Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: Movie Review 

Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren
Director: James Wan

It's not that the final DC film before a complete reboot is an utter disaster - more that it feels like a tonal mess of badly done CGI and poorly constructed plot that doesn't quite know what it wants to be.

Part buddy comedy, part revenge thriller, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finds Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry wrestling two roles - that of father to a new child with king of Atlantis. But when Abdul-Mateen II's Manta returns with vengeance on his mind, and armed with a Black Trident that has a portal to a long-hidden Atlantis kingdom, Curry has his work cut out - and must turn to his brother Orm (Wilson, in great straight guy mode) for help.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has moments when its Jules Verne / Irwin Allen vibes prove to lead much of the energy of the film. While parts of its underwater world feel like poorly executed pre-release versions of the Avatar films, there's an inherent wackiness and silliness that benefits the general tone of the movie.

Momoa leans into the comedic elements well, allowing his charisma and enthusiasm to shine - his Robert Downey Jr Iron Man moment at the end being a highlight. In truth, initial sequences involving Orm's breakout from a desert prison and subsequent reunion sparkle with comedic moments and general odd couple atmospherics.

But Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is not helped by weak-looking CGI that offers no real point of difference and brings no sense of vibrancy to life under the sea. There's also a lack of any real emotional heft throughout as well, with many characters reduced to muted moments, or in Amber Heard's case, muted throughout for reasons that feel like reshoots or weakly scripted scenes.

Parts of the film feel like a PlayStation 3 era video game that was rush-released, something that's little helped by the terrible acting of Lundgren throughout as Curry's father King Nereus. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will appeal to the younger end of the audience when its silliness becomes more evident, but in truth, it appears only Momoa and Wilson are having fun here, with Wan seeming unsure how to thread the various CGI scenes together.

While not a complete disaster, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom should perhaps prove to be a full stop to the superhero bloat that has riddled cinemas this year. It will draw a line under the various failings of the DC Extended Universe, but there are frustrations that this final film could have been more of a spectacular outing that shows off the emotional depth and fun of the characters involved, instead of a damp squib of a cinematic outing.