It's not a great film by any means, but the original Pacific Rim holds a special place in my heart. Released in Summer 2013 (right before I went to high school), a particularly tiresome period for blockbuster movies, Guillermo del Toro's $200 million Kaiju vs. robots smackdown was an ambitious breath of fresh air. Armed with state-of-the-art special effects, spectacular world-building, and one of the most epic (and underrated) musical themes of the decade, Pacific Rim remains a rousing, undeniably fun adventure flick. In my family specifically, the film is something of a goofy classic, and Ramin Djawadi's score is practically synonymous with epic action music. Even though del Toro's film struggled at the box office, its wildly original take on the sci-fi genre made an impression on its audience. The cult following grew and grew, and after an unusually long wait, a sequel has finally arrived.
A few years ago, ScreenCrush critic Matt Singer created the term "legacyquel" to describe a movie in which old, familiar characters pass the torch to a new generation. It's a perfect combination of nostalgia and novelty- think Blade Runner 2049, Creed, or the new Star Wars films. Most legacyquels are made years (or even decades) after the last installment in a franchise, which makes the approach to Pacific Rim Uprising that much more interesting. Universal and Legendary Pictures have basically made a legacyquel to a movie that came out less than five years ago. Gone are the heroes of the original film, replaced by a new generation of Jaeger pilots, with John Boyega's Jake Pentecost, the son of Idris Elba's dearly departed Stacker, leading the way. But even though reverting to this approach so quickly is a little bizarre, it isn't the inherent problem with Uprising. The unfortunate truth is that the execution is sorely lacking- as nice as it is to be back in this universe, everything about this belated sequel feels totally off. After a long wait, it's a brutal disappointment.
Several years after Raleigh Becket (absent from this installment), Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi in a diminished role), and the late Stacker Pentecost closed the breach and saved humankind from the wrath of the Kaiju, Pacific Rim Uprising shows the world picking up the pieces after a war that forced global unity on an unprecedented scale. Our hero this time around is Jake Pentecost, the son of a war hero who opts to hustle on the streets and party at night instead of fighting with the Pan-Pacific Defense Force. After a chance encounter, Jake and young makeshift Jaegar pilot Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny) end up being caught by the authorities. Mako, Jake's adopted sister, forces him to return to the defense force, where he'll be tasked with training the next generation of pilots.
A minor celebrity thanks to his family connection, Jake's return causes quite a stir at the base. Former colleague Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood) isn't exactly pleased to see him, and the rebellious former pilot isn't exactly happy to be back. But change is coming in the world of Jaegers, as Liwen Shao (Tian Jing), in coordination with celebrity scientist Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) has developed drones that will protect humanity in the event that the Kaiju return. Not everybody is on board with the idea, and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) thinks he has a separate potential breakthrough on his hands. But nobody, let alone Newt, listens to him, and Shao's drone plan continues. However, weird things begin happening with no explanation, which eventually leads to another robots vs. Kaiju battle royale. To say more would be a spoiler, but don't worry, the robots and monsters fight again.
So much has changed in the Pacific Rim universe that it barely feels like the world we left just under 5 short years ago. Most of the original players are gone, the directorial stamp of Guillermo del Toro has been erased, and even the "unite the world" simplicity is replaced by complex geopolitical discussions. But this is what happens when you make a sequel to a movie that ends on a pretty definitive note- when we left Raleigh and Mako, they had closed the breach and saved the world from annihilation. They had, in a way, canceled the apocalypse. So where do you really go from there? Well, Uprising finds a way, and it isn't particularly effective. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it almost retroactively ruins the fun of the original, making a series of clumsy narrative choices that are borderline disastrous.
Even with all of the changes, the time jump framing and the new characters aren't really the problem. John Boyega is a great actor, a natural successor to Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost and a charismatic lead in his own right. He gets a chance to show his comedic chops early in the movie, giving Jake a bit of a roguish spirit on top of his heroic ambitions. But as good as Boyega is, he's quickly lost in his own movie, taking the backseat to characters that are far less interesting than him. Cailee Spaeny is okay as the rebellious, intelligent Amara, but her character arc is a rather familiar one. But at least she's better than Scott Eastwood, who merely takes up screen time as a character that we really know nothing about. Charlie Day and Burn Gorman are serviceable, but once again, they're another group of people that we have to follow around in their own separate sub-plot. There's a lot that feels incomplete in Uprising, and it's due to the sheer number of disparate storylines that are occurring at any given moment.
In the last two paragraphs, I've started to hint at the core problems of this sequel- poor storytelling and a silly, forced bait-and-switch. The latter generated the biggest eyeroll from me. For fear of spoilers, I won't say too much more. But as you can see from the trailers, the Kaiju somehow return to Earth, even after the heroics of the last film. This was obviously a necessary development for a follow-up to happen, but the way director Travis S. DeKnight and the team of four screenwriters go about doing this feels wrong at worst and ham-fisted at best. Beyond the ill-advised plot twist that occurs just before the final act, the sense of pacing in the entire film is off. In the opening minutes, Boyega rattles off narration like he's in a Scorsese movie, which is something that never happens again. From there, DeKnight alternates between action sequences and standard exposition with little regard for flow, scrambling scenes and jumping from character to character in the span of minutes.
By the end of it all, there's the inescapable feeling that Uprising has just replayed the events of the original, only with different characters and more explosive action. There's a charming hero, one who has spent a lifetime trying to escape his past as a Jaeger pilot. A young girl hoping to overcome the tragedy of losing her parents by fighting for a cause bigger than herself. A side character who holds a grudge against the hero for something that happened in the past. There's a lot that feels familiar in Uprising, and it extends all the way to the execution of the action beats. The new material mostly misses the mark, while the recognizable notes adhere way too closely to the established template. It's a combination that's simply destined for failure.
It's a shame that so much of Pacific Rim Uprising is a mess, because I love spending time in this universe. When that theme music finally kicked in (and I do mean finally- it took forever), my face momentarily lit up with a sense of geeky joy. What Guillermo del Toro created back in 2013 was imaginative and bold, and DeKnight and his collaborators made a genuine effort to expand on that creation in compelling ways. They just made a lot of missteps along the way, and the final result is a film that never comes close to working. If we're being honest, the well-executed (but still mostly tedious) third act, a loud and insane Kaiju vs. Jaeger fight in Japan, keeps Uprising from being a total fiasco. But thanks to a diluted emotional impact, inconsistent storytelling, and some just flat-out dumb decisions, this belated sequel sadly falls short of its predecessor.
THE FINAL GRADE: C- (5.2/10)
Images: Universal/IMDb
A few years ago, ScreenCrush critic Matt Singer created the term "legacyquel" to describe a movie in which old, familiar characters pass the torch to a new generation. It's a perfect combination of nostalgia and novelty- think Blade Runner 2049, Creed, or the new Star Wars films. Most legacyquels are made years (or even decades) after the last installment in a franchise, which makes the approach to Pacific Rim Uprising that much more interesting. Universal and Legendary Pictures have basically made a legacyquel to a movie that came out less than five years ago. Gone are the heroes of the original film, replaced by a new generation of Jaeger pilots, with John Boyega's Jake Pentecost, the son of Idris Elba's dearly departed Stacker, leading the way. But even though reverting to this approach so quickly is a little bizarre, it isn't the inherent problem with Uprising. The unfortunate truth is that the execution is sorely lacking- as nice as it is to be back in this universe, everything about this belated sequel feels totally off. After a long wait, it's a brutal disappointment.
Several years after Raleigh Becket (absent from this installment), Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi in a diminished role), and the late Stacker Pentecost closed the breach and saved humankind from the wrath of the Kaiju, Pacific Rim Uprising shows the world picking up the pieces after a war that forced global unity on an unprecedented scale. Our hero this time around is Jake Pentecost, the son of a war hero who opts to hustle on the streets and party at night instead of fighting with the Pan-Pacific Defense Force. After a chance encounter, Jake and young makeshift Jaegar pilot Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny) end up being caught by the authorities. Mako, Jake's adopted sister, forces him to return to the defense force, where he'll be tasked with training the next generation of pilots.
A minor celebrity thanks to his family connection, Jake's return causes quite a stir at the base. Former colleague Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood) isn't exactly pleased to see him, and the rebellious former pilot isn't exactly happy to be back. But change is coming in the world of Jaegers, as Liwen Shao (Tian Jing), in coordination with celebrity scientist Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) has developed drones that will protect humanity in the event that the Kaiju return. Not everybody is on board with the idea, and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) thinks he has a separate potential breakthrough on his hands. But nobody, let alone Newt, listens to him, and Shao's drone plan continues. However, weird things begin happening with no explanation, which eventually leads to another robots vs. Kaiju battle royale. To say more would be a spoiler, but don't worry, the robots and monsters fight again.
So much has changed in the Pacific Rim universe that it barely feels like the world we left just under 5 short years ago. Most of the original players are gone, the directorial stamp of Guillermo del Toro has been erased, and even the "unite the world" simplicity is replaced by complex geopolitical discussions. But this is what happens when you make a sequel to a movie that ends on a pretty definitive note- when we left Raleigh and Mako, they had closed the breach and saved the world from annihilation. They had, in a way, canceled the apocalypse. So where do you really go from there? Well, Uprising finds a way, and it isn't particularly effective. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it almost retroactively ruins the fun of the original, making a series of clumsy narrative choices that are borderline disastrous.
Even with all of the changes, the time jump framing and the new characters aren't really the problem. John Boyega is a great actor, a natural successor to Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost and a charismatic lead in his own right. He gets a chance to show his comedic chops early in the movie, giving Jake a bit of a roguish spirit on top of his heroic ambitions. But as good as Boyega is, he's quickly lost in his own movie, taking the backseat to characters that are far less interesting than him. Cailee Spaeny is okay as the rebellious, intelligent Amara, but her character arc is a rather familiar one. But at least she's better than Scott Eastwood, who merely takes up screen time as a character that we really know nothing about. Charlie Day and Burn Gorman are serviceable, but once again, they're another group of people that we have to follow around in their own separate sub-plot. There's a lot that feels incomplete in Uprising, and it's due to the sheer number of disparate storylines that are occurring at any given moment.
In the last two paragraphs, I've started to hint at the core problems of this sequel- poor storytelling and a silly, forced bait-and-switch. The latter generated the biggest eyeroll from me. For fear of spoilers, I won't say too much more. But as you can see from the trailers, the Kaiju somehow return to Earth, even after the heroics of the last film. This was obviously a necessary development for a follow-up to happen, but the way director Travis S. DeKnight and the team of four screenwriters go about doing this feels wrong at worst and ham-fisted at best. Beyond the ill-advised plot twist that occurs just before the final act, the sense of pacing in the entire film is off. In the opening minutes, Boyega rattles off narration like he's in a Scorsese movie, which is something that never happens again. From there, DeKnight alternates between action sequences and standard exposition with little regard for flow, scrambling scenes and jumping from character to character in the span of minutes.
By the end of it all, there's the inescapable feeling that Uprising has just replayed the events of the original, only with different characters and more explosive action. There's a charming hero, one who has spent a lifetime trying to escape his past as a Jaeger pilot. A young girl hoping to overcome the tragedy of losing her parents by fighting for a cause bigger than herself. A side character who holds a grudge against the hero for something that happened in the past. There's a lot that feels familiar in Uprising, and it extends all the way to the execution of the action beats. The new material mostly misses the mark, while the recognizable notes adhere way too closely to the established template. It's a combination that's simply destined for failure.
It's a shame that so much of Pacific Rim Uprising is a mess, because I love spending time in this universe. When that theme music finally kicked in (and I do mean finally- it took forever), my face momentarily lit up with a sense of geeky joy. What Guillermo del Toro created back in 2013 was imaginative and bold, and DeKnight and his collaborators made a genuine effort to expand on that creation in compelling ways. They just made a lot of missteps along the way, and the final result is a film that never comes close to working. If we're being honest, the well-executed (but still mostly tedious) third act, a loud and insane Kaiju vs. Jaeger fight in Japan, keeps Uprising from being a total fiasco. But thanks to a diluted emotional impact, inconsistent storytelling, and some just flat-out dumb decisions, this belated sequel sadly falls short of its predecessor.
THE FINAL GRADE: C- (5.2/10)
Images: Universal/IMDb
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