‘Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom’: Films Need To Set A Higher Story Standard
by Frank Martin
There are still a lot of superhero coming out that are based on superhero comic books. But there is a distinct difference between a story worthy of being adapted on the screen and one being told in a comic. A film is incredibly expensive. Comics are expensive too, but there are tons of stories printed from Marvel and DC every week. They need to turn out a lot of stories, and not all of them will be enormous blockbusters with profound dramatics and action. And that’s fine. Sometimes a good superhero story is simple and straightforward, but that doesn’t mean it should be adapted onto the screen. There’s a distinct difference between the two, and this is apparent with Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.
The film starts with Aquaman Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) settling in to his new roles: being a father and king of Atlantis. There’s a growing problem as a mysterious climate change is destroying the planet. Things are made worse when Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), armed with a cursed trident and strange technology, attacks Atlantis. It turns out that he has been using the technology to cause the climate change, and Aquaman has to break his brother, Orin (Patrick Wilson), out of prison in order to stop him.
The film absolutely has grand stakes as the fate of the entire planet hangs in the balance, but the movie’s fun and goofy tone keeps things very light and airy. The film has quirky, science fiction vibe with various undersea creatures and some hilarious underwater antics. The story and adventure would be perfect as a run-of-the-mill six issue series about Aquaman. But it wouldn’t fly as a premiere Aquaman ongoing title. For this reason, it feels weird to see it depicted on the screen. The first Aquaman film adapted a fairly large crossover event that played out in both the Aquaman and Justice League comics. This sequel definitely doesn’t have the same vibes.
Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is now streaming on Max.
