“They say everybody’s good at something. Me? I talk to fish. That’s how I met my friend, Storm. He’s always there when I need a lift. Some people think that makes me a joke, But I don’t care. You know why? ‘Cause I’m also good at something else: breaking heads … I’m Aquaman.”
This film release marks the end of the DCEU as we know it (also known as the Snyder-verse). The DCEU has been an interesting ride to say the least, full of ups and downs. And while it never truly challenged Marvel with their multi-phased game plan, it did provide unique opportunities that gave some deserving talents a platform to showcase their abilities. Momoa was one of them. For me, his casting was among the most unique and triumphant. When he was first announced, I had to take a hard look at that decision, as it went against the grain as far as traditional casting for Arthur Curry went. However, it is difficult for me to imagine anyone else who could have brought the same kind of life to the character. Momoa gave the character an exotic and wild-man energy that made for a very entertaining interpretation. Granted this at times made the character seem dimwitted, making his path to the throne seem all the more unlikely. On the other hand, the character was intended to struggle and chafe under the pressure of the crown, thus making Momoa’s performance believable.
While I am excited to see what direction that DC will go in and what the future may hold, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about that future and slightly disappointed that this is the end of the road for the likes of Cavill, Gadot, and Momoa. However, I suppose all is not lost, with speculation that Momoa could embody a certain interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter with an accelerated healing factor in the future. Time will tell on that one, but let me be the first to say I would fully support that casting.
“Four years ago, I was basically unemployed, a wanderer with no home. But now I’m a husband, and a father. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Back on subject, let’s talk Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. I will recommend refamiliarizing yourself with the events of the first film, as I found myself shaking off some cobwebs in regards to where events left off. Momoa gives a bit of a recap as well as a brief summary of the character’s current station in life. He’s married Mera and had a son, Arthur Jr., and splits his life between land, where he lives in the lighthouse of his father Tom and fights crime, and the sea, ruling as the King of Atlantis. However, Arthur chafes under the diplomatic and bureaucratic royal duties, and is always in conflict with the Atlantean council, who oppose his intent of bringing Atlantis public and contacting the surface world.
Meanwhile, pirate David Kane, a.k.a. Manta, remains hellbent on his revenge mission against Arthur after Arthur elected not to save his father, leading to the latter’s inevitable fate. Now rocking a wicked scar across his face, his mission takes him deep into the Arctic in search of a weapon that will even the playing field. What he finds is a black trident that not only gives him strength to rival his enemy, but also promises the power he desires to destroy Aquaman, his family, and his kingdom. In order to save his kingdom and everyone he loves, Arthur will need the help of the one person who likely hates him more than David Kane, his brother, Orm.
“You’re not as bad at this as you think. If you lead, the Seven Kingdoms will follow.”
You know, they say imitation is the highest form of flattery. It certainly showed here, as I could draw clear inspiration links from this story to multiple popular film franchises, one being DC’s direct competitor. Interestingly enough, one of Jason Momoa’s quips to Orm drew direct attention to this homage by calling Wilson’s character by the name of the character from which the story element was inspired by (Thor: Dark World). I can also draw a link to Lord of the Rings given the all-consuming and malevolent affect a particular artifact cast over its bearer. Despite these homages, the film is still very entertaining, and much of that has to do with the energy Momoa brings. It’s honestly hard to say he was acting, as the character has become so synonymous with him that it is hard to see where Aquaman ends and Momoa begins. I call it the Reynolds-Deadpool effect. There are times where I would have liked to have seen more emotional depth from the character, as there are some scenes that called for it. However, I was predominantly satisfied with the portrayal.
Patrick Wilson’s Orm had the most significant arc. When we last saw his character, he’d architected events to force a war with the surface world. This time around, he’s on the path to redemption, and as expected there are time periods that call into question whether the character would grow or whether history was doomed to repeat itself. These are the moments that Wilson shines, as it is really difficult to discern what side of the fence his character is going to come out on. In truth this rollercoaster makes up for the less than substantive performance from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the film’s villain. I can’t explain it; I like Abdul-Mateen. I don’t think he makes good casting choices, such as his run in The Matrix: Reloaded and Candyman, but I like him. I feel like he needs the right role to showcase his ability, and unfortunately, this film is not the one to do that either. The role called more of a malevolent presence, and I don’t believe we got that from him. Serving as the film’s main antagonist, there were pockets where he seemed to fully embody what that meant. At first I thought he was going to take a chapter out of Momoa’s own book in Fast X and be a quipping sociopath, but as the film went on it was clear that the character was intended to follow a dark path as he delves deeper and deeper into psychosis. And while Abdul-Mateen does his best, it never felt authentic to me.
It was disappointing to hear that Willem Dafoe had to be written out due to scheduling conflicts that prohibited him reprising his role. That did, however, allow Kidman step into the advisor role and marks a particular milestone for the actress, who prior to this has never reprised a role. While her role still feels somewhat reduced, it is always good to achieve a milestone.
This is a brothers’ story, and as such the focus is on our two brothers who have never seen eye-to-eye and spent the previous film as enemies. Having them forced to work together provides a clear view into their dynamic and calls into question their differences. Arthur, as he struggles in his role as king due to his land upbringing and ignorance of Atlantean culture, and Orm, with his upbringing and training to prepare him for the responsibility of the crown and the insecurities presented by the threat of being usurped. I wished they would have delved a little deeper into this portion, forced the brothers to confront their differences a more, but due to the 124-minute runtime, there wasn’t a much opportunity for such introspection. But that in my opinion would have gone a long way towards providing the film a stronger emotional arc. As is, it’s fine, but if they dug a bit deeper, it could have been great.
Video
Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is presented in a pretty major shift to a 1.78:1 aspect ratio from its original release at 2.39:1. The original film used a basic aspect ratio shift between water and land environments. Warner Brothers decided to go with a consistent screen here, and I can’t really complain about the choice. I know some of you get distracted by shifts. You likely struggle through a Christopher Nolan film. Me ? If it’s done well and flawlessly, I really appreciate the added element to the storytelling. The ultra-high-definition image is arrived at with a steady 70-75mbps average. Wan wanted to take us back to those 50’s and 60’s comics with the style of the film, and he does a great job doing that. A lot of that is found in the production design, from the design of the henchmen “uniforms” to the sets and props. That’s where the detail of this native 4K transfer allows you to experience the colors and textures in fine detail. Detail, I might add, I didn’t pick up on during the press screening last year. HDR lifts those colors to their almost camp brightness. There’s a lot of green and yellow, and it all fits together rather delightfully. Textures really come out in the Atlantean clothes. You get that scaly sheen look, and it works. HDR also boosts contrast and gives you much deeper black levels. When your main bad guy likes to wear black stuff, it really allows you to see far more detail in the shadow definition than you might. It’s a highly stylized world with hyper-stylized creatures and costumes. And it all presents more than a little bit nicely here.
Audio
The Dolby Atmos audio presentation defaults to 7.1. This can be a truly aggressive mix. There is often so much going on here that it’s easy to get more than a little overwhelmed. You’re under the water a lot, and that means some nice immersive surrounds that provide plenty of ambient detail, from the currents of the water itself to the movement of characters and creatures about the environment. The action sequences bring on some rousing score work and some rather wonderful sub action. There are more than a few good room-shaking moments to be had here. With all of this, the dialog comes through pretty clear. Under water there are some vocal f/x at work but it doesn’t distract … that much.
Special Features
There is only the UHD disc, so the extras are all found here. Unfortunately no deleted scenes, as I would have enjoyed seeing the cut Keaton scene. A separate disc also could have bumped the bit rate here, but it came out pretty well as it is so why complain … right?
Finding The Lost Kingdom: (21:22) While the generous helping of behind-the-scenes footage gives us great looks at the production, conceptual art and many aspects of production design, this is really a production diary for Jason Momoa. We follow him from his morning arrival on several of the 118 shooting days. The guy certainly likes to have fun on his sets, and you get a big dose of that here.
Aquaman – Worlds Above And Beyond: (9:38) This feature focuses on the production design as Wan gives us insights into his stylistic choices here.
Atlantean Blood Is Thicker Than Water: (4:17) This feature gives us an amusing look at the relationship between brothers Arthur and Orm.
Necros – The Lost Black City: (5:51) We get a real good look at the work and evolution of the titular kingdom from conceptual art and the design of the water zombies. Some pretty cool stuff here, to be sure.
It’s A Manta World: (10:08) Everything and everything Black Manta here, from character insights from actor Abdul-Mateen II to how it was all designed. They really went back to those older comics for this one.
Escape From The Deserter World: (8:05) This more scene-specific behind-the-scenes feature deals with the break out of Orn from the desert world. Again creature construction rules here, as well as a huge practical set.
Brawling At King Fisher’s Lair: (4:07) This time the focus is on the pirate/mobster King Fisher and his place. Think Star Wars’ Mos Eisley.
Oh Topo: (2:12) A short comedic look at Aquaman’s companion, Topo.
Final Thoughts:
As this is the end for the DCEU as we know it, I will say that while I am sorry to see it come to an end, perhaps it is time for a day one reset. I am grateful that we got a proper conclusion to Aquaman’s story, and I would like to thank Momoa for shakeup he brought to character that would have likely been rigid otherwise. But under Momoa’s banner, the character was fun. And that’s what Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is, when you get right down to it. It’s fun.
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
