Review: 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' (2018)

In the summer of 2013, Guillermo Del Toro directed a little film known as Pacific Rim which opened at #3 at the box office and went on to make $101.8 million domestically, but went on to make $411 million worldwide, thanks mostly to China. That film started Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman. I throughly enjoyed that film and even called it the modern equivalent to The 1996 film, Independence Day.

Now, in 2018, we have a long awaited sequel to 2013 sleeper hit, Pacific Rim: Uprising. This time we swap out Idris Elba for John Boyega, Charlie Hunnam for Scott Eastwood, the return of Day and Gorman, and what is essentially an extended cameo for Kikuchi. We are also introduced to a 15-year-old girl who builds Jaegers, played by Cailee Spaeny.

Ten years after the events of the first film, we’re introduced to Jake Pentecost (Boyega), who spends the first five minutes of the movie hitting us over the head with the fact that, despite having the same last name, he’s not his father. He steals from junkyards in order to get by in the world which ultimately leads to him meeting Amara (Spaeny) who built this movie’s version of BB-8, Scrapper. Both end up having run-ins with the law which lands them in jail but, since Jake’s adoptive sister, Mako Mori, (Kikuchi) is in power, she decides to bring him and Amara into the Jaeger program. There, we are also introduced to Nate (Eastwood) and a tacked on love interest whose name I couldn’t even remember.

First things first, the positive: the film looks great and has entertaining action. Any time the Jaegers and Kaiju exchange blows on screen, that’s when the film is worth watching. Unlike Transformers, the fights are clear as day and shot very well. The special effects and production values are also great. The set design and CGI will prove excellent on the resumes of those involved. The cast, including Boyega, Eastwood, and Spaeny, do their best with the material they are given. It’s a shame that the material that was given to them was mediocre at best and downright phoned in at worst.

I didn’t go in expecting Shakespeare, after all, it’s a movie about robots and monsters knocking the crap out of each other. That being said, this film runs down the “inferior sequel” checklist: have a character from the previous film disappear with no reason? Check! Cram in new characters with almost no development or purpose? Check! Take one character and give them an out of left field second act reveal in an attempt to shock us? Check! Have one character in the film for only ten seconds of screen time only to serve as an expositional mouthpiece? Double check!

Especially the reveal (which I won’t spoil). It’s almost like the film’s last half was rewritten in the middle of filming. Speaking of the third act, it almost felt as rushed as the 2015 flop, Fantastic Four, except not as awful. As a matter of fact, a better comparison would be the lackluster 2016 sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence. The only exception with Uprising being much better the Resurgence, because it’s mercifully shorter.

Despite its flashiness and entertaining fights, Pacific Rim: Uprising is so far, the biggest disappointment of 2018. The cast tries its best with lackluster material and the film as a whole is cliched and predictable. If you do end up seeing this however, I’d recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D: the fights do shine in that format.

Final Rating: 5/10