Aquaman 2: What The Worst Critic Reviews Said About Jason Momoa's DC Movie Sequel
With the release of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," it looks like the DC Extended Universe is officially dead. The sequel, which is the final film left over from Zack Snyder's cinematic universe, has not been welcomed with open arms by critics, as it currently sits at an unimpressive 39% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This is in stark contrast to the first "Aquaman" film, which received a much higher score of 66% from critics and 72% from standard viewers. To make matters even worse, the assessments from many critics who have seen the superhero tentpole are unkind, to say the least.
"The entire affair is so painfully formulaic, predictable, and unoriginal that it feels as if a "Fast and Furious" film [were] staged underwater," wrote Mike Massie of Gone with the Twins. Rotten Tomatoes Top Critic J. Don Birnam of Above the Line went one step further, delivering a truly brutal approximation of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" in his review. "Not one part of this movie — the effects, the storyline, the emotional core– works," he wrote. "Everything is recycled from other superhero movies. It's time to give the genre an at-sea burial."
Meanwhile, The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey described "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" as "the latest entry in a rogue's gallery of brainless franchise films," pointing it out as an example of how executive meddling could ruin one's promising vision. "Director James Wan had, at one point, confidently set his sights on making a spin-off horror film The Trench (focusing on a mysterious, eldritch rival to Aquaman's home world, Atlantis) but instead has had to clumsily condense those ideas into background fodder for the franchise's returning villain, Black Manta," she wrote.
The DCEU is going out on a pretty low note
Another especially crushing review came from Top Critic Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence. "Did anyone involved with the making of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom even want to make an Aquaman movie?" she wondered. "Even Jason Momoa — a guy whose entire vibe is 'I'm happy to be here' — visibly struggles to wring any sense of enjoyment out of a scene."
With this in mind, it sounds like just about everything that was praised about James Wan's original "Aquaman" has failed to tread water in the sequel, which was a staggering five years in the works. Still, not everyone was as harsh toward the film as the aforementioned critics.
"It's fine. It's fun. It's boring sometimes," wrote Julia Glassman of The Mary Sue. "It's bright, colorful, and kind of clumsy. If you're looking for somewhere to spend two hours of a chilly winter day, then Atlantis might be as good a place as any."
Unfortunately, even many of the film's more positive takes, such as the one above, read as middling at best in their praise. As such, many DC fans may decide to simply wait for the film's inevitable appearance on Max, especially after the similar disappointment of "The Flash."