What Critics Are Saying About the Film

Nobody’s happy to be there.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Did no one think of the — or even a — plot?

Warner Bros.

“The plotting is undercut by a dull villain (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is a brilliant talent, but “possessed by an ancient god” just isn’t that compelling dramatically) and stakes that feel flat. The world-building, when it comes to Atlantis (or any of the ocean kingdoms), is pretty much non-existent. This is a movie where the character who undergoes the most significant change is Randall Park’s eventually-less-sinister scientist. Not, you know, the guy with his name in the title.” — Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

“Not one part of this movie — the effects, the storyline, the emotional core — works. Everything is recycled from other superhero movies. It’s time to give the genre an at-sea burial.” J. Don Birnam, Above the Line

It’s a veritable trainwreck of a film that ‘spectacularly misfires’

Courtesy Warner Bros./DC Comics

“‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ spectacularly misfires as the final smoking embers of the Snyderverse’s last hurrah. It is a wacky nail in the coffin of a DC superhero vision that has been clearly abandoned by corporate masters.— Julian Roman, Movieweb

“Rife with lazy one-liners that wouldn’t pass muster in a sitcom’s writers’ room, with gags like baby Arthur Jr. urinating in his dad’s face during a diaper change, a bit the movie loves so much it happens twice.” — Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict

“The Aquaman franchise is just flatlining, floating through the dreary depths like the kind of discarded plastic bag which is going to choke the last remaining vaquita porpoise.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“In fact, there’s no cause of any kind to pay attention to this lavishly hectic and cacophonous washout of a follow-up, whose plot is nonsense, visuals are garish, and performances are the wooden sort born from having talented actors pretend to be underwater and interacting with fanciful creatures on green screen sets. It’s a franchise farewell so underwhelming, nary a tear will be shed over its passing.” — Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ is a ‘fine’ farewell to the DCEU. While far from a mind-blowing send-off, it encapsulates the essence of the cinematic universe – a journey filled with few triumphs, many missed opportunities, and incomprehensible disasters.” — Manuel São Bento, FandomWire

There’s a distinct lack of Amber Heard’s character Mera in the movie

Warner Bros.

“For reasons that we can only guess at, most of Heard’s scenes have been edited out, so while she shows up every now and then in a skintight, low-cut bodysuit, she has so little to say and do that she might as well not be there at all. In essence, Heard is seen but not heard.” — Nicholas Barber, BBC

“Mera has been demoted from a powerful hero with a powerful personality to a woman who has babies, folds laundry and sits dutifully by Aquaman’s side. She barely speaks and when she does it’s to dole out exposition or remind us that yes, technically she’s still in the film. Either Heard’s role was awkwardly cut down in post, as has widely been speculated, or “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” just has an underwritten and sexist screenplay. Possibly both, but either way it’s a huge distraction and it undermines not just her character but Aquaman’s as well.” — William Bibbiani, The Wrap

And yet! Some critics still found the final chapter of the DCEU entertaining

Warner Bros.

“Wan never pulls off an action scene as virtuosic as the leaping-across-rooftops fight in the first ‘Aquaman,’ but there are some good ones in here, choreographed, framed and edited with Wan’s characteristic clarity even when the camera is shaking like an astronaut during liftoff.” — Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

“Say what you will about what this now-concluded chapter in DC cinematic history deserves… Arthur Curry going out on his own terms with a complete disinterest in wHaT iT aLl MeAnS fOr ThE fRaNcHiSe is both incredibly on-brand and objectively funny.” — Amelia Emberwing, IGN Movies

“A pleasant, largely-entertaining time with a character whose big-screen portrayal was one of the DCEU’s rare successes. Thanks to its free-wheeling attitude and committed ensemble cast, it closes a cinematic chapter in a silly, but satisfying-enough way. ” — Jenna Anderson, ComicBook.com