Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arrives as both a sequel and a swan song. As the final installment in the now-concluded DC Extended Universe (DCEU), it carries the weight of concluding a decade of storytelling. But does it sink or swim?
★★½ (2.5/5) – Stream it for the bromance; lower your expectations for the plot. aquaman 2
Picking up a few years after the first film, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is no longer the reluctant heir to Atlantis. He’s now King of the Seven Seas, a new father, and a beleaguered husband to Mera (Amber Heard). Struggling to balance his duties on land (where he’s a clumsy, beer-loving dad) and his responsibilities under the sea (where he’s expected to be regal), Arthur is stretched thin. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arrives as both
His fragile peace is shattered when an ancient, frozen evil is unleashed: . Driven by vengeance for his father’s death, Manta has found the legendary, corrupting Black Trident. Powered by the spirit of an imprisoned, undead king named Kordax, Manta becomes a near-unstoppable force, capable of melting polar ice caps and unleashing a deadly, global "heat plague" that threatens to destroy the surface and underwater worlds alike. ★★½ (2
Think of it as a —silly, visually cacophonous, and occasionally nonsensical, but buoyed by Momoa’s infectious charisma and Wilson’s deadpan perfection. It’s not high art, but as a final, carefree wave goodbye to the DCEU, it’s an okay splash in the pool.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a deeply flawed, overstuffed, but often entertaining conclusion to a messy era of superhero films. It lacks the fresh, naive charm of the first movie (which felt like Romancing the Stone under water), but it compensates with a genuinely fun odd-couple adventure.
Outmatched, Arthur is forced to do the unthinkable: break his estranged, power-hungry half-brother out of a desert prison. The result is a classic "buddy-cop" dynamic—but one where the buddy tried to drown the entire world in the last movie. Momoa’s boisterous, surfer-dude bravado clashes perfectly with Wilson’s prim, Shakespearean stoicism, creating the film’s undeniable highlight.