Review of Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) by Teddy F — 16 Apr 2018

Pacific Rim Uprising is a serviceable sequel. It isn't better than the original, but it does accomplish the one thing you ask for: the successful delivery of epic Jaeger vs. Kaiju action.

John Boyega is quickly moving up the movie industry ladder and I understand why, he's extremely watchable. He has the charisma of a movie star and is capable of giving compelling performances. In Pacific Rim Uprising (PRU), he plays Jake Pentecost, the son of the hero from the first film (i.e. the son of Idris Elba). Pentecost wants nothing to do with his father's career path, having tried it and it not working out. Instead he lives in a deserted city, destroyed during the events of the first film and never rebuilt. In this life, Pentecost scavenges for Jaeger tech for the highest bidder and treats hot sauce as a currency. However, it isn't long before he is arrested and forced back into Jaeger pilot training, this time as an instructor. Boyega plays the role effortlessly, switching back and forth between his character's inflated ego to actually giving a damn. His character in this movie is not going to garner him much recognition, but Boyega continues to show he has the stuff to lead big budget pictures. Scott Eastwood plays Nate Lambert, a "gifted" Jaeger pilot who used to work closely with Jake in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps but whose relationship with him became strained when Jake left. Eastwood's character falls into the trope of the hard-ass soldier who has no fun, but who over the course of the film softens up. His performance tends to over-acting at times, but overall fits in with the high levels of action. If there is any overacting in the film at all it is definitely done by Charlie Day. Day is a talented comedic actor (Horrible Bosses), but in this film his character is exaggerated and simply lame; the writers could've done more with his character whose purpose in the original film was much more fitting.

I figure I'm in the majority when I say I went to Pacific Rim to see the large fight scenes between monster and machine. Enough of the runtime was dedicated to these fight scenes to make me happy. The visuals are fluent, the different Jaegers have their own unique abilities and are cool, and there are a couple fights between two Jaegers early on which were fun to watch. However, PRU is a pretty empty movie. It might be the lack of Del Toro's influence, but compared to the original, the stakes are lacking and the characters less interesting. The ending is never in doubt, the villain is laughable, and the writing at times feels forced. I remember the final act of Pacific Rim being pretty intense; PRU never reaches the same level of emotion or intensity. It goes for bigger everything, but instead loses the edge of the first movie. There are a lot of big, blockbuster films filling the cinemas right now and most certainly better options than this one.