Review of 'Pacific Rim: Uprising'

After actually kind of enjoying the first Pacific Rim film I was looking forward to the sequel but my hope was squashed with this disappointing follow-up.

It is ten years after the attack of the Kaiju in the Battle of the Breach in the original film where the portal linking our two worlds was closed. Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) is the son of Stacker Pentecost and makes his money scavenging Jaegar (giant robot) parts to sell on the black market and generally staying well away from protecting earth. After capture by the Pan-Pacific Definece Corps he is offered the choice of training new Jaeger cadets or going to jail. Thankfully for the sake of the film he decides on the former and is sent to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. When Jaegar drones developed by Shao Corporation to protect the Earth from future Kaiju attack suddenly go rogue Jake and his team of inexperienced cadets are called into action…

Honestly can't say I felt any empathy for the leads in this flick that seems more content on lots of robots fighting than on developing the characters, unlike the first film. Don't get me wrong - There are some reasonably good effects here (the budget is a bit smaller than in the first - and it shows) but it just seems to be more and more of the same types of battles along with kids whining and whingeing all the time. It kind of grates after a while. Without Del Toro's direction and the compelling performance of Idris Elba we are left with mere spectacle but, to be honest, the first film does come to a pretty decisive conclusion so a sequel was always going to be a bit of a money grab from the studios…

Rating: “Average, but who wants to be average?”

Review Date: 2019-08-01

Directed by: Steven S. DeKnight

Studio: Legendary Entertainment

Year: 2018

Length: 111 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/