MOVIE REVIEW – “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” unfortunately fails to bring the refreshing wave DC fans were hoping for, instead sinking into a deep sea of trite and silly clichés and a forgettable plot. The cast, led by Jason Momoa, tries to save the movie, but sadly they still only deliver the bare minimum. The movie’s visual effects and action sequences occasionally flash moments of brilliance, but even these can’t compensate for the bland and clichéd storytelling and zero character development. Bland clichés, forgettable plots, and only the obligatory characters – if this is the last movie in the DC Expanded Universe, then let it sink into the depths and never rise again.

I have often enjoyed superhero movies, with their surrealism, melodrama and comedy, and there have been some that have felt particularly epic. But there’s no doubt about it: as far as the first Aquaman movie goes, it was pretty mediocre, with Jason Momoa grinning his way through Aquaman’s CGI-filled underwater chick-flick adventures as if he were guest starring in a beer commercial. And now here’s a terrible sequel, again directed by James Wan, and supposedly (let’s hope!) the final film in DC’s Expanded Universe. The Aquaman franchise has simply stopped, floating in the tepid and stale waters like a plastic bag discarded on the beach.

So here we go again with Jason Momoa’s bored, self-important Aquaman, in a supposedly humorous way borrowed from Taika Waititi’s Thor films; the alpha superhero with a laid-back home life. In civilian life, Aquaman is constantly hanging out with his father Tom (Temuera Morrison), peacefully drinking beer in a pub. Incidentally, Aquaman now controls Atlantis and has imprisoned his evil half-brother Orm, whose monstrous, megalomaniacal naval schemes were deadly in the previous film. This role is once again played by the poor, deserving Patrick Wilson, and his deliberately icy insult is as boring and clichéd as in the previous film.

Go with the flow, Aquaman!

Like the original, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sends Aquaman on a series of quests to get from one strange place to another and stop a power-crazed villain from destroying the world. Also in a nod to the first movie, Aquaman spends the entire movie arguing with someone he can’t stand, and then gradually grows to like them. Only this time, instead of physically fighting with King Orm and verbally fighting with Mera, he physically fights with Black Manda and verbally fights with Orm. It almost made Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom feel like a new movie, but somehow it didn’t work.

Meanwhile, Mera (Amber Heard) has gone from a strong-willed, powerful hero to a woman who has babies, does the laundry and dutifully sits by Aquaman’s side. She barely speaks, and when she does, it’s only to tease us or remind us that, yes, technically, Amber Heard is still in the movie. It could either be that Heard’s awkward performance was downplayed in post-production, as many have already assumed, or that the script for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is simply underwritten and stupidly sexist. It could be both, but it is certain that the otherwise relatively talented (in other movies) Amber Heard is an atomic bomb here, undermining not only her character but Aquaman’s as well. If the movie’s script is taken literally, it suggests that the man is upstaging his wife at every turn and is not interested in anything she has to say. What a superhero!

Papa Aquaman in Papa’s movie theater

And yes, you read that right, this time Aquaman has become a father, oh so cute! There are lots of scenes with Momoa and a real doll, diaper-changing cooing, cuteness: as much sugar-coated snot as you can fit down the tube. The portrayal of a tough guy cuddling a baby carrier is an oft-used, hackneyed Hollywood cliché in cheesy daddy-movie type films. It’s not missing here, either.

And when he finally stops drinking beer with his dad and changing his baby’s diaper, Aquaman must confront the second villain from the previous film, now promoted to first-violin status. He’s Black Manta, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who’s accompanied by a crackpot marine biologist, Dr. Shin, played by the otherwise talented comic actor Randall Park.

Will this titanic clash between Aquaman and his troubled half-brother Orm finally mean reconciliation? Who knows? Or rather, who cares? By the end of 124 long minutes, the bored audience will be out of the tepid water, eager to forget this latest DC debacle as quickly as possible.

-Gergely Herpai (BadSector)-