Tonight we’re sequeling the apocalypse! That’s right, the Jaegers and Kaiju are back for more in Pacific Rim Uprising. 

 

Ten years have passed since The Breach was closed by Ranger Pentecost and his team, and the world has moved on. The Jaeger program has since been upgraded and a new (more youthful) team of cadets are training in the unlikely event that the Kaiju return. After a series of unfortunate events, Jake Pentecost finds himself back at the academy, training the future pilots in exchange for his eventual freedom. Once onsite, he soon learns that the Jaeger Program might soon become obsolete, as a new drone task force might soon be deployed world wide. When a Rogue Jaeger makes a stunning debut, Jake decides that it is finally time to live up to his family name and avenge (SPOILER). But how do the Kaiju return? That is a plot twist that we will leave for the film.

 

 

Steven S. DeKnight (Marvel’s Daredevil) was handed the reigns for this film, and brought along a primarily new cast to fight for the survival of our world. John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad), and Cailee Spaeny (Counting to 1000) take the lead for this new iteration. Original cast members Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman do return to the film, but are used rather poorly to further the story. It was truly a shame, because these three were the characters that I most enjoyed in the original Pacific Rim. I felt that most of the dialogue and development “ten years later” was extremely weak and out of character for the returning actors. Spaeny and Boyega were the best parts of the film, and their banter and character development worked well within the context of the story. I did feel that the interactions between Jake and Mako were forced and cold. Considering these characters were supposed to be “family”, it felt like something was missing.

 

 

Were the giant robot and monster fights cool? Yes. The action was entertaining, but not to the same degree as the first film. Pacific Rim had a specific realism and grit to it that made it that much more enjoyable. This felt like the generic robot sequel without the same level of thought (lots of explosions, lots of robots, lots of predictable tropes). Also, if they had been planning for ten years, where are the other Jaegers or pilots? We see other Jaegers in the beginning of the film, but they mysteriously disappear and are never mentioned again. It was also interesting that all of the battles in this film happened during the day, so the bright and shiny CGI came across as being more video game like in nature. 

 

 

In the end, there were a lot of aspects of the film that I did enjoy. The Rogue Jaeger and the associated twists were actually pretty original. The introduction of Scrapper (the single pilot Jaeger) was great and well done. The way the Kaiju reopened The Breach was a pleasant surprise. The final battle with multiple Jaegers taking on Kaiju simultaneously was pure excitement. Unfortunately these moments can’t make up for the painfully delivered dialogue and plotholes. 

 

Pacific Rim Uprising does deliver on its main promise: robots versus monsters. If you are looking for a bit of mindless fun (along the lines of a Transformers movie), then you will still have a great time. If you are looking for more quality time with the original characters, lower your expectations. If you are hoping that they will make a third installment…stay through the credits.

 

Rating:
ComicsOnline give Pacific Rim Uprising 2.5 out of 5 missing characters from the original film.