Pacific Rim: Uprising

Starring: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Burn Gorman, Charlie Day, Tian Jing, Jin Zhang, Adria Argona, Rinko Kikuchi
Directed by: Steven S. DeKnight
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: When a new Kaiju threat emerges, the Jaegers must be scrambled to once again protect humanity.

Review:

Tim: Pacific Rim was a good movie, but it was also one of the most disappointing movies of 2013. I expected so much more from Guillermo del Toro's film. So, I approached Pacific Rim: Uprising with cautious optimism. Without del Toro at the helm, and with Steven S. DeKnight replacing him as director and writer (his work on season 1 of "Daredevil" was impressive), would the problems be solved? Would the sequel surpass the original? Unfortunately, no. This movie takes the flaws of the original and magnifies them. This is a seriously inferior sequel. It's sad how quickly I've soured on this franchise. The first film was one of my most anticipated of 2013. After that and the sequel, I'm hoping this franchise is dead.

There's a lot of problems with this film. Chiefly, it's not a very interesting story. The original movie was able to somewhat overcome some of its flaws because of the high stakes, exciting story. It was Jaegers vs. Kaiju, and that film featured a number of remarkable battle scenes. They were too dark, but it was unbelievably cool seeing these giant robots and monsters fighting for the fate of our planet. The stakes in this film just feel lower. There aren't as many especially effective battles. It feels like there's a lot of talking, some not quite interesting political intrigue, and then finally one pretty cool conclusive battle. The film focuses a lot more attention on the human characters, which is usually exactly what you want to do. The issue here is that none of the human characters are all that interesting. Their stories felt a bit too throwaway, not fleshed out nearly enough. It all adds up to a pretty bland viewing experience. I wouldn't think you could make a somewhat dull robots vs. monsters movie, but they got pretty close here.

I was harshly critical of Charlie Hunnam's performance in the original movie. His forced, uncomfortable portrayal of the lead character was one of the biggest flaws of that film. So, I actually didn't miss him at all. John Boyega gives a better performance here than Hunnam did, and I love how they connected his character to the original film. It's funny, normally when a sequel loses its main star, that is a black mark against it. Here, it actually benefited the movie. The issue is that Boyega's character isn't nearly as interesting as they believe him to be. He's a rebel with a heart of gold. You immediately know his entire character arc. It was just such a generic character. Still, Boyega is pretty decent, Scott Eastwood isn't a great actor, but he gave a fine performance. He was a little wooden when called upon to do the more comedic scenes, but for the most part, he was fine. Cailee Spaeny was okay, but her character got on my nerves. The young, brilliant technical mind felt like another groan-inducing cliche. Burn Gorman and Charlie Day were some of the worst things about the original. Fortunately, they were both more restrained in this film. They hurt the movie less this time around. It was nice seeing Rinko Kikuchi again, but I wish she had more to do. The cast was fine as a whole, it's not one of the flaws in this film.

The visual effects are pretty decent. It felt like the battle scenes were better lighted this time around. However, they didn't feel to have the same epic level of scope as in the original. They were okay, but I never felt like I was inching toward the front of my seat. I suppose the climactic battle was pretty cool, but even that doesn't compare to some of the slugfests of the original.

I really want to love this franchise. Unfortunately, the first movie was disappointing and Pacific Rim: Uprising just okay. It's no surprise that this film made a little over half of the original. There's good ideas here, but the script is a mess and the execution is lacking.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Pacific Rim