Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom Review: 3 Ups & 7 Downs
5. The Villains Are TRASH
The villains in the first Aquaman weren't great by any means, but at least Orm and Arthur had a semi-engaging dynamic and Black Manta's (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) suit design was great.
This time around the pickings are considerably slimmer, with Manta looking to get revenge on Arthur once again for his father's death, but with a deeply lame twist - early on he gets possessed by the gross underwater mutant Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), who enlists Manta to do his destructive bidding.
For starters, Manta's characterisation here is close to non-existent, ensuring the talented Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is given absolutely nothing to work with.
Kordax, the film's "real" bad guy, meanwhile feels like a Poundland Sauron from the moment he's introduced and isn't interesting in the slightest.
There's just nothing going on here - their motives are dull, they don't get much to do in the action stakes, and how they're both dealt with is ultimately more unintentionally amusing than entertaining.