THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
No one expected Aquaman to be a profitable character in Hollywood until Jason Momoa made a badass out of him through his performances in the 2010s, from his cameo in Batman v Superman, to his supporting role in Justice League to being the leading man in his solo adventure. With the latter unexpectedly being a billion dollar success, there was no way to miss the opportunity to bank on the sequel.
PLOT
2023’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom takes place four years after Arthur Curry defeated his half brother Orm to prevent conquering the surface, now following him manage his lifestyle as King of Atlantis and being a family man, raising his son Arthur Junior with his wife Mera. He considers setting up a treaty between Atlantis and the surface world, but the Council of Clans are against it as the oceans are still suffering from pollution that actually took the life of his mentor Vulko, who died during the four year gap of Curry’s reign. Although the half Atlantean tries to live peacefully, David Kane/Black Manta still vows his avenge his father’s death and has aligned with marine biologist Stephen Shin to search for Atlantean artifacts that can possibly defeat the king. When accidentally discovering a cavern in Antarctica, Manta finds a cursed black trident that promises him to defeat not just Aquaman but also all of Atlantis. Five months later, he breaks into an Orichalcum reserve to steal machines of ancient origin and despite being chased away by Atlantean forces, he is able to severely wound Mera on the way out. Knowing that orichalcum can dangerously raise planetary temperatures and cause extreme weather/ocean acidification by emitting greenhouse gases, Arthur breaks Orm out of the Desert Prison to help him find Manta. He chooses him specifically because they were in cahoots before his brother’s original attempt to conquer the surface. When entering the pirate haven known as Sunken Citadel, they get information from its piscine humanoid ruler Kingfish of his whereabouts to be in Devil’s Deep, a volcanic island in the South Pacific. Both brothers find his lair after encountering mutated creatures and confront him until getting reinforcements led by Atlanna and Nereus. Before Manta retreats, Orm came into contact with the black trident and confirms it came from the brother of King Atlan (Vincent Regan) known as Kordax (Pilot Absæk), who ruled the lost kingdom of Necrus until being imprisoned by blood magic after a failed attempt of usurp the throne. Realizing the blood of Arlan’s descendants can free Kordax, it would only be too late when Manta abducts Arthur Jr. by attacking Curry’s father Thomas (Temeura Morrison) in the process. With the assist of the Brine King (John Rhys-Davies), Aquaman leads a rescue mission in Antarctica where Necrus is hidden underneath. His forces face Necrusian soldiers while he and his recovered wife face Manta to save their son. When Orm intercepts the black trident again, Kordax’s spirit transforms from Kane to him, using his brother’s blood to slowly be free from his ice prison. However, Arthur convinces him to let go of the hatred which works as he breaks the trident and quickly defeat Kordax before he could make another move. As a result, Necrus starts collapsing and although he tries to save Kane from dying, he refuses and falls into a fissure. With the lost kingdom destroyed, Orm is allowed a second chance to live in the surface and have his death staged to the Desert Prison, under the condition he keeps a low profile. The film ends with Arthur confirming Atlantis’ existence to the surface at a UN announcement and intend to make it a member state with the intent to make a unification that can prevent further damage to the oceans.
THOUGHTS
I avoided having high expectations for this film because DC adaptations are very unpredictable in terms of quality compared to Marvel. I definitely didn’t want to be a prick about it since was the abrupt finale of the DCEU produced by Walter Hamada, now being reset by James Gunn & Peter Safran. Knowing this, I still admire James Wan’s efforts in directing a solid action flick with well edited action sequences. Whether you’re on the surface or exploring the underwater world, the set pieces and visual effects that bring this fictional setting to life are still impressive for me to remain interested. While those aspects work, I can’t go on acting like this film is perfect when it’s in fact not. You can explode over the last shot of this particular superhero saga ending with Orm eating bug with a burger in comical fashion, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to feeling disappointment. There were way too many moments of inconsistencies that held it back from being at least just as good as the predecessor. Like I know Manta is hungry for revenge going into this, but what makes him think getting a new suit is gonna help him beat Aquaman if having Atlantean tech thanks to Orm didn’t help at all? It only points out the obvious of finding the black trident was based on pure luck. It then turns to dumb luck for him to leave it around in his room expecting no one like Shin to touch it, which explains the latter switching sides. And why has it taken so long for Atlantis to be public to the surface? Everyone knows who Aquaman is, so it’s odd for nobody other than Shin and Manta (and Batman as shown in Justice League) to put the pieces together. The same can be said with the Sunken Citadel being a thing if more than said names know of something that has as much life as Atlantis. And the council is dumb to criticize Arthur failing to protect Mera when they refuse to enter the frontline the way she does, so that’s just walking into hypocrisy right there. We know it’s basically essential for action movies to have dumbass henchmen, so I wasn’t surprised to see the Desert prison guards choose to walk up to Orm instead of charging towards him before he could regain his strength. And here’s a big question, how come Atlan didn’t put the black trident somewhere secure like a secret vault in Atlantis? If he were the only one to know where it was, no one like Manta would’ve found it. That even has me wondering why does Manta take so long in abducting Arthur Junior if Kordax already told him what he needed to be free, he should’ve left the volcano long before Arthur & Orm got there. It even leads to me asking why didn’t Orm shed his own blood to free Kordax instead of fighting Arthur for it? He is a descendant of Atlan too, so he would’ve got the job done sooner if he did. What makes me look past such issues is being able to tell a tale on how you should bet on yourself whatever position you’re in if you make changes for better tomorrow or you’ll be stuck in disappointment. This is the arc that Jason Momoa expresses as the titular protagonist who has many important decisions to make and wants to satisfy everyone around him which in turn will satisfy himself. As a dad, he wants his son to be a better era of society that he grew up in, an era of unity. He knows that the surface are extremely flawed since the issues of pollution haven’t changed to the point where he lost Vulko. Despite the irritation, he knows that not every surface dweller is to blame because there are still people like the Justice League who try to make a change. With Manta causing problems, he had to express his will in making hard choices. He had to get help from Orm because he knew the work wasn’t gonna be done alone. And it ended up working out because it stopped a big threat for good. Another bright side about it was how he got to find common ground with his brother when he originally doubted he could. Orm is the definitely the kind of character to take baby steps in trusting since he attempted genocide last time we saw him, but Patrick Wilson doesn’t change the fact this character had good intentions in wanting to protect his people. That is where the common ground kicks in because they shared the same goal. The difference is that Arthur is trying to think it over whereas his brother didn’t care on how irrational his decisions would turn out. Thankfully, Orm was able to let go of his hatred at the most convenient/essential time, understanding he was always loved by the brother he hardly knew. With that in mind, it is good to know he can live this next chapter of his life with optimism. Speaking of which, I support Arthur going public of Atlantis’ existence without the council’s permission because the good change does not become followed by others unless he leads the way. With that being said, I’d like to believe his era of king will still be the best one his kids can live through. Amber Heard & Nicole Kidman definitely felt sidelined as Mera & Atlanna since they are the most important people in Arthur’s life, much like his father and son. However, they do make the best of their given time by being strong willed ladies who support his decisions on wanting a better tomorrow. Considering that the first film ended with Shin aligning with Manta, I knew this would shake up the plot for the right reasons which it thankfully does. As expected, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Randall Park are a dynamic duo between both characters because they both have different goals. Park showed Shin to be one who’s just about exploring the unknown and nothing more. That is where he differs from Manta because Yahya shows the villain to become maniacal in his path for revenge that he’d rather die or gain uncontrollable power than accept Aquaman was in the right in killing his father for acts of piracy. And if you’re facing someone in such denial, it’s indeed a formidable fight you’re going up against which luckily favored Arthur in the end. To wrap up, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is an anticlimactic finale, yet still a decent standalone story in its own right. If you loved the first one, I hope you’ll enjoy this one as well.
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