“Pacific Rim” shouldn’t really exist. It’s a western Hollywood film based around giant robot mechs fighting giant, Godzilla-inspired, monsters with actual effort put into its story and lore. In a world where the “Transformers” franchise has managed to stumble its way through five films with barely a semblance of plot in each, the fact that “Pacific Rim” had such a strong story to back up its gloriously detailed large scale fights is a testament to director Guillermo Del Toro’s love for the craft of film making.
But Del Toro is only a producer for “Uprising,” the sequel to “Pacific Rim,” with Steven S. DeKnight, creator of the Starz show “Spartacus” and a former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” writer making his directorial debut with “Uprising.” Does this change still help to continue the film’s excellent blend of action and world building, or is this sequel a monstrous step backwards?
“Pacific Rim” introduced the world to the Kaiju war, a battle between huge monstrous creatures sent through a dimensional rift in the Pacific Ocean by a race called the Precursors and the equally huge robotic mechs that humanity created to fight them. “Pacific Rim Uprising” is set 10 years after the first film, and if audiences aren’t already aware of the basic concepts of the first film, then the first act will be incredibly confusing.
While not impossible to parse together the logistics of the universe, some of the most basic and important ideas from the first film are simply name dropped with no attempt made to explain them. Yes, this is a sequel, but a film can only rely on previous knowledge so much. “Uprising” makes no attempts, apart from an extremely short 30 second monologue at the film’s start, to catch audiences up on its worlds and concepts.
Which is a shame, because the concepts within this universe are still incredible. The idea of two pilots melding their minds together to pilot these large mechs through a “Neural Handshake” is just as epic the fourth or fifth time as it was the first. The Jaegers, the giant mechs, are still awesome as well. The creativity of their designs makes for some delightfully fun fights and practically scream to be bought and displayed as high profile action figures.
Even in the smaller details the movie manages to hold its own. It definitely has the coolest rendition of the Universal logo ever, and the bright colors and environments manage to provide a nice contrast to the typically drab and grey world of Hollywood action films, and even provide a contrast to the first films rainy neon nighttime fights.
While it holds up visually, “Uprising” can’t match the first film’s smart and thoughtful story. It does attempt to shake things up with its antagonist and it tries to avoid the “here they come again” cliché, but its narrative is simply boring. It’s overstuffed and too lightweight at the same time, failing to provide compelling reasons for these admittedly epic fights to take place.
This weaker narrative can’t hold down what is an undeniably fun group of characters. As clichéd as their individual stories are, the performances from actors like John Boyega, Scott Eastwood and Burn Gorman manage to breath more life into the film than the weak story would seem to allow. Major props to the 19-year-old star Cailee Spaeny, who not only holds her own against juggernauts like Boyega, but manages to give the best performance of the entire film. Even Charlie Day struts his stuff as more than a simple comic relief, and while his role in the story will surely be controversial among fans, he nevertheless gives a stellar performance.
Ramin Djawadi’s score for the first film was one of the movie’s best features, and the same unfortunately can’t be said in the sequel. He doesn't return, instead he's replaced by Lorne Balfe, who does a serviceable job, but simply can’t stand up to the memorably bombastic nature of Ramin’s original.
Pacing also is a major issue for “Uprising,” as the first act feels way too fast and the second act way too slow. It’s only in the third act that the movie falls into a comfortable rhythm; however, it ends rather abruptly and leaves the audience confused as if the last five minutes had simply been cut in a re-edit.
“Pacific Rim Uprising” can’t stand up to the first film. Its pacing is far too erratic, and its plot is disappointingly shallow and poor, especially when compared to the thoughtfulness present in the first film. However, it's saved thanks to impressive fights and visual designs as well as a cast of characters who are so damn charming they make up for the lack of real character arcs. “Uprising” may stumble in its attempt to reach the heights of the original, but at least it has fun on the way up. 3/5
Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures.
