This review has been edited from its original version. It has been reformatted for culturally sensitive reasons.
As much as I loved Pacific Rim, I would've been happy if there wasn't a sequel. I felt that the first film was a nice, self contained story that wrapped up nicely.
If there was going to be another movie, I would still go see it. I'm always up for movies like this.
And after much deliberation, a sequel was finally released.
I basically gushed over the first film and now the only question is: How does this one compare? Well, I figured I'd go over most of the same points I made in the last review.
THE STORY
This time, Guillermo Del Toro only serves as the producer for this film, Director duties were handed over to Steven S. DeKnight. DeKnight was previously a writer on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville and Daredevil.
So going in, I knew that I probably wasn't going to get a deeper movie than the first one. So I just sat back, watch the movie and tried to appreciate it for what it was. And it was pretty good.
The story goes in pretty much the way I expected it to. With the Kaiju no longer around, Jaeger parts are being sold on the black market while other nations attempt to create their own Jaegers. The Pan Pacific Defense Corps still keeps a few of them handy on the off chance that the Kaiju should return, while a new company is creating Drone Jaegers.
And then the movie has a pretty ridiculous plot twist, and I mean that in a good way, it was a good twist in the way that I didn't see coming. The trailers would have you believe that this new Shao Corporation goes rogue and starts opening new drifts to unleash the Kaiju threat, but when you see that Newt Geiszler has been continually drifting with a leftover Kaiju brain, this is your first sign that something more sinister is afoot.
I went into this with as little expectations as possible. I had a feeling I wasn't going to get a movie as amazing as the first one, but for what I got, I was still impressed.
THE CHARACTERS
The only returning cast members are Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori, along with Charlie Day and Burn Gorman the scientists Newt Gieszler and Hermann Gottlieb.
The new cast includes John Boyega as Jake Pentecost, Boyega always makes an entertaining and charismatic lead. I also really loved the character Amara. For her first major film role, Cailee Spaeny did an excellent job.
Unfortunately, aside from them and maybe Scott Eastwood Jing Tian's characters, the rest of the cast aren't that memorable. Not only that, but to me, there seem to be too many side characters. I don't hate the Jaeger Cadets, I just felt like there were too many of them with not enough character development for me to really care about them.
With this many characters, it feels like 'Uprising' is trying to be a movie pilot for a Pacific Rim television series.
Actually...I wouldn't mind that at all.
THE JAEGERS/KAIJU
Uprising has a ton of awesome looking Jaeger designs, my favorites being Lady Avenger and Saber Athena.
And then there's Scrapper. I love Scrapper! I want a Scrapper, right now!
There are only 3 (technically 4) major Kaiju in Uprising and all of them are really cool.
And the fights between them are honestly the highlight of the entire film. If you go into this looking to watch giant robots and monsters fighting each other, The Shatterdome attack and the final showdown in Mega-Tokyo deliver in just the right way.
There is one thing I wanna bring up. I don't really get why people are complaining about how the Jaegers move too fast in this movie.
On the one hand, I kinda understand. Big machinery tends to move pretty slow and the Jaegers from the last movie were mostly lumbering giants.
On the other hand, it's been 10 years since the last movie. Don't you think Jaeger technology would have advanced beyond what the past ones were capable of? Also if you remember from the last movie, the Jaegers were mostly in the water. Things tend to move slowly in water anyway, and when we do see them on land, they move considerably faster.
Lastly, this is science fiction. Can we not just sit back and enjoy without thinking too hard about it?
THE MUSIC
Honestly, I don't remember much of the score from this movie. I'd have to wait until I get my hands on the soundtrack itself to fully make that judgment.
I do remember hearing the Pacific Rim theme from the first movie, slightly rescored, but still awesome.
I was worried at first because the trailers included this stupid hip hop song which did not fit the mood of the movie. While that song is not in the movie, there are still some hip hop and rap songs in the movie. Are they distracting? Yes, but unlike the trailer it doesn't get in the way of the more epic parts of the movie.
With the exception of one particular song that is played for humor during one big scene. I mean, it was funny, but it was still a pretty big WTF moment.
WILL THERE BE A THIRD ONE?
As we saw in the final scene, (that should have been placed in the middle of the credits) Uprising ends on a cliffhanger. It's implied that if there is a sequel, it will deal with the Jaeger pilots going to the Kaiju world (called the Anteverse) and bringing the battle to them.
It sounds like a good idea. But as we saw before, the first Pacific Rim wasn't exactly a box office hit until it reached international audiences.
As of right now, Uprising seems to be following the same path. The combined Domestic and Foreign gross has more than surpassed the films budget so a sequel is indeed possible.
In my opinion, Pacific Rim Uprising is nowhere near as amazing as the first one. But that DOES NOT make it a bad movie. It's still a pretty good follow up to the expanding Pacific Rim universe. I highly recommend it and I will continue to anticipate updates on the potential sequel.
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.
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