Director James Wan seems to comment on climate change and what was once commonly known as global warming. His superhero film that's set under the sea does indeed attack the issue of climate change. When it comes to its effects to the ocean and the sea level, the damage is very apparent. Yet, this film doesn't delve into what those effects actually are or would be, aside from the opening visuals of glaciers and ice sheets melting and breaking apart. One of the more alarming effects is the destruction of coral reefs, but this film has no interest in at least name-checking those effects. It's apparent though that climate change is the metaphor that's at play here. It's a metaphor that remains superficial and vague. Wan instead wants to throw a lot of chaotic CGI on screen and give space for his star to do bits of comedy every few seconds.
Jason Momoa (Dune and Fast X) stars as Arthur Curry, a person who is half man, half mermaid. His father is a lighthouse keeper who lives on land. His mother is queen of an underwater kingdom, known as Atlantis. People of Atlantis are basically mermaids. They don't have the fins or scales, but they have the ability to breathe underwater and to communicate with aquatic life like fish, squids and whales. Some of them have additional powers. Some don't. For example, Arthur has super-strength. In the previous 2018 film, Arthur fell in love with another person from Atlantis, married her and got her pregnant. Yet, as the opening of this film shows, Arthur's baby son lives on the land, as Arthur mostly lives on land. He occasionally goes underwater to Atlantis to serve as its new king, but he doesn't prefer it.
Amber Heard reprises her role of Mera, the wife to Arthur and mother to his son. Her presence in this film isn't as much as it was in the 2018 film. Given that the opening of this flick is all about Arthur being a father, it's odd that Mera isn't in the film more. We never get her opinion about her son living on land more so than in her home in Atlantis. It's implied that she lives on land with them, but we hardly ever see her, so the possibility exists that she doesn't. We're never sure. Heard's legal issues with Johnny Depp might have contributed to Warner Bros. editing her out of this film as much as possible, but her lack of presence here is noticeable and harmful to the storytelling.
However, the narrative here is less about Arthur's relationship to his wife. It's even less about his relationship to his son. Arthur's son functions more as a damsel-in-distress. Arthur's son also functions in the same way as the son in Fast X (2023). For those who didn't see it, Momoa played the villain in that film and his character wanted revenge on the protagonist, played by Vin Diesel, and he does so by kidnapping the son of Diesel's character. It's almost cinematic karma where in this film it's instead the son of Momoa's character that gets kidnapped. However, that's not the seminal thrust of the film either. The main thrust is giving space for Momoa to do bits of comedy, bits that only work when his wacky nature and zaniness is bouncing off a straight man.
Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring and Watchmen) co-stars as Orm Marius, the half-brother to Arthur. He was the king of Atlantis before Arthur. Orm wanted to go to war with the people on land. He was the antagonist who fought Arthur. Arthur loved the people on land and wanted to save them, which he did. As a result, Arthur puts Orm in prison in a desert where he can't access his water powers to escape. Due to a new threat that could destroy all of Atlantis and the world, Arthur needs Orm's help, so Orm becomes the aforementioned straight man whom Momoa bounces his comedy.
Given that Orm hated the surface of the Earth and the people on it, one would assume that his arc here is to get to a place where he learns to love the surface and its people. Essentially, this is his arc, but the film doesn't give Arthur and Orm enough time on the surface for that arc to feel substantial. There is a scene involving food and things to eat on the surface that is supposed to go toward Orm's arc. However, the scene doesn't sell us on Orm's change, as it perhaps should. By the end, Orm is okay with the surface and its people, almost out of nowhere.
Randall Park (Always Be My Maybe and Ant-Man and the Wasp) also co-stars as Stephen Shin, a marine biologist who is trying to find evidence that Atlantis exists. He's recruited by this film's antagonist in order to help defeat Arthur in exchange for proof of Atlantis. His character toward the end comes into conflict with Arthur and Orm, and it's Orm who defends Stephen, as opposed to Arthur. It's a bit odd in that regard and Orm's defense isn't really explained. Park's performance in the role, next to Wilson, is probably the best performance here, but, as a stepping stone in Orm's arc, it falls flat.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Matrix Resurrections and Watchmen) rounds out the cast as David Kane aka Black Manta, a pirate and mercenary whose father was killed by Arthur. David wants revenge and he becomes this film's aforementioned antagonist. He discovers a black trident that has evil magic attached to it that possesses David and compels him even more to get revenge. Unfortunately, the film doesn't give David much to do beyond wanting revenge. He's one note, just crazy-evil. Since most of his scenes are with Stephen Shin, the film could've done something more with that relationship. David and Stephen could've had more heart-to-heart talks or something, but their dynamic becomes just this one-note aspect too.
I tried not to be so disparaging of the underwater visuals in The Little Mermaid (2023) in the wake of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Obviously, James Cameron's film has dazzling and amazing, underwater visuals, which he fussed over for years, if not the better part of a decade. It's unfair to compare this film, which had less than half the time that Cameron did. It doesn't help that the underwater sequences are so busy filled with so many things that it feels cacophonous and incomprehensible for a lot of the action, as well as being mostly dark. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) had underwater sequences that weren't as busy but somewhere in between, which helped that film. Here, Wan might have been too ambitious and his reach exceeded his grasp.
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some language.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 4 mins.
In theaters.