Pacific Rim 2: Uprising

I'm not sure there's too many people out there who would call Guillermo Del Toro's 2013 robot/monster infused popcorn event Pacific Rim a classic of any sort but the eye-candy clad and seriously entertaining experience looks like a genuine masterpiece when placed alongside this charmless and trite sequel.

Somehow turning the prospect of giant robots and oversized monsters going at each other in a battle of life and death into an utterly boring and tiresome exercise, Pacific Rim: Uprising is the early death knell to a series that should've been a brand name that became the perfect excuse to turn your brain off and enjoy some big screen spectacle that is home to cheesy one liners, over the top CGI infused carnage and some A-listers hamming it up for good measure.

Taking over directing duties from Del Toro, debut feature film director Steven S. DeKnight brings none of the child like charm or enthusiasm the Mexican auteur brought to the table with his entry as we instead get a lame and tame tale of Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecosts' child Jake (played by a struggling John Boyega) turn from troublemaker to Jager pilot, as the world finds itself once more under threat from the dreaded Kaiju monsters.

The first Pacific Rim had a similarly dumb plot and characters that were more like walking caricatures but there was a sense that everyone involved was having a great time and despite better judgements, you as an audience member did to.

That's completely lost here, there's little fun to be had with the bland and uninteresting action scenes, the main cast are all completely forgettable, while even returning cast members such as Charlie Day's Dr. Newton Geiszler and Burn Gorman's Hermann Gottlieb are more of a tacked on accessory, with Day in particular getting an embarrassing character development that is both lame and totally misguided.

With a pulse-free plot line and thrill-free action there was little chance Uprising ever had at succeeding and there's little mystery as to why this unwanted sequel failed to capture the dollars at the box-office, guaranteeing the Pacific Rim brand is now dead in the water.

Final Say -

Not even the most hardcore of Pacific Rim fans will find much to enjoy in Uprising, an utterly forgettable and disposable new entry into the wannabe franchise that somehow manages to turn it's over the top foundations into a bland, charm-free and tiresome event.

1 child mechanic out of 5

It does not matter who your parents are, where you came from, who believed in you and who didn't. We are a family now, and we are earth's last defense.

What amazed me the most was the fact that I couldn't remember much of "Pacific Rim", even though I thought it was an original-looking film years ago. No worries. Little by little everything is explained again in such a way that I partially knew it again. And even though "Pacific Rim" wasn't high-quality cinema and simply a very expensive monster film with superb looking computer-generated images, the film impressed me at the time. "Pacific Rim" was brainless amusement with a high entertainment value. This sequel is simply a duplicate with other main characters in identical Jaegers. But it's so irritating and annoying mostly. I was hoping this time the Kaiju's took control and destroyed planet earth. That way we don't need to be afraid of a possible sequel in the future.

Since the design and subject are identical to that of the initial film, one could say that it's thanks to Guillermo Del Toro the first film was kind of a success. But that's a bit simplistic to state, in my opinion. I rather think there are several factors that ensure that you can't really call this a successful film. This time the entire Jaeger program shifts from a mature world to that of teenagers. We end up in a cadet school where young people are trained to become Jaeger pilots. A bit like in "Ender's game" but now it's not in space. And of course, there's one of the cadets who can't stand the newcomer Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny) and believes she doesn't belong there. And who will be the hero in the end? Yep, not hard to guess. Anyway, it all feels a bit like a kindergarten. The Goonies in giant robots who save the world. Haven't we seen that before?

Also, the acting wasn't something to get enthusiastic about. Cailee Spaeny was acceptable with her youthful enthusiasm and rebellious behavior. John Boyega sometimes played the indifferent Jake with reluctance. Scott Eastwood was again suitable for the character Nate. And not only because of that creepy resemblance to his famous father. But the acting by Burn Gorman, Charlie Day and Tian Jing was at times simply bad. Bad enough to make me squirm.

Only the graphical part remains. Just like the 2013 film, it's a visual spectacle. And just like the acting, there are also ups-and-downs here. It's fun to see huge robots and enormous monsters smashing into one another. But to be honest, it's the same old thing as in the previous movie. And the final battle in a Japanese city close to "Mount Fuji" just looked ugly. It wasn't as if this clash of the titans took place in between blocks of flats made from cardboard. Just like in those ancient Godzilla films. But it's a close call. The duel on the ice, on the other hand, looked extremely great. A computer-graphic masterpiece.

Do you like to watch huge robots and by extraterrestrial created monsters battle each other? Then I guess this film is right up your alley. Have you seen "Pacific Rim" years ago? Then you can safely skip this one because you won't be seeing something really new here. To be honest, I sometimes had the feeling that I was watching a modern version of the Power Rangers. Only the creatures who emerged from another dimension resembled those that the Power Rangers fought against a long time ago. Ridiculously long time ago.

To say that this movie is wrong is to understate it. If I could begin with one positive thing to say about it - it's that the giant robot fights can give Transformers a run for their money. Alas, this is as far as it goes.

Pathetic Rim swipes old characters under the rug, adds the black stormtrooper.... excuse me, getting a deja vu here..., introduces the characters "way" out of proportion(on the Marvel\Transformer level of stupidity, despite this being a damn Del Toro franchise), and barely tries to stay coherent throughout the runtime.

Instead of trying to do what honest sequels "must" do - reconnect with the story and make the viewer feel like they are watching Part Two, Pathetic Rim throws a few expositions, introduces us to an irrelevant situation that has Last Knight written all over it, shows a few scenes that are supposed to be reminiscent of what we've seen in the original. Oh, and, of course, once you see characters randomly reciting the events of the previous movie... you know that the writer has the experience of a first-grader. Not once, not twice, multiple characters will blatantly try to make this movie look like a sequel by laying out that major events of the original.

What is the movie about? Well, let's see... Last time I checked, the Jaeger Program was scrapped. Frankly, for a good reason. And that's before the victory. A few years after - we see numerous Jaegers around the world. Why? As a deterrent? Or to use the resources to build toys instead of rebuilding the damages? Of course, in light of all the Jaegers, there "have" to be places with "decommissioned" Jaegers, just waiting for brave looters to dig in. That's not just Last Knight, this is A Force Awakens rip-off if I ever saw one. But why rip off trash?

Somewhere in that mess of the girl from Last Knight and the ridiculous situation of AFA, we get our black stormtrooper, who is apparently an "already" prodigal son of late Marshall Pentacost - adhering to the nature's call of his race. Seriously. Don't you dare get offended. I am not a director, who put a black protagonist in a position, where he enjoys gangster stuff, looting and thug life. Just pointing it out.

After the aforementioned irrelevant situation - the two protagonists find themselves among the "new generation". Somehow - the whole deal is overseen by China. I understand that they are powerful, but does Europe count for nothing in this world anymore? God forbid they mention Russia, obviously, but, besides the base being located in China, which I could understand, because it's a "Pan Pacific" Defense Force, we also meet a large... that's right... Chinese corporation. And that's not even Last Knight, that's Age of Extinction. I get it, Chinese silicon infrastructure is world-leading, and USA is trying to appeal to them... well, tried to, before Trump... but besides that - they aren't that far ahead. Not in military. Not in machinery. Not in science. Any kind of precision german engineering, at least some Tesla ripoff - fine. But another movie with a large Chinese company building drones? No, thanks.

For a little bit, we are supposed to believe that this corporation is bad, because this is how it goes. Until a rogue Jaeger shows up and tears Gypsy a new one. After that - it's only questions. What was in that Siberian base? Plan B? Why was there only one rogue Jaeger? Why did the antagonist have to be where the plot needed him to be? Why were the Jaegers made out of butter back on the base? Why is the girl suddenly drift-compatible? Why was there the female object for our two protagonists? Why was the head lady suddenly a pilot? And, of course, why was the movie resolved like a deadline? No, not even cliffhanger - deadline. A cliffhanger promises something, this isn't even a promise.

It's not a waste of time, however, it can play ball with Transformers just fine. But it's not Pacific Rim. Del Toro showed us what the genre could do. What Godzilla, Transformers and even others "should" do. In the original, we saw Gypsy Danger smack the kaiju with a freighter, a god damn freighter. That scene alone gave the movie an extra pair. What can Pathetic Rim show us? A plasma cannon that kind of crushes down one skyscapper after another on a kaiju. Even Man of Steel would cringe, and that's saying something.

The story is senseless and is very poorly told. I just don't know who is who, who is good or who is bad. It is so silly to see the characters running inside the robot to make the robot run. If technology is so advanced, couldn't they just make a neural link? The only good thing is that this time the film is in daylight, so at least I can see what is happening.

Will admit to enjoying the first 'Pacific Rim'. It wasn't great or perfect as an overall film, and somewhat of a case of style over substance, but it entertained and did well on delivering on its objectives. The involvement of Guillermo Del Toro and Idris Elba are reasons enough to see the film

Really do wish that the same can be said for its sequel 'Pacific Rim: Uprising'. The trailer was not good and the reviews not great (one of the weaker received films of those released so far this year), but saw it anyway due to liking the first film enough and wanted to see something that was pretty much the same sort of thing quality-wise (and perhaps with improvements). No such luck. 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' turned out to be a dull and soulless sequel and film, and one that comes over as pointless at the end of the day.

Starting with what 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' excelled with, which sadly is not much, much of the cinematography and editing are slickly atmospheric, the production design is gritty and audacious and some of the effects are top-notch.

Some of the action and spectacle is exciting, they're big and over-the-top but appropriately so. John Boyega is a reasonable and charismatic lead and the only actor to come over well.

On the other hand, nowhere near as good a job is done with the direction, nowhere near as in command of or at ease with the material the action, making for a film that tries to be both silly fun and taking itself seriously but fails at both and neither gels. The film doesn't know what it's trying to be, it can be dully paced and target audience is not easy to figure out due to the film's muddled done.

Boyega aside, the acting is very bad, especially from Charlie Day and Burn Gorman who are as irritating as they were before. 'Pacific Rim: Uprising' also has some cringe-worthy, childish and vomit-inducingly inane dialogue and paper thin stereotypical characterisation (enough to tick off the long list of cliches one by one in quick succession) where not much is done to develop the characters and make one properly care for them. There are clumsy and unnecessary references to the first film too and there is too much exposition that really bogs things down.

Although there are instances of them being good, other effects are cartoonish. A lot of the action doesn't work, not very inventive and not always cohesive let alone exhilarating. A big case of a lot of noise and attempted style but not a lot of brains or soul. Worst of all is the story, which is dull, ridiculous, barely coherent and with a cobbled together glued badly feel and a complete lack of emotional investment.

Concluding, a mess apart from a few good things. 3/10 Bethany Cox