Your opinion on “Pacific Rim: Uprising” will largely depend on your prior expectations and whether you’re willing to exchange far-fetched (but fun) entertainment for advanced character development and plot depth. If you go into this movie expecting anything other than loud, over-the-top, monster versus robot mayhem then you’re going to be disappointed.
However, if you were a fan of the original, they take a lot of the elements that made the first one enjoyable and dial them up several notches. If you liked the first movie, you're going to like this one also. It's an action movie that doesn't try to be anything else. It knows how ridiculous it is and embraces it, and along the way gives you just enough plot and character development to avoid being completely mindless. (Don't worry, no major spoilers ahead).
What you’re going to like:
John Boyega - In short, he’s AWESOME. Boyega plays Jake Pentecost, the son of war hero Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) from the first film. Jake is a rebellious, streetwise scoundrel who is running from his past failures and the long shadow cast by the legacy his father. He has a funny, cynical, fast-talking, charm that is the absolute highlight of the movie. It’s made even better by the fact that he plays the smarmy wise-guy character with his native British accent.
Question: Why didn’t we get this version of Boyega in the new Star Wars films?!? No, seriously. If the guy is capable of this type of performance, what in the world were they doing with him Episodes VII & VIII? And why didn’t they let him speak with his native accent??? That alone made him at least 23% cooler.
Anyway, the bottom line is that Boyega kills this role and is an absolutely electric leading man for this film.
The Fights - They are more destructive and more action-packed than the first movie. It’s hard to say whether they are better simply because there isn’t the jaw-dropping splendor you felt the first time you saw the jaegers or the “Holy Crap” moments like when Gipsy Danger whips out the chain sword and filets that flying kaiju over Tokyo. Still, the action is enjoyable and the jaeger fight that takes place in Siberia stood out as my personal favorite in the film.
Plot Twists - The plot has surprising depth and although it’s WAY over-the-top and a bit rushed in spots, it has a fair share of legitimately unpredictable twists and turns. It’s much more complex than the elementary jaegers versus kaiju narrative of the first movie, and it includes a lot more human conflict as varying factions battle for control of the jaeger production market.
“Family” Theme - The theme of family is consistently woven throughout the film. The characters (especially Jake) repeatedly emphasize that the bond of family runs deeper than blood and this is illustrated through several different dynamics within the movie.
My favorite dynamic was the brief interaction Jake has with Mako, his adopted sister whom he loves and treats like blood. (Very minor spoilers here) They play the brother/sister dynamic well as Mako constantly voices her disapproval of her little brother’s rogue lifestyle and does all she can to help him. Meanwhile Jake takes advantage of his sister’s sympathy by using her high-ranking position to help get him out of the trouble he constantly finds himself in. It really helped underscore the theme that the struggle together to save humanity creates a bond that runs much deeper than race, nationality, or background.
What you might not like:
The Plot Pacing - (Moderate spoilers here) The movie has a nice slow build towards the big turning point when the Shatterdome is attacked and a number of jaegers are damaged or destroyed. The film is really well-paced to this point, but here it all of a sudden accelerates to break-neck speed in a rush to set up the final battle. It felt like they were rushing the movie along just to make sure it stayed under a two-hour running time.
The result is that it ends up taking about six minutes of real time (and just a few hours of movie time) to fix the damage from the battle, upgrade the jaegers, find drift-compatible pilots, figure out the kaiju’s plan (which literally takes less than one minute), and deploy the jaeger’s to intercept them. Something that feels like it should’ve lasted at least a few days in movie time essentially happens overnight. The plot points were coherent, but everything was so rushed it was difficult to process all the information the characters were giving the audience. The result was that the build to the final battle felt rushed and rather contrived.
Violence Against Kids - (Minor Spoiler here) The new jaeger program in UPRISING has started recruiting teenagers because their age and life experience apparently makes them more drift compatible. The result is that some of the young cadets end up in the fight, and...well, it doesn’t go so well for them.
Suspension of Disbelief - (Moderate spoilers here) When you’re watching a movie about interdimensional monsters fighting against giant robots, there’s a lot you’re willing to let slide. Still, there’s a few things that are hard for even the most bought-in fan to swallow. A few of the more ridiculous examples include:
An adolescent girl builds her own jaeger from scrap parts
A kaiju brain regenerates appendages and takes over a machine
An unpowered item dropped from space hits a moving kaiju at the perfect angle
The breach is reopened by hijacked jaegers firing concentrated energy blasts into the ocean; it closes back up when they stop.
Several kaiju are bonded together by an unexplained process to form one enormous kaiju.
Like I said, these things are a tad far-fetched for even for the jaeger/kaiju universe.
My grading breakdown:
Characters: 7.8/10 - This score is basically because of how good Boyega is as Jake Pentecost. Newcomer Cailee Spaeny is also interesting as slick-talking street urchin Amara Namani, and Charlie Day makes an entertaining return as Dr. Newton Geiszler. Beyond that, most of the other characters are rather forgettable.
Plot/Story: 7.5/10 -- It’s interesting and had some good plot twists, but I’ve already explained some of the problems with the pacing and believability.
Visuals: 7.5/7.5 -- The CGI is first rate and the the kaiju/jaeger fights are awesome.
Music/Score: 5.5/7.5 - The score is solid, but not a key component this movie.
Emotion: 4.5/7.5 -- The movie tries to generate genuine emotion with the unexpected death of one of the main characters and investigating what constitutes “family,” but the attempts just don’t quite land. These scenes left me feeling like I should’ve cared more than I actually did.
Dialogue: 8.3/10 - Everything between Jake and Amara is pure gold; they have great back-and-forth banter. Jake also has good dialogue with his foil & rival Nate Lambert. Charlie Day’s Geiszler also provides great comic relief as he tries (often unsuccessfully) to communicate with his new boss in Mandarin.
Originality: 4/5 -- UPRISING actually manages to come up with a new facet to the human/kaiju war as it introduces the idea of drone jaegers and the potential complications that could arise. While everything in this movie felt familiar, it didn’t feel like it rehashed the same plot points from the original.
“IT” factor: 6/10 -- One of the problems with a sequel like this is the loss of the "Wow" factor. It’s very hard to re-capture the splendor of the original. It was still impressive, but it didn’t blow my mind like the original movie did, and overall just felt too rushed and emotionally stagnant to be as good as the original.
Cumulative Score - 51.1/ 67.5 = 75% (C-)
Summary: No, it's not as good as the original, but if you liked the first movie you're probably going to like "UPRISING" as well. Some of the shock and awe is gone and the characters aren't as interesting, but the action delivers and the story takes the the series in some interesting new directions.
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