Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, now available on (HBO) Max, isn’t the perfect ending of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) that we all wished for. 

But as a relatively straight forward  Superhero Movie of the Week I think it’s still mostly fine. 

Jason Momoa is still immensely appealing as Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, but in this sequel to the (frankly superior) first movie he’s gotten bored with his role as King of Atlantis and the ruler of all he seas.

Arthur spends his days playing house with his wife Mera (Amber Heard) and his infant son, but it’s a far cry from the action-filled life he was once used to.

Fortunately, for him and also the viewer, he’s called back into action by the return  of presumed dead bad guy David Kane 

(Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) aka Black Manta, who is now in possession of demonic powers that (among other things) accelerate climate change. Oh, and he also blames Aquaman for killing his father in the first movie.

However, to defeat Black Manta and his allies, Aquaman first has to free his own brother, the former King Orm (Patrick Wilson) from jail. 

The banter between the two estranged brothers is one of the highlights of this somewhat underrated movie. The colorful spectacle, conjured up by director James Wan, is another one.

I’m not going to pretend Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is some kind of misunderstood masterpiece, but I do think it’s more enjoyable than I thought was possible based on the bad reviews it received when it was released over Christmas. 

The first Aquaman movie grossed over 1,1 billion dollars. This ill-fated follow-up stalled at 435 million. But that implies that there is still a rather large audience out there that could find this more-fun-than-you-would-expect-movie on streaming. 

Here’s hoping they do.