Spectacularity, action and fun. This awaits the viewer when he goes to see the new “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” film, two hours of films that do not bore and that keep you anchored to the screen in a plot always full of twists and turns and non-trivial ideas.
Director James Wan with a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson – Mc Goldrick was able to implement those fundamental incipits of the hero of Atlantis, taking inspiration from 80 years of comic book stories. The fluid narrative is based on a simple rule, to entertain and excite those who go to the cinema, so no complicated subplots or protagonists with existential problems or psychological traumas. Banally but very functional there are the “Good Guys” and the “Bad Guys”, the latter excellently represented by Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) subjugated by the black trident which was created by Kordax, the brother of the king of Atlantis Atlan, with whom he wants eliminate Aquaman and his entire family. To do this, there is no problem of bringing environmental disaster to the Earth, using an ancient technology, rediscovered among the ice of the Antarctic which uses a highly polluting fuel, orichalcum.
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), who has become a father, must ask for help from his brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) who is locked up in a prison in the middle of the desert, guarded by the fishermen population, to face this terrible threat. Freed, without the consent of the great council, the two brothers set off in search of Black Manta…
The narrative has no moments of pause, it is a succession of events, all well described, making it suitable even for those who don’t know Aquaman well or who haven’t seen the first film.
The idea of inserting funny jokes and scenes to break the tension makes everything much more attractive and usable, excellently interpreted by Jason Momoa who, although not resembling the real Aquaman by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, was able to give him a charisma and a clearer and fresher personality and less negative and thoughtful than that of the DC comics.
The Aquaman – Orion combination that takes center stage throughout the feature film, relegating characters like Mera a bit to the background, is developed so well that it recalls the Bud Spencer-Terence Hill couple, always ready to argue and get ahead by dint of slaps, thus making the audience cheer in the room.
The film is full of references, through scenes, shots, jokes from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings, to the War of the Worlds to Jurassic Park up to making fun of Marvel characters. All this makes the work worth seeing and enjoying, for the most attentive and long-time readers, we find Mouse the octopus with an incredible intelligence who in the 50s-60s comics was a faithful sidekick to Aquaman, in addition to Arthur, in the sequence in which he frees his brother from prison, wearing the blue costume seen for a short time in the 80s comics.
The mix of inserting many elements in the right places made the work concrete, with spectacular effects that render the seabed very well, giving life to a Superhero film with some current ideas such as the environmental problem and the rise of temperatures, without falling into rhetoric.
It would be a shame, after this excellent performance, not to make a third chapter.