When a sequel is greenlighted, it's generally because the original film ended up being not just a financial success but managed to catch the audiences attention in terms of the overall experience with them being overall satisfied with the end result and left wanting more. In the case of the original Pacific
Rim directed by Academy Award Winner Guillermo del Toro, the film underperformed stateside despite blowing up globally with a massive $400 million worldwide haul along with favorable opinions from audiences. Given the highly unusual mixture of the first being both a box office success globally, as well as being somewhat of a financial misfire stateside
(It still managed to cross $100 million stateside though the budget was much higher), the studio saw enough international appeal with the film to proceed with a sequel. Released a total of five years after the events of the first film without the involvement of del Toro as writer/director this round,
Pacific Rim: Uprising aims to continue the world building of the previous film while introducing newer characters combined with returning ones. The end result is an entertaining and generally satisfying sequel to the first
Pacific Rim, even if it doesn't quite match the standard of its predecessor, nor the stamp that del Toro left on the first
Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim: Uprising feels like a better sequel to
Independence Day than
Resurgence as both films carry similar character arcs and plot points (The son of one of the originals main stars wanting to follow in their fathers footsteps, society rebuilding after the events of the previous film with a younger generation being the armed force against the invaders). The film delivers enough explosions and machine vs creature battles to excite the audience along with an appealing young cast of talented actors pushing the sequels story forward. The film is not original in regards to any aspect of its story, but it combines all the key elements of a typical monster and disaster flick to make it both an undeniably entertaining as well as a solid sequel to the first film.
The plot for
Pacific Rim: Uprising takes place a decade after the previous film with a dead war hero's son (Played by
Force Awaken's John Boyega with Idris Elba playing his father in the original) reluctantly following in his fathers footsteps by taking up his duties along with being tasked to train both young men and women to fight an army of large reptilian monsters called the Kaiju. It's throughout his battles that he finds more determination and courage in them than he has imagined as the new generation of warriors both train and prepare to defend humanity. The plot for
Pacific Rim: Uprising manages to create enough distance from the first film to tell it's own story while remaining loosely connected to it. The story for
Uprising does attempt to build upon the events of that film with a new generation of young cadets going toe to toe with Kaiju's, which often feels like a crossover between the
Power Rangers mixed with teaspoons of both
Transformers and
Top Gun. The sequel manages to give audiences much of what they enjoyed about the first film such as its edge of your seat action, that's combined with young and hip characters who are designed for the audience to care about. The films story structure is well-balanced with the main characters receiving enough buildup, as well as strong enough chemistry to hold over audiences in between the films main action set pieces. Like its previous predecessor
Uprising manages to be pure entertainment and spectacle though it lacks a distinct visual stamp that Del Toro leaves with all his films despite the film carrying a strong visual flare of it's own. It's a film that knows exactly what it is and what it wants to be, while living up to its promise to entertain audiences in a style similar to Michael Bay's
Transformers with the difference being the
Pacific Rim series carries with it a similar style but carries more substance with it.
Outside of the films fantastic visual set pieces, one of its key elements that makes it work is the likable and charming performances from it's main cast, John Boyega in particular who continues to demonstrate his ability to provide a strong leading man performance in both this film as well as Disney's
Star Wars sequel trilogy. Whereas the new film loses key figures from the first such as Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba,
Uprising brings in Boyega with
The Fate Of The Furious star Scott Eastwood, and Cailee Spaeny with returning faces from the first
Pacific Rim such as Burn Gorman and Charlie Day. In the films main role, John Boyega proves to be both charismatic and compelling as Jake Pentecost, the son of Stacker Pentecost who was played in the previous film by Idris Elba. Boyegas acting is solid and carries the film during the films quieter and character driven moments, while keeping the audience engaged with its insane action sequences. Scott Eastwood impresses audiences in the role of Nathan Lambert, Jake's estranged co-pilot and partner. Their characters dynamic help gives the film a
Top Gun feel with audiences getting instant flashbacks to Maverick and Iceman's conflict before they became allies. Cailee Spaeny surprises in the role of street orphan and creator of a civilian Jaeger Amara Namani, along with being Jake's partner also when Nate becomes injured. Like Eastwood, she shares strong chemistry with Boyegas character, making their friendship dynamic believable to audiences as well as likable. Jing Tian gives a likable performance as Shao Liwen, a smart businesswoman and technologist who joined the allies against the precursor Emissary. As for the films supporting roles, Burn Gorman and Charlie Day both serve as being welcoming returns of familiar faces from the previous films with Day stealing the show once again as Dr. Newton Geiszler, a brainwashed former scientist and officer in the PPDC, who ends up becoming the emissary of the Precursors after they seize control of his mind. His role in the second film is expanded upon with his character having an interesting twist that occurs within the films third act. The overall performances from the main cast was always going to be a major factor in selling the believability of both the characters and story for
Uprising. Thankfully, the main cast rises to the occasion and brings much energy and life to their performances. The strength of the newer actors proves to be even more impressive given the sequel consists of mostly newer faces.
The films directing by Steven S. DeKnight proves to be both serviceable and effective with DeKnight giving his best effort to fit into the shoes of Guillermo del Toro with his whacky and distinct visual flare, that he leaves with each film he does. With
Uprising, DeKnight gives audiences his best Michael Bay impersonation in regards to directing the films action-set pieces in a style similar to Bay's
Transformers films. When it comes to the action sequences, DeKnight delivers a similar style to Bays films in regards to the films flashy cinematography such as the slow-motion turning around in front of explosions, overlong and drawn out battle scenes, and characters being appealing though lacking true depth. Where DeKnight's action sequences might lack some of the excitement of the ones from the first film, he makes an effort to compensate by delivering newer Jaeger designs with additional combat moves, particularly when they join forces. Whereas the first
Pacific Rim film was directed to not only be a fun rollercoaster ride for audiences but also carry a serious tone to it, that made audiences think of films with similar arcs such as
Independence Day with Idris Elba giving his dramatic speech in a vein similar to Bill Pullman,
Uprising is more straight-forward and confident in its ambitions to deliver enormous amounts of popcorn entertainment to it's audience with the combination of
Power Rangers meets
Transformers with the films epic battle sequences. The films pacing never lags and keeps both the action and story moving with the score by Lorne Balfe adding to the films excitement, as well as its emotional core. As for the films visual and sound effects, the latter proves to be top notch with the action sequences being both loud and thunderous with strong CGI to back it up. Given that del Toro films carry a unique visual stamp on them, that make it extremely hard for anyone to surpass or imitate, DeKnight does a solid job of not only building on the universe that Guillermo introduced to audiences in 2013, but distancing the sequels story far enough to where it can reference the past while standing as its own film along with being a continuation of the story.
The films writing also by Steven S. DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder and T.S Nowlin is reasonably decent given the type of film audiences expect
Pacific Rim Uprising to be. While the films battle sequences serve as being the main attraction for audiences, the script is fairly well-balanced in giving audiences enough global destruction, while focusing on the arcs involving the films main characters. To audiences, most if not all of the films main subplots are rather generic and reused from other films with similar plots. The subplot involving Boyega's character carrying on his fathers legacy can be compared to films such as
Creed and
A New Hope with the conflict between his character and Eastwood's over whose right in regards to fighting the monsters giving audiences the
Top Gun vibe. Another familiar element of the story is the whole concept of a black sheep coming back into the picture to lead a group of new trainees to save the world essentially. If audiences approach
Uprising looking for originality with the films script, they'll be largely disappointed as both creativity and originality in regards to the films story is shown to be largely absent here with heavy reliance on old and tired cliches. Despite the familiarity of things, the film is appealing enough for the audience to forgive the scripts lack of creativity and accept its basic plot with one dimensional character development, that's cleverly disguised by the strong performances of it's main actors.
Is
Pacific Rim: Uprising the overblown CGI trainwreck that many critics made the film out to be upon its release? No, while the film suffers from some sizable faults of its own (The lack of strong scriptwriting, Guillermo del Toro's detailed and focused visionary approach to the films look is missed here), it still carries enough appeal to make it worthwhile for fans of the first
Pacific Rim that's
largely thanks to the performances of the main cast, as well as the insane action the film delivers. Given the sequel is one that audiences weren't exactly clamoring for as the first film closed its story up fairly well,
Uprising does a surprisingly decent job of not only justifying its existence to those who enjoyed the previous film, but managing to honor it's past while delivering a somewhat worthy follow-up/soft reboot. One hopes that del Toro returns to direct the third
Pacific Rim film to connect all three films together while giving the story he began a proper sound off.
Pacific Rim: Uprising despite feeling like a consistent sequel to the first film makes no efforts to hide the fact that it's main agenda is to entertain its audience with popcorn style thrills mixed with explosive action and rising young stars. Its intentions are to be nothing else beyond that and never tries to go deep with its plot development or themes. Whereas that would normally result in films turning out to be lackluster as well as both shallow and disappointing, there's enough presented on the surface to give it a thumbs up rather than flat out disregarding the film.
Uprising sets out to rock the audiences world and it does so with no apologies for being what it ultimately is. For that reason, it deserves ones time and effort.
Final Verdict: For those who enjoyed
Pacific Rim, Uprising proves to be a solid sequel on its own merits despite not being quite as good or carrying del Toros unique visual touch.
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