worth watching, even if it feels like somewhat of a let down considering the original and what it represents, as the final DCEU movie. While I overall like Jason Momoa as Aquaman, I feel like he existed in an overarching franchise that didn't have enough direction to really do him right.
There's one sequence where Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and his Loki-esque brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) are fighting in an undersea laboratory that reminded me a lot of 12 Monkeys. Moments like that make Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom worth watching. Wan and cinematographer Don Burgess have the camera whizzing and wirring all over the place in a style reminiscent of video games, and it works. For the most part.
This movie, like the last one, is at its best when its weird. There's a confidence to the movie that I really enjoyed; a film where Nicole Kidman acts alongside a giant crab man, where people's homes are made of reefs and skyscrapers are giant jellyfish. Where ancient zombie people left behind after the Sahara dried up and became a desert house undersea prisoners. When this movie is at its weirdest, it's a lot of fun.
Wan also knows how to keep it light and give us a feel good adventure movie, and I can't deny that Momoa and Wilson have excellent chemistry. I do acknowledge though...a lot of this was trodden by Thor and Loki from the MCU. It's very similar to the point of ripping it off.
Unfortunately, the problems don't end there. From Amber Heard (conspicuously and hilariously absent through most of this film, although I have to admit, she rocks that Meera outfit VERY well) to Dolph Lundgren (who's doing his best but comes off as a frat guy attempting a Swedish accent) to Yahya Abdul Mateen (who lacks the menace factor to truly make Black Manta work), the acting in this movie is underwelming.
Even Momoa, the heart and soul of this franchise, comes off a bit too dumb and goofy. They decided to go full Thor: Love and Thunder with him, and aspects of this movie actually make it feel like they didn't really care about the preceding events of other films. (For example, why does the movie rip off the classic ending from Iron Man again? In universe, EVERYONE knows who Aquaman is). I wouldn't say he's as bad at the last depiction of Thor, but he's not far off.
The CG is also quite choppy at times; sometimes looking fantastic and at other moments looking absolutely terrible. Anytime the characters are CG and doing something (specifically, I'm thinking of a part with Meera in this big underwater action scene in the middle), they look BARELY any better than Spiderman in 2002. It's mind blowing considering the budget and I'm probably a bit biased, JUST having seen Dune.
Overall, this is a fun movie that's worth watching, even if it feels like somewhat of a let down considering the original and what it represents, as the final DCEU movie. While I overall like Jason Momoa as Aquaman, I feel like he existed in an overarching franchise that didn't have enough direction to really do him right.