Unfocused, messy, and with no cohesive vision, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a microcosm of the DCEU as a whole.

When Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was first announced, it had a ton of steam. Coming off of a billion-dollar hit, with talented director James Wan and superstar Jason Momoa leading the way, the sequel had all the right ingredients. What no one could have imagined? How the Aquaman sequel would end up being the final nail in the DCEU’s coffin. After multiple regime changes, poor test screenings, rumors of set-drama, and multiple Batmen being cut out of the film, the Aquaman sequel releases as a shell of itself.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom truly plays like a parody sequel of the first film. 2018’s Aquaman loosely followed an original game plan that began with Man of Steel, with James Wan bringing his signature visual language to helm the film. Where the original film was epic in scope, crisp in visuals, and balanced with humor and heart, the second film is more of a whimper of half-baked themes, unpolished writing, and gutted character arcs. Much like how Wonder Woman 1984 was to the first Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Lost Kingdom is a caricature, playing like a bad SNL skit of what was once a billion-dollar franchise. 

The original DCEU aimed to be high-budget, high-spectacle, storytelling with a mostly serious tone. Despite lukewarm critic reception, the franchise performed well commercially, with the first Aquaman leading the pack for the first half of the franchise. However, the train wreck of the second half of the DCEU can be directly attributed to a cluttered vision and multiple chefs in the kitchen. It’s no secret that the best DC films in recent years, The Batman and Joker, both existed outside of the rotting shared universe. Whether it be the studio’s changes to Zack Snyder’s DC films, the myriad of regime changes and company acquisitions, or the current reboot of the DCU, there was never one leader at the helm, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom faced the brunt of it alongside its 2023 counterpart in The Flash. 

There are shades of James Wan’s style in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but it’s muted compared to the first film. When Wan is clicking on all cylinders for the sequel, like during the final fight sequence or vast underwater sea battles, the film is brilliant. Sadly those moments are few and far between and are constantly undercut with poor writing and head-scratching moments. Nothing feels quite as crisp as the first Aquaman film. Jason Momoa, who is more than capable of leading a film, also can feel like he’s doing a parody version of the mythic reimagining of the character in 2018’s Aquaman or Zack Snyder’s Justice League. While there are sparks of the character that the audience has come to love, there is also a ton of the character that fans dislike, such as 2017’s Justice League or his drunken cameo in The Flash. 

Supporting the film is Patrick Wilson as Orm, Amber Heard as Mera, Nicole Kidman as Atlanta, and Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry. Wilson does the best he can with the script given and while the buddy-cop routine between him and Momoa got repetitive, there was a charm to it is mostly entertaining. Heard’s presence in the film and lack thereof is definitely felt. It quickly becomes clear that chunks of her story and arc were torn out of the film and it’s a shame considering she is quite compelling in her few minutes of screen time. The villain of the film, Black Manta, played by the returning Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, is solid as well, though thin in motivations.

It’s worth reiterating that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom had to adapt to multiple regime changes, visions, and concepts. It originally launched as a cog in the wheel for Walter Hamada’s overarching story leading to a Crisis on Infinite Earths movie. That version of the film even featured Michael Keaton as Batman. Then, there duo of De Luca and Pam Abdy, reinstating Ben Affleck in the film and guiding viewers to a possible new Justice League film after securing Henry Cavill’s temporary return for Black Adam. Then there’s James Gunn, who pressed the reset button and is starting DC anew altogether. Ultimately, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have been left out to dry. Today’s Warner Bros under David Zaslav is not very confident in the film either, with no premiere or large marketing push for the film. Simply put, everyone has moved on, and it shows.

While the visuals are mostly strong and the action sequences are solid, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom can ultimately be surmised as…generic. It’s a shame, because no matter how divisive the DCEU has been over the last decade, generic would not be a term that the original six or seven films would be labeled as. Sadly, the franchise comes to an end with multiple bad sequels, and mismanaged projects.

Overall, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom closes the book on the DCEU as a microcosm and parody of the franchise as a whole. A far cry from its predecessor, the film suffers from multiple visions and an unfocused execution. Ultimately a shell of what it could’ve been.

2/5