“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is an American superhero film based on the DC character Aquaman directed by James Wan. It was released on December 22nd and was produced by DC Studios, Atomic Monster, and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros.
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is a sequel to “Aquaman,” which came out in 2018. Both the first film and the sequel have many of the same characters. In both films, Jason Momoa stars as Aquaman, while Amber Heard plays the role of Mera, Aquaman’s wife.
Aquaman, also known as Arthur Curry, is a superhero created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger. He made his first appearance in American comic books by DC Comics in 1941. Aquaman is the son of a lighthouse keeper and the queen of Atlantis. He is half-Atlantean, half-human, and is the king of Atlantis. His superpowers include swimming at supersonic speeds and commanding aquatic life.
With a run time of two hours and four minutes, the movie begins with Aquaman and Mera the king and queen of Alatan. We find out that they got married and had a baby. Their son, Arthur Jr., has inherited some of his father’s abilities.
We also find out that Black Manta, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, is back. He is a ruthless pirate and high-seas mercenary who uses an Atlantean armored suit and the power of the Black Trident to seek revenge for the death of his father by trying to kill Arthur and his family.
With the help of Aquaman’s half-brother Orm Marius, played by Patrick Wilson, they go to a volcanic island in the South Pacific Ocean where Orm stumbles upon the Black Trident. He learned that Kordax, the brother of King Atlan (ruler of the lost kingdom of Nercus) is using blood magic.
Through Orm touching the Black Trident, we find out that there are actually eight kingdoms of Atlantis, not seven. Atlantis, Xebel, the Kingdom of the Trench, the Kingdom of the Brine, the Kingdom of the Fishermen, the Kingdom of the Deserters, and the Kingdom of the Valor are the seven known kingdoms of Atlantis. The eighth is the Kingdom of Necrus, also known as the Black City is a unique, underwater city similar to Atlantis that existed only for a brief time. This is where the Black Trident originated from and what is giving Manta all his power to defeat Aquaman.
For me, going into the film, I assumed that the storyline would be very different from the first one and would have the same storyline elements that made sense. The first movie was very easy to understand and follow even if you knew nothing about Aquaman and who he was. But the second movie was very different from what I thought it would be.
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was hard to follow and I found it difficult to understand why the characters did what they did. While the first movie included plenty of explanations to guide the viewer, this movie leaves much more for the audience to figure out.
With these negatives do come positives. I did like how the plot lines from the first movie and the second movie tied into each other. Usually, a lot of DC Movies will have a new main bad guy to fight in every new or sequel movie, but this was not the case. In the first movie, Orm was the main villain, but Manta helped him and did most of the fighting for him. This carried over to the second movie, but Manta was the main enemy and Orm was now helping Aquaman.
Despite the film’s confusing middle, I still really enjoyed watching this movie. DC Films are subject to lots of criticism by fans, but I thought the ending tied everything together and made this a fulfilling movie experience.
