Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Warner Bros.’ complete lack of faith in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hardly seems warranted since it’s far from the worst film in the now-extinct DCEU. Just like the first, there’s campy dialogue and heavy exposition, but lots of cool world-building and visual grandeur. Sadly, it’s crystal clear the amount of studio interference and reshoots this choppily edited mess of a film has undergone, even if <PERSON>, <PERSON> (who will be dearly missed in the role) and a heaping second helping of <PERSON> manage to eventually right the ship. The film is strongest when focusing on the brotherhood between <PERSON> and <PERSON>, and in drawing parallels between them and with Atlantis’ own dark history, but everything with <PERSON> and especially <PERSON> Dr. 698
<PERSON> falls flat pretty much completely. Much of the sincerity and earnestness to commit to ridiculousness that made the first one so endearing is lost here in a film that tries to play it safer and ends up coming off as cookie-cutter. An occasionally entertaining romp that could and should have been much better, but then again you could say that for most of the DCEU. In that way, it’s at least an appropriate end to a head-scratching ten years of DC movies. 698