Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

 

Guillermo Del Toro's 'Pacific Rim' was a fun tribute to giant mechs and monsters from Japan. It might not be the best film out there, but it has that Del Toro visual flair and that does quite a lot. They also managed to make the giant monster fights seem impactful and - dare I say it? - realistic. 

So you can probably guess where the follow-up goes to. 

Yes, it's a distinct downgrade.

It's been 10 years since the events of the first film and the world is more or less lulled into a sense of security. We meet Jake, the son of Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba in the previous one) who is a bit of a douche and who is involved in smuggling and the like.

Wow, already ticked a cliché box that the progeny of a hero is incredibly talented yet wasting said talent in semi-illegal endeavours. 

Jake comes across a 15-year-old progeny called Amara who built her own little Jaeger bot. They are both arrested and brought to the Jaeger-program once more. Well, it's a first for Amara, but you get it. 

The Jaeger program is about to be scrapped, as a Chinese conglomerate is building drones so the new robots don't need to be piloted directly anymore. But if you can guess that betrayal is around the corner, give yourself a screenwriter's credit. A mysterious Jaeger shows up and it turns out to be infused with kaiju flesh. 

So yes, they are coming back. Well, three of them that fuse into one big one. It's a bit like the fusion from 'Dragonball Z', only less funny/cool. 

This film certainly has problems. The characters are incredibly stock and the dialogue doesn't do anyone favours. This film is absolutely more geared towards a younger audience (as evidenced by introducing a 15-year-old who is a genius) which is fine by itself, but when everything gets dumbed down, there is a lot less awe and elation involved. John Boyega is a very decent actor, but he isn't gven a lot to work with. The rest of the cast (yes, even the returning ones from last time) are ultimately forgettable and the set-up for a third film is stupid and also pretty redundant, as there is no such thing coming. 

But what really feels off are the giant battles, as they lack weight. Here, you often get the feeling you are watching two humans going at it, as everything moves pretty rapidly. Occasionally, they slow stuff down, but it never feels right and always too weightless. It doesn't help that the kaiju designs this time aren't as memorable or distinct and the bright neon aesthetic from the first one is gone. 

A bit silly to design monsters with glowing colours and then have everything happen during the brightest of days. 

It's not horrendous by any stretch and if you need a giant-robot-fix this can get you by, but it looks and feels like a half-assed children's film, which is a major shame.