Pacific Rim Uprising
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Pacific Rim Uprising is a 2018 science fiction action monster film directed by Steven S. DeKnight (in his directorial debut) and written by DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Synder and T.S. Nowlin. It is the sequel to the 2013 film Pacific RimGMW and the second film in the Pacific Rim franchise, with Guillermo del Toro, the director of the original, serving as a producer. The film features the role of John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona and Zhang Jin with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Burn Gorman returning from the original film. The world premiere was held at Vue West End on March 15, 2018 and was released in the United States on March 23, 2018, by Universal Pictures (unlike its predecessor, which was released by Warner Bros. Pictures), in 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and IMAX.
Plot
Jake Pentecost is a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity's victory against the monstrous Kaiju. Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld. But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through cities and bring the world to its knees, Jake is given one last chance by his estranged sister, Mako Mori, to live up to his father's legacy.
Bad Qualities
- It is completely unnecessary for various reasons. The main reasons it didn't need a sequel are because the previous film had a good ending where it didn't need a sequel because the two main characters closed the breach defeating the Precursors and ending the film on a high note.
- Some characters from the previous film are either completely forgotten (Raleigh Becket, Hannibal Chau) or brought back just to be killed off (Mako Mori), and made the villain (Newton Geiszler)
- Speaking of bringing back a character just to be made the villain, Dr. Newton Geiszler, the comic relief of the first film, suddenly becomes an antagonist with no build-up or development, none of which is helped by his hammy and over-the-top acting.
- The film is also unoriginal, with it mostly being recycled of the previous film (with only the setting and the goals of the Precursors being different), whilst stealing plot points and elements from the Spy Kids films, as the kids are the ones who save the day.
- Too much time is spent trying to set up a sequel than proceeding with the main story. On that topic...
- Sequel baiting: Newt — now in custody — says that their victory is pointless because the Precursors' will keep sending attacks and Jake replies that mankind will soon be the ones attacking the Precursors.
- Whenever the cities are destroyed by the Kaiju, it lacks the same impact of whenever cities were destroyed in the previous film.
- Several scenes serve no other purpose than to just pad out the runtime so the film would feel longer than it actually is.
- Most of the attempts at comedy try way too hard to be funny, but fall flat.
- The movie goes from taking itself seriously to becoming goofy and comedic creating confusing in the film's scope.
Good Qualities
- Decent action scenes, like in the previous film.
- The soundtrack, composed by Lorne Balfe, is also decent.
- Nice performances from John Boyega, Burn Gorman and Scott Eastwood.
- The visual effects are amazing.
Reception
Critical response
Pacific Rim Uprising received mixed-to-negative from critics, audiences and fans of the first film, many considered it inferior to del Toro's and criticized the scope, pacing, story, as well as the absent characters from the previous film and the underdeveloped new characters, though others praised the visual effects, action scenes, Lorne Balfe's score and performances of Boyega, Eastwood and Spaeny. The film currently holds a 43% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 4.99/10 and a critic consensus that reads, "Pacific Rim Uprising won't win any points for subtlety or originality, but it delivers enough of the rock 'em-sock 'em robots-vs.-kaiju that fans of the original will be looking for.". On Metacritic, has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars and stated: "The climactic battle drags on forever and looks like a high-tech update of a monster movie clash of the titans from half a century ago. Even the sight of the residents of Tokyo scrambling for their lives as a giant lizard monster stomps through the city serves only as a reminder we're sitting through a glorified B-movie with nothing new to say."
Box office
Pacific Rim Uprising grossed $59.6 million in North America and $230 million internationally. Overall, the film made $290.5 million worldwide against its $150 million budget and was declared a box office disappointment by analysts.
Trivia
- Guillermo Del Toro stepped down as the director in order to direct The Shape of Water (2017), which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- Netflix is making original anime series based on two live-action movies, titled Pacific Rim: The Black.
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