Here's a small piece of business advice for any would-be movie studio heads. If you find yourself with four as-yet unreleased movies all from a decade long franchise it's probably not a good idea to announce before their release in theatres that the universe is being ended and that none of those films will matter when a reboot is currently moving forwards. No one told David Zaslav this and so after the release of the mediocre Dwayne Johnson vehicle Black Adam, we were informed that the DCEU that began in earnest with 2013's Man of Steel would end and restart under the guidance of James Gunn. Sadly tentpole films Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom had yet to be released.

It's been a rough year for superhero films and DC has taken things pretty hard, but considering James Wan's first oceanic adventure took over a billion dollars at the box office, a second outing should be a no-brainer, and it really is a brain-free affair. Picking up after everything else in the franchise Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa basically as himself) is King of Atlantis and hates it, he spends his free time kicking butts and taking names, and raising his newborn Junior. When old enemy Manta (a wasted Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) gets a trident from a frozen kingdom he sets out to ruin Arthur's life and so Arthur must team up with his brother Orm (Patrick Wilson).

Mired in controversy because Amber Heard is in it, stuck with behind-the-scenes drama and reshoots and coming when no one cares, it's unfortunate that this has happened to Wan who directs the film like he's giving it all he's got. The film starts off in bland fashion getting us up to speed on what's happened, but what becomes clear is that while the first one felt like everyone was having a good time, this feels like contracts were enforced to get people back.

As fun as Momoa is as a person, he's not really acting. His Aquaman is a Guinness chugging bro, often found with many rings and bracelets. He spends a good chunk of the film basically in his everyday clothes, looking like he just arrived from a party. Momoa haș fun, and his banter with an always reliable Wilson makes the middle section at least fun even if it turns into a knock-off Avatar film.

Around him is the issue, Wan populates the film with either bored thespians like Nicole Kidman who can barely keep herself awake, or Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who spends a good chunk staring into the middle distance or talking to himself in the mirror (Candyman taught him well). Heard's role has been slashed to nothing which is a blessing given the chemistry vacuum between her and Momoa, and Dolph Lundgren looks like he can barely remember his lines. It's only really Wilson and Randall Park's conflicted scientist Shin who get anything good to do.

There are flashes of genius, the score by Rupert Gregson-Williams lurches from 80s style synth to bombastic superhero strings and it works well, the weirs fish-monsters that populate the sub-Star Wars hide out are also good fun, and the CGI is well realised. There is also a decent environmental message about the melting of our ice caps, but the action often falls into the same swirly-camera punch ups that grow boring fast.

Perhaps most disappointing is that the big bad – King Kordax (Pilou Asbæk) offers a little of the first films Trench-sequence horror but even this never goes anywhere and this is the problem. It's a film thinking it's getting a part-three and while that could have been the case in production it's not for viewers. Instead the film offers another eye-popping adventure, and shows Wan will do everything he can to cram things into his movie but as an end to the DCEU it's neither really good, nor really bad, it's just a bit of a wet fish.