Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Movie
And with a final gasp Warner Brother’s DCEU comes to a close with barely a hint of fanfare. Not gonna lie, I’ve always been frustrated at the DCEU not because it didn’t have potential, but that the powers that be figure they could bull rush everything that Marvel did years earlier in building a cinematic universe, but not laying sufficient groundwork to make it happen. While Marvel’s first 2 phases were a long and steady push towards the inevitability of Thanos in Endgame, the DCEU tried to force a Justice League film down out throats after only a couple of movies, and even then, it was a shadow of Marvel’s prolific rise to power (of which there is almost none of said power left, as Phase 4 and Phase 5 has watched Marvel’s enormous power structure literally collapse under a deluge of over saturated content, much like how Disney tanked Star Wars in only a few years). However there were a few fun films out of the franchise and some legendary performances (Cavill iconicized himself as one of the great Superman portrayals since Christopher Reeves) and some surprising hits that didn’t look like they were going to be hits. Hits such as 2018’s Aquaman.

To be fair, Aquaman wasn’t as eagerly received by every reviewer out there like it did by me, but I loved the film for being one of the most actually “comic book like comic book movies” out of all the overly drab Snyderverse offerings. It was goofy, colorful, and completely over the top with a totally miscast Jason Momoa (he comes off as a drunk biker rather than Arthur Curry/Aquaman), but it was FUN. I was grinning from ear to ear by the time the credits rolled 5 years ago, and while the DCEU was literally heaving its last breath in 2023 with The Flash, Blue Beetle (which was SUPPOSED to be the kick off to Gunn’s new cinematic universe) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but I was in it for the long haul. I really enjoyed how the first film was, and was hoping that James Wan would bring more of that insane energy to the screen.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, he did and he sort of didn’t if you know what I mean. Like most sequels, Aquaman 2 (which I’ll refer to it from here on out as shorthand) goes over the top and tries to out do what came before. Much like Hellboy II (which to be fair was pretty great), the film gives us more Atlantis, more races, more magic, and more Jason Momoa making jokes while he and Orm (Patrick Wilson) try and save the world once more. This time it’s in the form of Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) coming back for revenge once more. But this time the pirate has a few upgrades. With the help of scientist Dr. Shin (Randall Park), he finds the mysterious lost city of Nekris, a mysterious and evil lost kingdom of the Atlanteans which was magically sealed up centuries ago by Arthur’s Father. While Black Manta can’t exactly do anything with the city, he does find the evil King’s broken trident, which is imbued with the powers of the old king, who also happens to sort of possess the revenge wrought pirate. Teaming up with the imprisoned king, Manta uses the trident to both wreak vengeance on the remaining Atlantean kingdoms, but also free the evil King and awaken a power that even the remaining 6 kingdoms may not be able to hold.

Yadda yadda yadda, Aquaman has to free Orm in order to team up like brothers against Manta and his possessed self, and the rest of the world finally get to see the Atlantean people for the first time. Honestly, this was just a bit too much and too crazy even for me. The haplessly miscast Jason Momoa was focused and slightly toned down for his role as Aquabro….err…..Aquaman in the first film, but here he’s given free reign to be his over the top hammy self. Channeling more of his character from Fast X than Arthur Curry, Momoa is the comedy relief to Patrick Wilson’s straight man routine, giving us tons of CGI effects and jokes about Arthur’s son in his mouth (seriously, not kidding). The movie feel like it was just giving a massive bump of cocaine and let loose knowing that this was the final film of the DCEU and nobody was going to care. Heck, even Amber Heard is basically muzzled for the entire movie except for maybe 10 minutes of screen time (she literally gets blasted by Manta and goes into a coma for half the movie, as the studio execs were trying to find a way to honor her contract while basically sidelining her at the same time after the results of her trial with Johnny Depp turned out). Not to mention that Randall Park plays the same goofy Asian hapless nerdy sidekick that he does in every film he’s in. Basically he’s Jimmy Woo from the Marvel Universe, just in the DCEU.

On the flip side, there were some really good points to the film as well. I really loved that they brought back Black Manta and re-used him as one of Aquaman’s arch nemesis. One of my biggest points of contention with super hero films is how they literally make the villain less of a threat by killing him off and making him a “one movie” sort of deal instead of the recurring thorn in the hero’s side like the comic books do. Sure, that got overused a lot on the CW DC shows, but it works here, as Black Manta shows his cleverness an utilization of Atlantis technology to make himself more powerful and threatening this go around. Unfortunately they sort of botch the Witch King of Angmar…errr, the King of Nekris by basically one shoting him at the end of the film and rob of us of a true boss battle, but hey, Black Manta was pretty good in my book. At the same time, I really liked how they made Orm similar to his hot headed comic book self, with a mixture of hero and villain at the same time which made him such a complicated antagonist in the books.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some language.




4K Video: Video:

Probably the best part of the whole 4K UHD package is the video encode for Aquaman 2. It has a lot going for it with an absolutely luscious amalgamation of colors that range from the dusty browns of Orm’s prison to the neon green of the Nekris trident magic, or the neon blues and purples of the Atlantean cities. Everything is a ramped up version of the 2019 film, with more colors, more CGI set pieces, and MORE of everything. This means a lovely set of colors that really are bright and vivid thanks to the Dolby Vision. Black levels are deep and inky, but here are where some awkward problems crop up. I noticed black crush on the 4K (which is usually never and issue) as well as some minor ringing around characters (underwater shots are prone to that). The overall image is quite superb with fantastic details, but the over abundance of CGI sort of makes the green screen and CGI bodies (many of the action shots are nearly fully CGI characters) all the more obvious. It’s a great looking disc, but also one that looks strangely alien and kinda fake at the same time.








Audio:

Now here’s the part of the review that I really had to think about. Warner is NOT known for making mediocre audio mixes in their super hero films, so I was surprised when I first saw the film in my home theater. The first film was filled with incredibly deep LFE, a wide dispersion of surround channels, and an amazing dynamic range. So you can color me more than a little shocked when I turned on the disc and found everything so muted. Turns out that Warner has made a weird mix that sounds “good” and also has some major drawbacks at the same time. They recorded it ala Disney used to, with about 6-8 DB’s lower than normal, so I had to crank it up to near reference to get normal sounding audio out of my Denon receiver. Once level matched to reference the track opens up a good bit, with some good surround usage in the rears and sides, and spot on perfect dialog. HOWEVER, there are some problematic drawbacks that are very much worth mentioning. The LFE is there, but it is not very deep or guttural at all, with a steep filter on the subsonic channel to the point where I never once felt the pant flapping bass of the original. Not only that, the mid bass that is there just doesn’t slam you in the chest like I would have hoped either. The overheads get almost no use whatsoever, and the dynamic range is not exactly very wide at all. It’s weird, but it feels like (to borrow from another reviewer) they made the mix for streaming rather than home theaters. It’s a very capable track that certainly encompasses the listener, but it never once stretches the Atmos format with it’s capabilities, and has a weirdly 2 dimensional aspect to it due to the constrained dynamic range.













Extras:

• Finding the Lost Kingdom - Go behind the scenes as director James Wan reveals how he and the cast and crew pulled off their biggest endeavor yet, an epic sequel to the largest grossing film in the history of DC.
• Aquaman: Worlds Above and Below - When the filmmakers set out to create a sequel that eclipsed the original in scale and scope, they knew they would have to send Arthur and the rest of the cast to all kinds of new wild and wonderful worlds both above and below the sea.
• It's a Manta World - Black Manta is more powerful than ever now that he has discovered the Lost Kingdom of Necrus and taken possession of the Black Trident. From inspiration to execution, filmmakers reveal how they leveled Black Manta up to the realm of supervillains.
• Necrus, The Lost Black City - Ages ago the great battle for the earth took place here, in this legendary lost Atlantean city. Discover how the filmmakers created the Black City from its "surface city" concept and its inhabitants: Undead Necrusians (Zombies), to its execution.
• Escape from the Deserter World - From idea to execution, explore how the filmmakers created this barren desert landscape and the Deserter Prison, how its creatures and inhabitants were brought to life, and how they planned and executed the daring Orm "breakout" sequence.
• Brawling at Kingfish's Lair - The Citadel is the last frontier of the ocean, a deep trench filled with sunken old ships, stacked high like a rusty city. From concept to completion, discover Kingfish's Lair, a bar within, where the worst of the worst hang out.
• Oh TOPO! - The Tactical Observation and Pursuit Operative Octopus is a living legend and all-time fan favorite. Director James Wan and the filmmakers discuss the decision behind bringing TOPO back to the sequel and its promotion to Arthur's on-screen sidekick.
















Is Aquaman 2 a good movie? Nah, but it’s not a horrible movie either. It’s a decent attempt at a comic book movie that is still light years better than pretty much anything that Marvel is putting out for the last 4 years, despite being LITERALLY the last hurrah for the DCEU. As a huge DC fan, I was disappointed with how much worse it was than the first film, but also surprised that it wasn’t worse than it is. The DCEU had some good points and will be missed, but Aquaman 2 sadly doesn’t live up to how much fun I had back in 2018 when it’s predecessor came out. The 4K UHD (which sadly still doesn’t contain the Blu-ray, cummon WB, combo packs are highly desired for new releases) is a good looking film with a solid enough audio mix, but is a bit rocky and slightly problematic on a film front. Worth a fun rental for comic book fans at the very least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, Dolph Lundgren, Martin Short, Temuera Morrison
Directed by: James Wan
Written by: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, James Wan, Jason Momoa
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish Dolby Digtial 5.1
Sugtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 125 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 12th, 2024