AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM

It’s tempting to imagine a pirate’s curse was placed upon this tardy sequel to 2018’s wildly successful Aquaman, with rumours of major reshoots, rumblings of a fractious set and a release date bumped back by an entire year.

- Nick Setchfield

Wet Wet Wet

On arrival it finds itself the final, dying remnant of the original Snyderverse, overshadowed by anticipation for how James Gunn will reshape the DC pantheon on the big screen.

All connective tissue to the wider franchise has already been snipped away. For once there are no multiverse-bending Batcameos, not a hint of the rawk guitar riff that always cued a welcome injection of Gal Gadot. Any trace of Zack Snyder’s dour, desaturated vision is long gone. Where once there were Wagnerian smackdowns between sullen spandex gods, we now have cheap sight-gags of babies weeing in the face of the King of Atlantis. These days Jason Momoa’s Aquaman suit shimmers like a green and orange disco.