DC Comics (or DC) have been making movies for a long time at this point. While Christopher Reeve as Superman might be the first thought of most with Tim Burton’s Batman being a close second, as long as there have been cinemas there have been DC films (even if they were closer to shorts). Now with a new age of DC on the horizon taking inspiration from the interconnected MCU there is just one hero left standing – Aquaman.
Long the butt of many jokes (see the Peacemaker TV series for just for some of them) Aquaman was made action star when he first appeared played by Jason Momoa in Zack Synder’s Justice League. Ditching the orange and blonde hair for something a bit more Norse and Polynesian we got an Arthur Curry who was a lot more about drinking and brawling than defending the seven seas from the surface world.
The latest film continues from where the first Aquaman standalone film left the players with Arthur/Aquaman/Momoa/probably Lobo someday, becoming the new King of Atlantis as the half son to the Queen and heir to the throne. In the first film Aquaman roamed the seas helping out and looking for trouble including taking down the Black Manta mercenaries from hijacking a nuclear sub. After accepting his birthright Aquaman defeated his half brother (and current ruler of Atlantis) Orm before he could attack the surface world on behalf of the sea kingdoms who granted him war powers to do so (the title of Ocean Master).
In the second film we return to Arthur’s life now being split between life on the land with his father Boba Fett ,raising his own son and life of a monarch doing stately things like sitting on a throne a lot – but everything changed when the Lost Kingdom attacked. Not so much the Lost Kingdom but when Manta looking for Atlantean tech to get his vengeance on Aquaman from the first film comes across an outpost of tech from a lost undersea Kingdom.
While we might never get a trilogy of Aquaman films if the first film was about Arthur the second film is clearly about his brother Orm and completing his story arc. Taking more of a buddy road trip approach the film really gets going once Aquaman teams up with Orm again needing his help to find Manta but clearly not letting the end of the world due to ecological disaster from Black Manta not get in the way of a good time.
In contrast to the previous film the new one is definitely more light hearted but in acts and even by scenery this one plays through a lot more like a video game akin to the Uncharted series than a film. There are a lot of scenes in this film that really beg for a big screen experience but our preview was also in 3D which it felt like a lot of scenes were set out for both on lands and under the sea.
So should you go see it? While it is not the strongest film in the ‘current’ DC no one can say that Aquaman is no the one who was having the most fun in it. As long as your expectation are realistic and not expecting an End Game like finale to the current DC there is a lot of fun to have with this film as a perfect low stakes action popcorn film for your Boxing Day. Just consider maybe splurging a little and seeing it in 3D if you can for the full ‘as intended’ effect.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom swims into cinemas across Australia on Boxing Day
