Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

So here's good old "Arthur" (Jason Momoa) sitting around the house playing nursemaid to his young son with his wife "Mera" (Amber Heard) whilst all in his underwater kingdom is peaceful. Well not for long! "Black Manta" (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is still a tad narked after the last film (five years ago!) and now armed with an useful geek "Dr. Shin" (Randall Park) sets out to discover a secret trident that will enable him to destroy "Atlantis" altogether and maybe also release the long captive "Kordax" (wasn't that the stuff they used to make telephone cables from?) to help make his revenge complete. Initially hopelessly outgunned by his nemesis's sonic gun, he has to resort to the drastic step of rescuing his imprisoned brother "Orm" (Patrick Wilson) - whom you may recall he was instrumental in deposing and incarcerating in the first place; and hoping that he will join forces with them, "Atlanna" (Nicole Kidman) and "King Nereus" (an almost unrecognisable Dolph Lundgren). With battles lines drawn the films goes from "Narnia" to "Middle Earth" via the "Lost World" and even a bit of "Ice Station Zebra" for a series of ploddingly slow and disappointing set-piece adventures. To be fair, the last half hour does lift the pace a little, but by then I'm not sure if it wasn't all just a rather too late. Momoa is trying very hard here, but he's no Dwayne Johnson, and even the dulcets of John Rhys-Davies as the "Brine King" - with or without his claw - can't really raise this from it's pretty weak and feeble doldrums. Of course it looks good, loads of quality CGI and visual effects, but the story is light and overly strung out for two hours that really did feel more like two days at times. It's harmless fodder for Christmas cinema with very little to actually dislike about it - it's just the latest in a series of equally forgettable super-hero films that I suspect will leave no impact at all in the snow afterwards.

Quite an underwhelming end to the DCEU. I actually like the DC Extended Universe, only <em>'Justice League'</em> failed to get a thumbs up from me. That is until now, because <em>'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'</em> isn't any good. I admittedly only mildly enjoyed the original - I had to watch a recap because I had forgotten basically everything about it since viewing it in May 2021. The cast are hit-and-miss. I have no negatives for Jason Momoa, he is more than satisfactory from start to end. I did find his eyes distracting (wait, not like that) with the effects used, I don't remember them being so in-your-face (pardon the pun) in the 2018 film - but I could be totally misremembering, to be fair. Either way, Momoa is the obvious star. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character is one I can barely remember, but the actor himself is good - I am a fan. The rest of those onscreen are fine acting-wise, but I really wasn't invested in any of them whatsoever; from Patrick Wilson (especially) to Amber Heard to Dolph Lundgren to Nicole Kidman. I think it's their character designs that I find most uninteresting. I am kinda looking forward to seeing what James Gunn and Peter Safran produce with the DC Universe come 2025, on paper with those two in charge it should be a success - just depends how much so, I guess.

**Enjoyable and not as bad as some people say.** I went into this movie yesterday and didn't expect anything. Could have been trash or bad, I didd't care - I went into this movie because I very much enjoyed the first one, because I like the director James Wan and a lot of the actors. And the result was - I had a very fun evening in the movie theatre. The best movie to grab yourself a large bag of popcorn, put your brain on stand-by and enjoy a fun ride. The story, admittedly, was nothing special. It was enough there to make you follow the plot, but other than that - there wasn't much there. Could it have been better? Yes. Does that kill the movie? No. This movie is more like a guilty pleasure for me and I would watch it because of the world of Aquaman and all of its details. This is were the movie really shines. The production design is 10/10 for me. And the action is good, too. So, if you want a deep and very good story, you might be disappointed. But if you are somebody to enjoy a fun and very well made "Superhero Aquaman theme park ride", a classical "grab yourself a bag of popcorn and turn your brain off" movie - this one may be for you.