Aquaman 2: O Reino Perdido

The most accurate word I can think of to describe Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is annoying. Where the first film was hardly a masterpiece of the genre I thought it was over the top in all the right ways and because of that I actually mostly enjoyed it. This movie just doubles down on the insanity in all the worst ways and I ended up finding it borderline insufferable.

For the first 15 minutes or so I thought I could enjoy it in a so bad it's good sort of way but it's too stupid to even enjoy in that way. The script just makes so many errors on the most basic level that if you think about any thing about this story for more than a minute it just collapses. Nothing that gets set up pays off in any meaningful way and most of the resolutions fell totally flat. It can't decide on a tone, it drags majorly and most of the humour made me cringe in all the worst ways.

The performances really suffer as a result cause they're pretty poor across the board. I've liked Jason Momoa as this character but he's just too campy in this movie to take anything he's doing seriously, even actors of Yahya Abdul-Manteen II and Nicole Kidman's calibre deliver their lines in the flattest way possible but with the material they're given I can hardly blame that on them. I'm happy that Willem Dafoe was spared from this mess at least.

The finale is the most bog standard CGI noise of a climax that we've seen so many times before that I was just totally bored watching it, at least the first film had some sense of spectacle to it. There's the odd fun action scene but the pretty dreadful visual effects just constantly took me out of it. The villain is terrible after a decent set up in the first film with the most generic motivations possible.

The Lost Kingdom ends the DCEU with the biggest thud imaginable. It's been up and down since the beginning but it deserved a better conclusion than the soulless slog that this movie turned out to be. This might be the worst movie they ever made because at least Justice League had a happy conclusion with the Snyder Cut. There's nothing in this movie you haven't seen 100 times before and I've never been more ready for a total reboot of this universe.

IF this was made in the early days of superhero franchises, say when Iron Man first came out, then it might have stood out. Unfortunately Aquaman 2 has to bear the burden of having to follow through the recent flops and/or mixed bag of superhero output from both MCU/DCEU.

James Wan doesn't offer anything new under sky; a baddie who wants revenge - saw that in the Marvels. Sibling tension? Saw that in Thor. Supposedly all powerful, final-baddie who then gets thumped easily? Saw that in Black Adam. By now, there's such an air of familiarity in superhero fares, that I think it' gonna take a complete shift in narrative/plots to offer audiences a fresh take.

Jason Momoa's charisma and screen presence is basically the backbone of the movie and it pretty much carries it through. His timing, especially humour, is spot on, while his Aquaman is also convincingly authoritative. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's somewhat wasted here. A capable actor, but he's reduced to portraying a stock baddie out for revenge, while his right arm, Stingray, is as one dimensional as they come. Plus it doesn't help that the actress who plays Stingray is kinda cardboard too.

I find Randall Park, while dependable, nevertheless still plays Randall Park from other movies/Tv shows. You've seen his character in Blockbuster, or in the mcu outfits.

Don't have any complaints on Amber Heard or Nicole Kidman, but they don't have enough screen time to make much of an impact. But I have to admit, I did wonder, what if Nicole played Capt. Marvel instead of Brie? I think I would have bought into it a lot faster. Kidman's talent is such that, even small screen time doesn't stop her from exuding enough screen presence to make her contribution count.

Which leaves me with Patrick Wilson. His portrayal of Orm is brilliant, suffusing the character with the tension his inner conflicts have with his motives - "do I live in hate, or do I forgive?" The fact that Wilson achieves this without any acting histrionics but leaves his angst just right above the surface, just enough for us to feel it, is probably the standout feature of Aquaman and Lost Kingdom. I think he kinda redeemed himself from the poor and dumb Moonfall.

I hope James Gunn will be able to create not only a new trajectory for DCEU, but an entire different take on superhero movies. While Aquaman 2 is entertaining enough to fill your 2h, it's also a by the numbers' effort. Not something you and I will live to remember.

Rating: 5/10 Format: Regular Theatre

A script that doesn't have any story to hold it tight together. It's a very interesting story that discusses many aspects like family, brotherhood, fatherhood, and leadership. But, perhaps this was its core problem, that it was trying to be so many things at the same time. At times i didn't know where the story was heading which made the story jump from discussing topics like fatherhood to an adventure with two brothers who had beef in their past. The film is unfortunately a typical superhero film in terms of expecting what's coming next from events, and sequences.

On top of that and with all the chaos, the film re-discusses the villain's story which revolves around his revenge but it was so weak comparing to how it was in the first film. I didn't feel his presence nor i felt his evilness. He was suppose to be much stronger here but i barely felt him. The film also brings back old characters that just all of a sudden showed up in some sequences to save the day and be the superhero of the act which felt so weird because they came out of nowhere.

The film's CGI is okay at most times. It's defiantly not as good as the first one but it is for sure better than most of the MCU's latest projects this year like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). The cinematography unfortunately got downgraded which is something that I was anticipated for especially after seeing the first part. But I felt like there was no room for that because of how messy the sequences and story was especially that we were jumping between the past and present a lot and from one place to another.

Not to mention, the whole last sequence of the film was so good in terms of the action sequences and grabbing the audience's attention. Really got me hooked and interested and wished if the rest was like that.

Aquaman 2 is a disappointment movie. The plot is so banal and predictable that you can understand practically the entire story from the first minutes of the film.

The story is full of clichés and repetitive situations.

The characters are even more banal than the plot. Aquaman is a generic hero and Orm is a two-dimensional villain.

The special effects are spectacular, but they're the only decent thing.

It's not a film I recommend. If you liked the first Aquaman, go and see this second film, but if you didn't like the first Aquaman film or didn't like it very much, then forget about Aquaman 2 too, because you won't even like this second film, this second film is inferior to the first film.

So many aspects of this movie are a complete mixed bag:

1) Half of the comedy is really funny, the other half made me roll my eyes.

2) Some of the one-liners are good, some made me cringe.

3) A lot of the action is so cool, a lot is a screen full of gibberish.

4) There are so many beautiful shots and visuals, and also horribly cartoonish CGI like in The Flash.

5) I enjoyed the musical score, but it doesn't reach the level of Black Adam's. And I wasn't a fan of using classic rock tracks for a lighter tone, something we're more likely to see in a Marvel movie.

6) Half the time I was invested, the other half I was unengaged and didn't care.

I had an okay time wit this movie. It benefits from IMAX with the expanded aspect ratio for the entire movie. But in the biggest IMAX around, there were a total of 8 people in my theater. DC seems to have alienated its die-hard fans.

(1 viewing, opening Thursday IMAX 12/21/2023)