Pacific Rim: Uprising
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Image From IMDB
Pacific Rim: Uprising swaps the adults for kids, and the world building within the cities for a host of shiny new toys. It has a somewhat slicker feel than the original, and probably more humour courtesy of John Boyega and Cailee Spaeny. I don’t think it’s as good as the first, but I also think it was a really decent attempt, and a film that grows on me more each time I watch it.
Uprising is set ten years after the breach has been closed. There’s been no more attacks from the Kaiju, but Earth hasn’t been resting on its laurels as they prepare to roll out a new drone program to take over from the expensive Jaeger system. But, when the new drones are released, all is not what is seems, and soon they find themselves battling the massive monsters from another dimension once again, with the whole planet at stake.
Uprising just wants you to have fun. A lot of the seriousness of the first movie is replaced with Boyega and Scott Eastwood bickering, and the kids fighting amongst themselves. There’s small solo robots, as well as an awesome three armed robots. There’s even robots flipping monsters off mid fight. Charlie Day is living with a brain in a jar, and Jing Tian lets her hair down to join in the fight after being a corporate bitch for half the movie. There’s even an impossible amount of ice cream topping.
The film does have plenty of heart amongst the stupidity, maybe even more than the first as the two leads form a new brother sister bond after both losing their families. And, the end fight sequence is truly spectacular, with Mount Fuji overlooking the chaos. Scapper is good fun, and everyone knows what kind of movie they’re in.
The transformation of the drones is pretty cool, and the Jaeger vs Jaeger fight was definitely an interesting place to go after the first movie. I loved the different settings of Sydney and Tokyo, along with the fight on the ice.
The movie didn’t attempt to be bigger than the first in scoop of it narrative, but did bring a whole new selection of toys. It definitely felt more Power Rangers like than the first, but as a fan of the Rangers, I had no issue with that. The Charlie Day stuff was weird, but fuck it, it’s a movie about giant robots battling monsters, they can do what they want.
For me, the most enjoyable aspect of the movie was definitely the sibling friendship between Pentecost (Boyega) and Amara (Spaeny) They continued to develop the relationship throughout, with even the giant battle at the end providing growth, and the last scenes of the movie belonging to them.
Pacific Rim: Uprising isn’t as clever as the first movie, and the world building kind of comes to a halt, and maybe even regresses which is slightly disappointing, but, as a robot action movie it’s great fun, and keeps you smiling throughout. Funnier, and maybe slightly louder at times, it’s a decent sequel to a franchise I'd have liked to have seen more off.
