Pacific Rim: Uprising is the surprised-it-got-made sequel to the original robots-punching-monsters movie Pacific Rim. I say surprising since it kind of landed with a thud in the US but was saved and became profitable in Asia. Given that movie was a love letter to giant monster (kaiju) movies, it kind of makes sense.
So you could put on rose-colored glasses and wax eloquent about how the first Pacific Rim was this immaculate piece of art and the sequel is more by-the-numbers but I think that’s a lie. Pacific Rim was a movie about giant robots punching giant monsters in the face, set to a rockin’ soundtrack. Spoiler alert: Pacific Rim 2 is the exact same thing. No, not really better as some of the novelty has worn off but still a perfectly serviceable movie about giant robots punching giant monsters. It gives you what it promises… and, unlike the first film, it gives it to you in broad daylight (the first film was dark, possibly to hide some of the effects).
Set ten years after the first movie, it stars John Boyega as the son of Idris “cancel the apocalypse” Elba as a ne’er-do-well washout of the jaeger (giant robot) program. He’s brought back into the fold by Scott Eastwood’s chin to train a new group of young giant robot pilots. The world has mostly rebuilt from the war but is fully prepared for the pan-dimensional monsters to return… and there’s a shady Chinese corporation trying to build giant robot drones that threaten to put the human pilots out of a job.
Sure. And then giant robots fight giant monsters. You get that too and its more interesting than the human drama. It’s weird that the movie has a lot more character storylines than it has room to develop or even complete… they keep on adding human drama and then just kind of getting distracted by shiny objects… but the first movie kind of did too, right? I mean, we just want to see robot-on-monster fighting and both movies give it to us. And, honestly, there’s a surprising moment or two as well.
This time in Tokyo which seems quite appropriate.
Hey, you know if you want to see this movie. I’m just here to tell you if it’s worth that matinee ticket. And I say, sure, why not? It’s a perfectly good movie that is exactly what it’s advertised to be: a B grade movie upjumped with stars and a huge budget. It does what it does well enough… yes, giant robots fight giant monsters. News at 11.
Score: 81