Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Yesterday afternoon I took Tashena and her fiance Tucker to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (I took both Sean and Tashena to see the first movie on Christmas Eve but Sean, the actual DCEU fan, didn't want to see this one).  It isn't great but it definitely isn't as bad as I was expecting.  Arthur Curry/ Aquaman (Jason Momoa) has become a husband and a father and is finding the bureaucracy of being the King of Atlantis tedious.  Meanwhile, David Kane/ Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), with the help of marine biologist Stephen Shin (Randall Park), finds a powerful black trident created by Kordax (Pilou Asbaek), the ruler of the now lost kingdom of Necrus who was imprisoned by his brother King Atlan for trying to usurp the throne.  Black Manta wants to use the power of the trident to release Kordax in order to destroy Aquaman, his family, his kingdom, and the entire planet in revenge for the death of his father so Aquaman frees his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) from prison in order to enlist his help.  The story is incredibly convoluted with way too much silly exposition and, even though there some really fun action sequences involving a bunch of cool new gadgets in some cool new settings (I loved the pirate's lair made out of sunken ships), the CGI is really messy and the world-building is a bit derivative (I noticed lots of allusions to Star Wars and other movies).  However, I really enjoyed Momoa's performance because he is very charismatic and funny (with some one-liners that made me laugh out loud) and he fully commits to the spectacle.  I also loved his chemistry with Wilson and their hilarious interactions with each other as they work together to save the world, and work towards a poignant reconciliation, are the best part of the movie.  Amber Heard (Mera), Temuera Morrison (Tom Curry), Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), and Dolph Lundgren (Nereus) don't really have a lot to do but Abdul-Mateen is a compelling villain because he is such a sinister presence.  The three of us had fun watching this but it is not nearly as entertaining as the first one and the stakes are a lot lower knowing that this is the end of the DCEU (which is why Sean did not want to see it).