Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom [Review]
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is an entertaining final chapter for DC’s Snyderverse, starring Topo the Octopus.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman. Image credit: Warner Bros. / DC Studios
James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom exists in a weird place. It began development under the old guard at Warner Bros.’ DC Studios and was completed under the new leadership team led by James Gunn after he made the decision to reboot the whole DCU. This makes Lost Kingdom the swan song of the Snyderverse Justice League movies—a status that the film itself thankfully doesn’t reflect as it’s very much standalone, with no Justice League related cameos to speak of.
At the start of the film, we see that Aquaman (Jason Momoa) has regretfully settled into his role as king of Atlantis, a job he hates. He and Mera (Amber Heard) now have a baby boy who has inherited his dad’s ability to talk to fish. They all live together in Aquaman’s dad’s (Temuera Morrison) lighthouse, where they drink prominently product-placed Guinness together. Meanwhile, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is out looking for Atlantean technology in Antartica to repair his suit so he could get his revenge. His team stumbles on the lost city of Necrus and the Black Trident, which gives Manta visions from the undead king with plans to free the lost city from its curse and get revenge on Aquaman and Atlantis. Manta’s plan involves stealing a long unused energy source from Atlantis, orichalcum, and using it to hasten global warming and melt the polar ice. Aquaman must team up with his brother and enemy, disgraced King Orm (Patrick Wilson), to track down Black Manta and save the world.
Orm (Patrick Wilson) with an octopus sub. Image credit: Warner Bros. / DC Studios
The first half of the film is kind of a slog. There’s an unnecessarily long, voiceover-heavy prologue about what Aquaman’s been up to, with a gag where Aquaman’s son pees on Aquaman’s face that’s repeated at least twice. The rest is followed by a string of scenes that checklist the state of Atlantis and the setup for Black Manta’s plans, with a heist and chase that are the highlight of this portion but ultimately not very necessary except as an action beat to place here.
Lost Kingdom finally turns a corner near the halfway point, once Aquaman decides he needs to free his brother and rival, Orm. After a fun desert prison escape sequence, the two spend the rest of the film together tracking down and fighting Black Manta; their time together onscreen is what makes this movie shine. Their conversations are a lot of fun, with Patrick Wilson playing an excellent straight man to Momoa’s carefree Bro persona in this buddy comedy duo. It just takes too long to get to this point in the film.
Topo, the real star of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Image credit: Warner Bros. / DC Studios
I should also mention the halfway point is when we’re introduced to the best character in the movie, Topo the Octopus, a genetically engineered Atlantean covert operative cephalopod. He doesn’t speak, but that doesn’t matter. The movie needs more Topo.
The movie’s production design is great for the most part. I love the look of Atlantis and its creatures, however the best bits revolve around Black Manta. He finds a squid shaped sub in Necrus, along with cool octopus shaped one-man mechanical submersibles with tentacles reminiscent of the tentacled robots in The Matrix. All of the Necrus tech has big 1960s style control panels, with lights and buttons and levers. Best of all is Manta’s ultimate Bond villain lair hideout with the evil orichalcum burning greenhouse gas machine, inside a literal volcano on an island full of giant mutated flora and fauna. I got a kick out of his army of henchmen, all dressed in identical throwback tightly hooded bodysuits.
Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his henchmen. Image credit: Warner Bros. / DC Studios
In the end, when we get to the unfrozen Necrus, the design becomes a little uninspired as it’s essentially just Mordor with green fire instead of red. I was disappointed in that we’re told and shown much about Necrus’ evil undead armies and then when we finally get there it doesn’t amount to a significant presence in the film.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is ultimately about brotherhood and the bonds of family, and how we must come together to prevent global environmental disaster before it’s too late. This messaging is a bit trite but keeps the film cohesive and on track.
I enjoyed Lost Kingdom a lot more than I expected. If the front end was trimmed down, it’d make for a much better film, but as it stands, it’s not a bad ending for the Snyderverse.
If anyone or anything survives the death of the old DCU, it should be Topo.
