On the 23rd March 2018, the sequel to Pacific Rim was released in cinemas: Pacific Rim 2 Uprising. Now if you like basic action movies with giant robots and aliens fighting what’s not to love? The simple plot was originally created by director Guillermo del Toro in Pacific Rim (2013). As any sequel we follow on from the events of the first film where it was concluded that the breach has been closed at the expense of some notable characters. Uprising follows on ten years later where no more Kaiju (the aliens) have appeared therefore making the Jaegers (giant human controlled robots) almost obsolete.
We follow Jake Pentecost (son of Stacker Pentecose, who died saving the planet in the original and played by John Boyega) who leads a his life on a dangerous and criminal path which involves stealing and selling Jaeger parts on the black market. Jake finds himself arrested with teenager Amara (Cailee Spaeny) after being found the police in a illegal Jaeger workshop. Instead of going to prison they go to the Shatterdome, for Jake to start training Jaeger program cadets and Amara becomes one of them.
Everything is fine and dandy (mostly) but Shao Corporations drone program threatens to replace the Jaeger program. Of course, things go awry and the drones go a-wall and start attacking as they are influenced by the Kaiju after Dr. Newton Geiszler’s has been consumed by the Kaiju from his regular drifting with a Kaiju brain. And what happens? Well you can find out for yourself…
In summary, Pacific Rim is a good film if you want to be entertained by mindless action and fighting. The character development was good and make the characters likeable even though Jake is heavily flawed compared to others, you root for them through all the action.
As a film, it isn’t to every ones cup of tea and it certainly isn’t Oscar level quality. It hasn’t got the same ‘pow’ as the original, which is common with sequels. The plot felt slightly recycled and unoriginal in places, but you get what is advertised in the trailer.
Personally I enjoyed it, but I understand why it has received mixed reviews. If you are expecting film mastery you won’t find it here. It’s a very mediocre film that happens to clench an audience’s thirst for a blind action movie.
