"Aquaman 2": A pure superhero movie that seems to have gone to the wrong era

Before you know it, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has come to an end. Many viewers may not realize that the "Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom" in front of them is the last work of the DC Extended Universe. Good or bad, it's so irrelevant. When all the extras are stripped away, this "pure" superhero movie seems to have gone out of the wrong way, more like a commercial blockbuster born 20 years ago.

Losing the "Aquaman" of the cinematic universe

The DC Extended Universe began with 2013's Superman: Man of Steel. At that time, DC was spurred by the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and began to say goodbye to the convention of its own heroes fighting alone, and tried to build an interconnected cinematic universe. However, in the process of forming and developing, this universe is constantly disturbed by various factors, which eventually leads to a chaotic and gloomy ending. Now on the verge of "replacing the DCEU" is James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe (DCU) – but the latter has only announced the first phase of the project, and nothing has yet been released, and everything is still in the clouds.

Therefore, "Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom", which belongs to the DCEU, is extremely special in recent superhero movies - on the one hand, it represents a world that has collapsed, and the abrupt ending has already been written, and it is difficult for fans to become fanatically interested in it; In other words, the film is no longer responsible for the entire universe, only for itself.

This was once a Xi viewing experience for superhero movies, but now it has become extremely luxurious. The audience no longer has to care about which stars will appear like watching a Chinese New Year movie, or wait for easter eggs like watching a concert and looking forward to the encore session. This "Aquaman 2", which has no universe to rely on, the only easter egg is the bad taste of Aquaman's younger brother Orm when he experiences land food, just like the whole movie, which has nothing to do with the overall situation.

Make a simple and happy retro cool piece

From the perspective of commercial films, "Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom" is undoubtedly passing. When the audience puts down their expectations and baggage to appreciate it, they will find that this "Aquaman 2" does not inject a lot of (sea) water, the controversial Amber Hurd scenes have not been deleted a lot, and the frequency of the appearance of the queen of the sea is also reasonable and reasonable. On the whole, under the influence of many unfavorable factors, "Aquaman 2" is actually a movie with a high degree of completion, compared with "Captain Marvel 2" of Marvel's self-immolation.

Compared with "Captain Marvel 2", the biggest difference in "Aquaman 2" is that it does not take a lot of thankless effort to bring in too many new characters. The villain of "Aquaman 2", Black Manta Ray, is one of the villains of the first part, and the clue of avenging his father extends to this episode, and Aquaman's other opponent Orm in the first part becomes a teammate in "Aquaman 2". The new character who really has weight is only Kodac, the lord of the lost kingdom, and the role is extremely limited. The grievances and hatreds of the film are focused on the previous characters, avoiding the sense of fracture caused by too many new faces. It's a smart move.

How do old people develop new problems? The reason is nothing more than a change in circumstances. When Aquaman ascended to the throne of Atlantis, he found that it was a chore, with decisions always vetoed by the council, and his status as a new daddy made him even more busy. Aquaman's younger brother Aumshang went from king to prisoner, and the earth-shaking position did not defeat him, but gave him the opportunity to make meritorious contributions and atone for his sins. Unable to let go of his obsession with revenge, the Black Manta Ray inadvertently touched the secrets of the Lost Kingdom in the process of repairing his armor, and began to resurrect Kodacus with the help of ancient technology, thus completing his revenge plan to destroy the Sea King.

The villain is strong, so the brothers join forces, plus the seal of the villain Kodax is the ancestor of the Sea King, and the current dispute hides past grievances, and the resurrection involves the issue of blood, and the blood of the Sea King's son becomes the key to the resurrection of Kodac. In this way, Aquaman's journey of exploring and fighting monsters is linked to the mission of building brotherhood, protecting his son, and saving the world by the way.

The plot of the film is simple and retro, even old-fashioned, without suspense and complexity, innovation and brain-burning. "Aquaman 2", like a large number of cool Hollywood movies in the 90s of the last century, relies on nothing else, only action, to provide two hours of happiness. The "black technology" of the Lost Kingdom is old and heavy because it is an ancient invention, but it adds to the texture of retro action movies.

A patchwork of visual platters

The success of superhero movies seems to depend on the characters, but in fact it depends on the director. No one can guarantee that without the Russo Brothers directing the lineup, the third and fourth parts of "The Avengers" would have been such a huge success. Similarly, if there is no Wen Ziren to direct the tube, "Aquaman 2" will be a super bad work. After all, under the frequent tricks of Warner's top management, the announcement of bankruptcy in the extended universe, the chaos of reshoot delays, and the continuous controversy of actresses in the sea, it is a huge success to be able to launch the film smoothly.

One of the main selling points of the Aquaman series is the beautiful underwater visual spectacle that showcases the wondrous grandeur of the kingdom of Atlantis. This is still reflected in "Aquaman 2". Not only that, the director tried to make up for the film's weakness in terms of plot and characters with the constant change of scenes and dazzling special effects, so new scenes such as desert prisons, mutated jungles, and polar ice and snow were constantly unlocked, making the rhythm of the film in a state of excitement for a long time. Coupled with the whimsical bionic jellyfish vehicle, the bionic hammerhead shark vehicle and other special weapons, as well as all kinds of strange species full of "Cthulhu" style, the whole movie is like a monster game, attracting the audience to continue to explore.

It's a pity that although "Aquaman 2" passes, it is not excellent. It can be seen that Wen Ziren has made various efforts to save the quality of the film, but the feeling of patchwork is still so obvious, and the design and modeling of different scenes have a strong sense of conflict, which is more like a mixed cut collection of multiple movies. I don't know if it's a tribute or a parody, some scenes can clearly see the shadow of classic films. For example, when the owner of the sunken castle appears, his strange appearance, bloated figure, lying on his side, and the swimsuit girl next to him are all reminiscent of the classic scene of Jabba in "Star Wars". The Lost Kingdom is reminiscent of Mordor in the Lord of the Rings, and Kodacs resembles Mordor's Dark Lord Sauron. No wonder some netizens joked that this movie should be called "Aquaman 2: The Lord of the Rings Reappears".

The most crotch-pulling part of "Aquaman 2" occurs at the end. When Kodacus was finally resurrected and was about to fight with the Aquaman brothers, Aquaman threw the trident, and the villain was instantly killed - so perfunctory, it was really incredible. Poor Kodacs spent nearly the entire movie brewing for resurrection, but it only took a few minutes to unblock the appearance, just like the DC Extended Universe.

Text/Zhang Wei

Editor/Gong Lifang