Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

[Nate Grey]

So I saw it in the theater yesterday...I kept putting it off putting it off and finally thought, well, if I wait one more week it might be gone so here's my chance to see it in theaters.

I preferred Skylar Grey's "Everything I Need" to X Ambassadors' "Deep End."

That's it, that's literally the only thing the first movie had over this one. Everything was so much better from the fight scenes to the landscapes (loved the mutated forest) to the story, even the score (Rupert Gregson-Williams essentially topped himself).

It did make me wonder where they would have went with a part 3, but knowing this is the closing chapter may have been the only thing keeping part 2 from being so...dark. Spoilers: spoilers:

The only death was Vulko's, and that happened in-between movies. Beyond that no one [Arthur's supporting cast] died, and I feel the only ones left standing would have been Arthur and Arthur Jr if this was continuing.

end of spoilers And if that had happened, I wonder if I would have enjoyed it so much.

Left feeling good and eager to see this again, same feeling I had when I saw the first Aquaman. Guess that makes this a fitting coda to the DCEU as we know it.

[Captain Craig]

Crossed the Global $400m mark from last weekend.
$118m of that is US domestic.
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[Captain Craig]

For seven weeks Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom remained in the Box Office Top 10.
This is very likely its last stand at position #10 for the prior weekend of 2/2-4/2024 and making just over $2m more US domestic.

All in all not a bad swan song for the Zac Snyder DCU given how other DC films performed over 2023.
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[j9ac9k]

Finally saw it now that it's out on MAX. Thoughts:
-- Movie Aquaman and movie Thor have officially become the same character.
-- Aquaman calling Orm "Loki" wasn't funny - it was just cringey. It's one thing to say it as a joke to point out a fun parallel, but this movie is basically using the Thor movies as a blueprint, so bringing that up doesn't make it better. Also, it's such an MCU type meta joke at this point, it's just another highlight of them copying Marvel. (not to mention his "I am Aquaman" line to end it)
-- I'm sure it looked better on a big screen, but all the CG environments and CG fighting just got boring to me. Not as bad as "Quantumania," but in the same world.
-- Nice that they gave Black Manta such a big role, but his character was the definition of "one-note." Then to be jobbed at the end was pretty anti-climactic. They could have at least given him a "Wrath of Khan" ending where he kills himself trying to take them all out by exploding that ... toxic fuel stuff. Instead he lets himself fall. (it worked in "Thor" because of the emotions behind the exchange between Loki and Odin. This wasn't that.)
-- Between Arthur's parents, Orm, King Ivan Drago, the scientist, and Mera, I'm surprised nobody died.(I didn't think they'd kill a baby here) It's not a good or bad thing, just surprised.
-- A bit surprised Gal Gadot wasn't at the UN scene. (or a CG Superman floating by) She'd been on the cameo train and it would've made sense here.

[Kirby101]

I didn't hate it , but it wasn't good. The plot was ridiculous, pure Silver Age drivel, which is fine in reading old comics, but doesn't work for new movies. The buddy stuff with Momoa and Wilson was where most of the fun came from. Some fun action stuff and some cringe worthy stuff. I could dive deeper into the bad elements, but why? It just wasn't that good.

[Jokerz79]

Yeah, I also finally caught it on MAX.

Wasn't a fan of all the CGI especially the forest scenes I wish they'd gone to a real location and even used it in Orm's story like him seeing the beauty of the surface world for the 1st time.

I also thought with the talk of Arthur not wanting the throne they'd redeem Orm at the end and have Arthur turn the Throne over to him.

Now this could have been cut due to the "Heard" situation, but it felt like a subplot was just dropped. The whole thing with the Council and we get the Head Councilwoman giving a speech how Arthur can't protect the city or his family and then she disappears never heard of again. Like What? I got the feeling this was leading to a division especially with Arthur breaking Orm out of Prison yet nothing.

Wasn't a fan of the opening the story started rolling for me once we got Black Manta and Shin. Also, as I saw in some reviews the best part for me was the middle of the movie with Orm and Arthur.

Don't want to be a DC Debbie downer so I will add I also watched Blue Beetle finally which was Awesome.

[Powerboy]

Just saw it on HBO. I suppose that's the problem in general. Not seeing it at the theater.

It has weaknesses, true, mostly Manta suddenly becoming secondary at the end. But he was what he was in the first movie, a character whose entire arc is "revenge".

Other than that, this movie had it all. Drama, comedy and action, and, as someone said, it was largely Silver Age. Does anybody really think that, had they killed his baby son, it would have made the movie more popular? Pardon the pun but that would have sunk it completely. In fact, watching it, I kept waiting and waiting for the part where it was so bad, the part where RT gave it 34% which was ridiculously low. I kept guessing it must be his son getting killed, which would have absolutely finished it with most people saying the people making the DCEU have learned nothing. This movie shows they have learned. They just did it way too late after most people gave up and didn't bother to see it. Heck, I didn't, at the theater.

I mean, look everyone has their opinions. But, not everyone wants grimdark all the time and I use that term because it fits a lot of the DCEU which is why I haven't watched all of the DCEU. I want some drama. I want to see a character have development, to marry and have a child in this case (and a pet octopus). If this were a certain type of story, I would fully expect a horrible tragedy that destroys everything the main character holds dear and drives him to the lowest depths a character can fall to. Nowadays, I think those are called superhero comics. Thank goodness, this was something that remembered everything doesn't have to be complete deconstructionism. If the DCEU had started this way, they wouldn't be in this situation of having to restart.

Nor am I saying they have to be the MCU. They can have more drama and less comedy relief. But complete tragedy? Please. I'll go watch the Godfather movies if I want that. At any rate, I thought this was a good sendoff and, again, had they done this from the start, it wouldn't be ending here and now.

Edit: Just to say, I am clearly judging this movie on a curve compared to some other DCEU movies before I, y'know, stopped watching them.

I did see "Blue Beetle" and thought it was better than this. I saw a forum where some conservatives tried to give backlash on the treatment of Latin people only to have dozend of Latino people explain that how we see Latinos treated in the movie is every day existence for Latino people.

[j9ac9k]

I think the biggest mistake of the film was just relying on Mamoa's charisma rather than writing an actual character with depth or an arc.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I don't think it's that bad when it come to plotting or characters, although;

1. Why blow up an island containing all the vibranium/coaxium/whatever explosive hazardous fuel while aware of the risks?
2. Manta being aware of Arthur jr is silly and has no reason to happen.
3. The level of strength difference between the brothers is shoddy storytelling.

The CGI is so bad it makes people look like bad cgi with choppy framerate. The mess distracts way too much.

At least I had fun with it
6.7/10

[Thomas Crown]

So, I finally watched Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

It's my honest opinion that the first movie has a lot of good (cast, visuals, action scenes) with some bad (dumb humor) mixed in it. In the sequel, they amped up the bad without even remotely reaching the same level of good.

Just like Wonder Woman 1984, I think the problem was giving too much creative control to the wrong person. In this case, Jason Momoa. I mean, most of the time he's not even playing Aquaman, just himself. It's an almost completely different character from what we saw in ZSJL.

Also, it's obvious that Amber Heard's role was reduced and a lot of her scenes were cut or reshot, probably to avoid any more "controversies". But I wouldn't be surprised if it was thanks to Heard fans that this movie wasn't an even bigger box office disaster.

[From The Shadows]

I could never get into the Wrestler/Metal version of the character.

[Captain Smith]

I get that. I watched the first few minutes and a beer drinking, Dad, Aquaman, then cutting to raving nutball Manta and the Lord of the Rings, Frodo eater didn't do it. There was no chance Manta would kill Arthur win the day - so why bother? Of course, we all know the good guys win but at least the villain could be compelling like Thanos, Zod or Wanda but Manta - yawn.

I couldn't see sitting through the whole thing given other things to do.

[Scott Taylor]

I get that. I watched the first few minutes and a beer drinking, Dad, Aquaman, then cutting to raving nutball Manta and the Lord of the Rings, Frodo eater didn't do it. There was no chance Manta would kill Arthur win the day - so why bother? Of course, we all know the good guys win but at least the villain could be compelling like Thanos, Zod or Wanda but Manta - yawn.

I couldn't see sitting through the whole thing given other things to do.

The villain was not Manta.

[Nate Grey]

The villain was not Manta.

Yeah kinda odd the complaints I see don't even mention Kordax.