‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ Review: Jason Momoa’s Last Dive Scores a Solid Sea-Plus

As has been the butt of jokes for decades, Aquaman's primary power is that he can converse with watery creatures. With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a movie that has suffered several delays, a weirdly salacious lawsuit and represents the fizzled-out final chapter in a ripcorded series, the King of Atlantis ended up in communion with a lame duck.

And yet! Director James Wan and Hawaii's favorite son, Jason Momoa, aren't just gonna tuck fin and swim away. This movie starts out in some doldrums (you can tell it's been hit with reshoots when some characters just show up in the middle of an action sequence with no introduction to remind you who they are), but once it hits its current, it's ... it's a genuinely fun B-movie.

It kicks off with Arthur Curry (also known as Aquaman!) holding down two jobs: he's the leader of Atlantis, trying to maintain peace among several undersea kingdoms, but he's also a new dad up in his cliffside house (and "Junior" won't stop peeing all over him; seriously, this movie has more comedy whizz than any other superhero picture). Trouble comes when David Kane (a.k.a. Black Manta, played by a snarling Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) discovers a cursed trident in his quest for vengeance against Aquaman. It's got a One True Ring quality, bestowing dark powers on whoever holds it, driving them mad. Of course, he was already mad, so now he's even madder!

Kane has an army of cronies, including an "I'm just in it for the science!" good guy, played by Randall Park, who discovers Atlantean technology. Soon, they are riding in an awesome ancient ship with retro-future computer banks and costumes plucked from Aelita: Queen of Mars. They start plundering a dangerous substance called unobtanium orichalcum, a powerful greenhouse gas long outlawed by Atlanteans that causes crazy-ass weather on the surface and a plague throughout the deep. Kane is doing it for complicated reasons, but it's basically so he can see Aquaman dead at his feet.

With Arthur's scales against the wall, there's only one person who can help: his brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), the jailed former Ocean Master and main baddie from the last movie. So Nicole Kidman (!) and Dolph Lundgren (!!) give Arthur a new helper, a wacky "Tactical Observation and Pursuit Operative" cephalopod named Topo for short. Topo, who is blue and cute and rides a seahorse when he has to, makes blobby Minions-esque noises and helps big, brawny Momoa get out of jams. This is why we go to the movies.

Arthur and Topo soon bust an emaciated Orm out of his desert prison, but once the near-dead Patrick Wilson touches seawater, he's like Popeye chowing down on the world's biggest can of spinach. And it is totally on.

Momoa and Wilson start zinging each other as they go out to halt Black Manta's evil plans, and that means going to an orichalcum-infected volcanic atoll, which is basically Skull Island with giant bugs and man-eating plants. This sequence has some extra juice because tough guy Orm has no idea how to act on land. (Also, the brothers' badinage suggests that in the DCEU, they know about Marvel movies and Harry Potter, as jokes are made about Loki and Azkaban. I guess all bets are off since there's a relaunch coming.)

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty that does not work in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Those first 20 minutes are chaotic, and every side character other than Orm is given the short end of the trident. (Technically, Amber Heard is in this movie, but she barely does anything besides have her red hair float around underwater.) The big finale speech at the end got a lot of laughs from the press audience, and while I was chuckling out of love, I don't think I can say everyone else was. It's a total cheeseball moment, but I'll argue that Momoa sells it.

Nevertheless, for a doomed production that's sat on the shelf forever and is part of a continuity that's about to be washed away, it basically makes it safely into port. The water's fine. 6.1/10

In theaters: Dec. 22, 2023

Who's in it: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Jani Zhao, Topo the Cephalopod

Who's behind it: James Wan (director), David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (screenwriter), DC Comics (decades of briny lore)

For fans of: Comic book movies unashamed to be dopey

Avoid if: You just want to move on from this chapter in superhero lore and are looking forward to James Gunn's relaunch