Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)

Arthur Curry tries to juggle his duties as King of Atlantis, loving father and son. Things are going well for him until his old enemy, Black Manta, finds a powerful energy source that allows him to crush his opponent and thus bring the entire world to its knees. It's unfortunate that Aquaman has no one to help him in battle. I don't know, wife or anyone…

The second Aquaman movie is the biggest piece of crap in the universe, undoubtedly the worst movie of the year and the absolute bottom of the DCEU. It's good that it's over, let James Gunn save the whole world with his original vision. At least that's what a lot of people are screaming on the Internet. Because the truth is, James Wan's latest film was doomed to fail almost from the start. The behind-the-scenes issues certainly created a lot of hype around the project, but the hype was so uniformly negative that it was almost impossible to escape unscathed. The unpleasant case of Johnny Depp's former partner, which people around the world demanded to be removed from the film, with scenes of guest appearances of other DC heroes being deleted, information that the Snyderverse will not continue (this is very good news, IMO!), numerous postponements of the release date, the details. Viewers were tired long before they saw the movie itself.

I probably won't bother going to the cinema to see this movie, but it's worth the effort to review it. So I took the young man under my arms and yesterday we went on a men's trip to the local movie town. I don't know what the cinema management expected from releasing “The Lost Kingdom” in the largest hall in the entire cinema, but except for the two of us, in this large room that can accommodate about 400 people… there was another couple sitting. You could say it's something to do with the holidays, but I'm not convinced that's the main reason for this situation. Anyway, I feel a little sorry for Wan and Momoi (I hope they give him the much-talked-about role of Lobo, which I think he'd be perfect in), because after spending two hours in a movie theater seat, I have to admit… It's not as bad as many people say!

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) – Review and opinion about the movie [WB]. Hey chatGPT, write me your Aquaman movie script

In terms of plot, the film is fairly simple and messy in many ways – perhaps a result of tweaking and keeping Mera's role to a minimum – but overall it is cohesive. This is typical, low-key superhero pulp and there's nothing to praise it for at all, because the whole thing was clearly written on the knee during a two-person break (hopefully in the toilet, not the bedroom!) but given that I expected nothing more from this film Never the less, I can't say I was disappointed or surprised with what we got. If “Blue Beetle” can get a discount because it's a great, classic original story, I don't see any reason why “Aquaman” Part 2 can't be enjoyed as well.

After a short introduction explaining how Arthur deals with the role of father and king of Atlantis (I think it's very funny that the young man doesn't even have a name in the movie, they just refer to him as “The Kid”), the real conflict of the movie begins. An expedition led by Stephen Shane (Randall Park) encounters a source of great but dangerous power in Antarctica. Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen), who comes to his aid, finds an evil artifact lost for centuries – the Black Trident – which gives him so much power that he will finally be able to avenge his father's death, which he allowed him to do. Written by Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) years ago. . However, the black weapon seemed to have a negative effect on Manta's psyche…

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) – Review and opinion about the movie [WB]. Momoa and Wilson almost single-handedly save the movie

The difficult situation forces Arthur to form an alliance with his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), and therein lies this film's greatest strength. The guys have incredibly fun chemistry together. The natural savagery and playfulness of Aquaman, who longs to have a good time with his little brother, blends perfectly with Orm's stoic calm, gentle elegance, and the annoyance that surfaces every time the long-haired ape-man spending his last days flies by. Half dead in a desert prison, they call him “Brother.” You don't have to be a skilled popcorn movie connoisseur to guess that over time the guys will start to work together a little better, and maybe even like each other. We've seen the same idea in dozens of other films, and in superhero cinema even in the third part, “Thor,” and today's film does it better than that… no, not better. But also good. There's a lot to laugh about.

The action scenes are an absolute cauldron of variety. On the one hand, here and there, we get well-arranged battles broken up into multiple characters – sure, they're mainly achieved with CGI, but they still leave a positive impression, like one long shot during which Arthur and Orm take on Black Manta and some generic demons. On the other hand, the moments that are supposed to create tension, in which the situation is uncertain or even dire for our heroes, fail completely because the solution is the same every time – at the last second the villain gets a punch/trident/energy punch. A bullet to the head from behind the frame, the designated savior throws in some cheap words and the fight can continue. I swear a similar situation happens at least five times in the movie. These and similar scenes make the viewer feel no connection to the events taking place, because he is fully aware of what will happen. The one glorious exception is the final action with the villain, which seemed to give me exactly what I expected, but in a different way than I expected. respect. This means that Wan at least tried to play with the audience and their expectations.

CGI in a movie like Aquaman is practically inevitable. There are few freaks like James Cameron, who would torture his crew until they learned to spend 5-7 minutes underwater without rising to the surface (true story), and the inhabitants of Atlantis could talk with their lungs full of water, so the PCs had to move. And Kingfish (Martin Short) looked decent, Topo the octopus was disgustingly funny, the lasers from the Manta's eyes were believable, the underwater cities were visually interesting, and everyone's hair was waving in a very controlled way that always reminded me very clearly that I was watching polygons Just, or anything made of hair in the computer. I don't know what was more artificial – Aquaman's hair, Mera's smile, or her father's (Dolph Lundgren) hair color. But that's the magic of this fairy tale. We can either accept it and watch it without staring, or better yet, skip watching altogether. But hey – at least it's not as bad as “The Flash”! And I don't understand how you can have the opportunity to create a completely different world – based around underwater life – and waste it by doing the same thing, only with strange colors. Underwater bar with a bartender behind the counter? seriously?

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is not a bad movie! It's not a good movie either. This is almost a textbook example of complete mediocrity. The plot is painfully repetitive, but coherent enough to keep the viewer through the two-hour session. The actors seem to be having a lot of fun in their roles (with the exception of Johnny Depp's ex-girlfriend), and the playful banter between Arthur and Orem makes the time in the movie theater go by very quickly. I think it would be possible to reduce the size of the medium a bit to balance out the pace a bit. It would also be nice to spend a few more dollars on artists to do something with this hair, but overall, Junior and I had a good two hours. That he has no connection to the rest of the DCEU? so what? As an indie film, it's not too bad. Generic and without brilliance, but like most superhero movies.

Oh no happy birthday, everyone! We're going to eat… fish. 😉