"This is worse than I could have possibly imagined!" sighs ousted Atlantean ruler Orm (Patrick Wilson) midway through Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, upon learning what brother Arthur (Jason Momoa), now a doting father to a baby boy, has been up to during his incarcerated absence. But as tempting as it is to apply Orm’s line to the totality of James Wan’s sequel, it wouldn’t be fair on a follow-up that’s far from the reshoot-plagued calamity so many have been predicting.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it’s a classic either. Indeed, given the radiant course correction its predecessor gave the DCEU back in 2018, Aqua #2 has to be considered a disappointment – one that, in endeavouring to emulate what made Wan’s original the highest-grossing DC film of all time, merely serves up more of the same to increasingly bathetic effect.
