“Aquaman” (2018) was an all around hit. It grossed over a billion dollars in the box office and was an overall well-liked movie that broke DC’s bad movie streak. What was there not to love? You had Jason Momoa playing an underdog that ended up becoming the king of Atlantis. There was a brother rivalry, romance and even Nicole Kidman in a relevant role.
With everything that the first film had going for it, how could “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” have turned out so terribly? Firstly, the actress who played the love interest, Mera, was caught in one of the biggest controversies of the past few years.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp were in a very public, and what many considered absurd, divorce and defamation case in 2022. This drastically changed the public opinion on Heard. The audience went from loving her to never wanting to see her on screen again, causing Mera’s scenes to be drastically cut. The movie was already on thin ice with just this one change.
Other than that, a new plot seems to be thrown at the audience every five seconds. In the beginning of the movie you learn that Aquaman is now a father, where no context is given to the story of how he became a parent. In the undisclosed amount of time that passed between the first and second movie, Arthur, on top of all his other responsibilities, is now a father.
Does the audience see a lot of his son? No, only in the beginning to show that yes, there is a son. He is also shown towards the end of the movie when Black Manta kidnaps him: another plot that was just thrown out there.
The main idea for the movie is that Black Manta is trying to get his revenge on Arthur for killing his father. He now wields “the Black Trident,” a weapon of ancient evil. To combat this, Arthur breaks his brother, Orm, out of prison to enlist his help. They go on a side quest together and they share moments of brotherly reconciliation.
Those moments were arguably the best parts of the movie. Other than that, the ending arc where Black Manta kidnaps Arthur’s child was mildly interesting; however, the way they went about it ruined a lot of the potential. It seems like within the last hour of the movie they threw in extra conflicts for fun.
One of the biggest problems with the movie is the fact that it tries to be everything, so it ends up being nothing at all. Is it a brotherly love story? Is it one big redemption arc? Is this a “save the planet” movie? It is hard to tell.
Overall, the movie was set up for failure, but even so, it did not push through. Since most were pleased with the original Aquaman, it made watching “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” that much more disappointing when it failed in making any cohesive plot or theme.
Samatha de Falco is a junior majoring in English and minoring in Italian.
