Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

 So, the second Aquaman and the last of the DCEU movies before James Gunn is going to reboot it... meaning origin stories once again *sigh*.

Though so far, Jason Momoa is the only one apparently not sacked to be recast in the role.

Which I basically don't agree with, nothing against him but he is miles of in appearance on how Adam Curry looked in the comics.  And then the movie also had to go through all the Amber Heard issues...

 

A few years after he became king of Atlantis, Adam is married to Mera and they have a child, Arthur Jr. while he tries to toggle life between land and sea.  But Black manta continues to seek revenge against him for his father's death, working with Stephen Shin.   This is a marine biologist, and together they look for Atlantean artifacts, Shin discovering a black trident on Antartica that possesses Black Manta and promises him the power to defeat Aquaman.

 

Months later, he attacks Atlantis and breaks into their Orichalcum reserves to steal it and power the machines of ancient Atlantean design, whom even the modern day Atlanteans don't know how to operate.  The use of the material can cause a planetary extinction as it raises greenhouse gasses, something barely prevented in the old days.  To find Manta, he breaks his half-brother Orn out of prison, and travel to the pirate citadel of Sunken Citadel.

 

 

The information they gain leads them to a volcanic island in the South Pacific, where they battle Manta's forces, but when Orm comes into contact with the black trident he sees visions of it's provenance.  It was created by Kordax, the brother of King Atlan, and ruler of the lost kingdom of Necrus, who was imprisoned after a failed attempt to usurp the throne.  Realizing the blood of any Atlan descendant could release him, Black Manta kidnaps Adam's infant son.

 

In Necrus, which is located under Antartica, Arthur is almost killed by Manta before Mera arrives to save him.  He throws the trident at her, but Orm intercepts it and the spirit of Kordax transfers from Manta to Orm instead.  He starts to free Kordax, but Arthur convinces him to let go of his hatred for him, destroying both Kordax and the trident as a result.  As Necrus starts to collapse, Black Manta refuses Arthur's help and falls into a fissure as the rest escapes to safety, deciding Orm has redeemed himself.

 

They plan to inform Atlantis he has dies during the escape, but he must remain hidden in order to do so, vacating to the surface world.  Believing that unification between Atlantis and the surface is needed to prevent further damage to the oceans, Arthur reveals it's existence through an announcement at the United Nations and his intentions of making it a member state.

 

 

And thus with this 15th movie in the DCEU a cycle ends, and unfortunatly not on a high note.  I thought the movie nowhere as much fun as the first instalment, the story a bit to thin and seen before, and it just lacked the jokes of the first Aquaman movie.

 

Curious what Gunn will be doing with the franchise...