Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

While it is definitely flawed, this is still a very fun superhero adventure. 

This film was not planned to be the last entry into the DCEU and this shows. However, while those who were hoping to see these movies go out with a big bang may be disappointed, but those who just want a fun superhero adventure will enjoy themselves. What really makes this movie work though is the relationship between Aquaman and his brother. The moments between these characters are definitely the film's highlights. Much of this comes from the great chemistry between Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson. The banter between them is a lot of funny and provides the film with its best comedic moments. Not only does this provide the movie with its most fun moments, but it also provides its most heartfelt moments. This movie delves into this relationship in a way that the previous one didn't and there is something heartwarming about even this very dysfunctional brother and brother relationship. This is where the heart of the movie really comes from, and it gives you an emotional connection to all the action scenes. Speaking of the action scenes they are a lot of fun here. As should be expected from director James Wan, these are larger than life action scenes that are excellently choregraphed and exciting. The story is fairly basic but fun. I love how the story is not ashamed of its comic book roots and embraces the corny silly fun of an old school comic book. 

I mostly liked Black Manta as the villain. He felt like a major threat and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II did a wonderful job playing him. However, it felt like we only scratched the surface of this character and never got to really know him. While fully delving into the villains truly are can be done better in a series of comic books than two movies, I still think they could have dug a little deeper than this. That doesn't stop him from being a fun villain. The evil forces that were taking over him, were surpassingly quite creepy and brought a bit of a darker atmosphere to this mostly silly lighthearted film. These scenes made the stakes seem bigger and added some good suspense, while still not taking away from the lighthearted fun. 

While this movie does have some truly funny moments, unfortunately there are more jokes that fall flat than work. The entire climax of this film also feels incredibly rushed, and the last big fight scene is over much too soon. This simply felt underwhelming with the big build up to it. There are also too many moments where the CGI was much too obvious. 

While this may not be the most satisfying conclusion to the DCEU, it is definitely a fun movie.