Yet more evidence that the superhero movie industry is foundering comes from this shoddy, scraped-from-the-bottom-of-an-ocean-trench sequel. Jason Momoa, looking a bit like a beefed-up cartoon carrot in his wildly unflattering orange supersuit, returns as Arthur, the human-born heir to the kingdom of Atlantis. He divides his time between family life in a converted lighthouse with his wife, Mera (Amber Heard), their infant son, Arthur Jr, and his royal duties – largely crushingly dull council meetings with hostile merpeople. But an enemy from his past is back, and threatens not just Arthur asnd his people but the entire world, with the use of a long-abandoned Atlantean fuel that rapidly accelerates global heating.
The lazily generic plot devices (yet again, an ancient evil artefact offers unlimited powers to its holder); performances so thuddingly clunky that much of the dialogue sinks like a boulder in the sea; the lack of any humour whatsoever: these are all minor irritations compared with the picture’s glib trivialisation of the climate crisis. Time to put a barnacle in it, fish boy.
