Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a movie that looks like it has a lot of baggage, what with it being the last film in DC movieverse that launched with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, conflicting reports about which Batman would show up, rumors that Amber Heard's relationship drama with Johnny Depp ended up sidelining her, and so on.

But it's been much ado about nothing, really. This Aquaman flick works as a direct sequel to the first movie and doesn't bother with the greater franchise at all--why would it, when there's nothing left to tease? Naturally, that means there's no Batman in this movie. And the rumors about Amber Heard's Mera being sidelined were just wrong, because she's in it plenty and has several major heroic moments in the third act.

All of that stuff was just noise. As a new mega-budget action-adventure flick from one of the very best filmmakers working today, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom rules.