Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Reviews Are All Saying The Same Thing
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has hardly been out for 24 hours and already audiences are slamming the Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson-led sequel. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently sits with a 38 percent approval rating.
This makes it the biggest bomb with audiences over the last year – which says a lot when you consider the other films DC has released in 2023. With first reactions calling it everything from “a hacked up mess” to “rife with lazy one-liners,” critics are absolutely tearing James Wan’s latest feature limb from limb.
Critics Rip The Sequel To Shreds
It’s tough to find any silver lining reviews for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom as the general consensus among critics is that they were nowhere close to being blown out of the water from the last title to come from the DCEU. TheWrap’s William Bibbiani wrote that the film was crippled thanks to its editing while New York Post’s Johnny Oleksinski called out DC Studios for being “disinterested… in this film and in the future of this character.”
Others, including MovieWeb’s Julian Roman and The Film Verdict’s Alonso Duralde, set their sights on the script, which was co-penned by its leading star, Momoa.
Likely To Be A Major Box Office Flop
All in all, there’s nothing great to be said for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is bound to be a disappointment for DC Studios for a multitude of reasons. For starters, the 2018 movie that gave Jason Momoa’s titular hero his first standalone feature was a huge money-maker at the box office. While it’s still early days, not even digging into the weekend, with the overly negative reviews pouring out, many movie theater-goers will likely sink their hard-earned bucks into one of the other films playing in cinemas.
Another Tank For Warner Bros.
Secondly, the negative reviews are a punch in the gut for the studio as this year has been a complete dud when it comes to DC movies. 2023 started with Shazam! Fury of the Gods which was a huge miss, with The Flash arriving in the summer. While The Flash was billed as DC’s savior, it was anything but, leaving success in the hands of Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The Reviews Aren’t Surprising
Although Blue Beetle was a bigger hit with the fandom than the others, it still didn’t bring audiences into theaters, earning much less than was projected. Finally, Aquaman and the Last Kingdom was DC’s last horse in the race of 2023.
However, the signs were all there that it wouldn’t be a top performer as it was previously ripped to pieces following its first trailer which featured terrible CG and an ever-churning and hateful rumor mill surrounding its multiple reshoots and leading lady Amber Heard.
A Clean Slate
While it certainly didn’t make a splash with critics, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may be a good demonstration of why the DC now needs to put all of its trust in its two new-ish leaders, James Gunn and Peter Safran. The duo have already rolled out their idea of what DC Studios will be focusing on over the next few years and have a clear vision filled with new characters and stories to bring their audiences.
James Wan Is Done With Aquaman
Likewise, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom marks James Wan’s (likely) last swim with the character as the filmmaker is eager to return to his preferred genre – horror. Known as the creator of the uber-successful The Conjuring Universe and the co-creator of the Saw and Insidious franchises, fans of the supernatural are thrilled to see what Wan works on next – something that will probably perform much better than Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.Source: Rotten Tomatoes
