Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom named 'the worst movie of 2023'

25 December 2023 , 22:17

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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom named 'the worst movie of 2023'

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has sunk like a stone with reviewers and fans.

The new film, starring Jason Momoa, 44, as DC Comics character Arthur Curry, a half-human, half-Atlantean superhero who is king of the undersea nation of Atlantis, was released on Friday - and it seems it hasn't made a splash with early viewers.

In the US, it's taken $40 million through over the past four days - a drop in the ocean compared to the $205 million it cost to make it. It's a stark comparison to the first movie - released in 2018 - which opened to $67.8 million in the US and went on to make almost $1.2 billion globally.

The three other worst openings for DCEU films are The Suicide Squad ($26.2 million), Blue Beetle ($25 million) and Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.4 million).

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Jason Momoa as Aquaman

So why has this one left fans green around the gills? One of the most scathing reviews comes from Wendy Ide at The Guardian who calls the film a "shoddy, scraped-from-the-bottom-of-an-ocean-trench sequel", adding that it has "clunky dialogue" and a "glib" approach to climate change.

At review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, at time of writing it has a freshness rating of just 34%. One review reads: "Make it stop. Because at this point, we’ve kind of given up on make it better"; with another echoing "There's a weird charm to its utter stupidity, but not enough to transcend this thankfully dying genre".

Another harsh review reads, "I’ll go even further than simply stating Aquaman and the Last Kingdom is one of the worst superhero films – it’s one of the worst films ever, period."

People who had seen it at the cinema over the weekend also shared their verdicts on X, formerly Twitter. One summarised: "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom pros: Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson have fun chemistry; the design of the sets, particularly the Villains Base, are expansive and lived in; Many of the baddies look cool; no Multiverse cameos... beyond that, it's a complete f**king disaster."

Amber Heard plays Aquaman's wife Mera (Publicity Picture)

If the film flops it will be a sad end to a troubled era for superhero movies. Aquaman 2 is the final release of the 'DC Extended Universe" before it is totally revamped by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Their first film will be 2025's Superman: Legacy.

There's also concern that audiences are simply 'over' superhero movies, as prequels, sequels, spin-offs, TV series saturate the entertainment industry.

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Emma Gritt