Pacific Rim Uprising
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"DeKnight's considerable talent feels jilted by an aggressively commercial experience. Uprising takes the Pacific Rim story and turns it into a brand."— Chris Stuckmann
"Now that Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman, and Charlie Hunnam are gone, we're left with Pacific Finn, a reluctant mentor to the next generation. Very reluctant."— Honest Trailer
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 Rim 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. A follow-up anime series, Pacific Rim: The Black was released on March 4, 2021 by Netflix.
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 that it didn't need a sequel are because the previous film had a good ending where it didn't need nor hint at a sequel because the two main characters closed the breach defeating the Precursors and ending the film on a high note, especially since a major main character of that film died at the end.
- Unlike the first film which was known for its emphasis on violent fight scenes and destruction, this movie has less action scenes and focuses so much on throwing useless plot at the viewer. The first film had a simple story, but what made it so good was that Pacific Rim focused a lot on world building and creating lore for the Kaijū and Jaegers, but offered plenty of epic action.
- This movie just sets up a bland, confusing storyline that leads nowhere because it only wants to sequel bait.
- It did not pretend to make a worthy continuation of the first film (as Guillermo del Toro had planned) but create a cinematic universe, to compete with Marvel or DC Comics, which failed.
- This project was actually a Universal fad, as the real reason for this film's existence was that Universal wanted to strongly develop another film franchise by seeing the box office marketing results of the first film (which had surpassed the box office as the Iron Man 3 or The Hobbit), At the same time they wanted, along with their Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious, and Despicable Me sagas, to get more profit by seeing that several films they produced resulted in financial disappointments as well as criticism.
- Production hell: Originally this sequel was going to follow a script that Guillermo del Toro himself wrote, however, because Guillermo left the project, the script he had written (which respected everything established by the first installment) underwent harsh modifications, completely changing the original the vision that Guillermo had for the second film, in fact, the script was rewritten up to 4 times because the executives and the test audience were not satisfied with the result that the final script provided.
- Speaking of the original script, Jake's character as Amara's, Mako's death, the new generation of Jaegers, Newton's betrayal, and the Jaegers conspiracy, were recycled or rejected ideas that Guillermo del Toro himself discarded for the first film, and the one that he did not intend to use for the second film, but that in the end in the rewriting of the script had to be put in at the last minute, demonstrating a lack of commitment to this sequel.
- In addition to that, according to a Reddit leak, during the production of the film, unlike the first installment where Guillermo del Toro behaved in a humble way with the cast, in this film he had several controversies, where the director Steven S. DeKnight got along very badly with the movie actors, mainly with the actress Rinko Kikuchi, at the same time some actors like Charlie Day or Burn Gorman acted badly due to the tense relationship with Steven.
- Executive Meddling: This film was originally based on being directed and written by Guillermo del Toro, however, Universal Pictures desperately insisted that the sequel come out as quickly as possible, which caused Guillermo to leave the project as the departure of several actors from the first film (which had the objective of returning for this film), at the same time Universal was the main responsible for changing Guillermo's script, in fact, it was Universal's fault for the constant delay and advancement of this film for 2018, to make his competition to Black Panther.
- Corruption in Test Screening: If the bad decisions of the studio and the tense relationship between the director and the actors, this film apparently also suffered from corruption in its test transmissions, in the year 2017 precisely in the month of September, people who participated in the test projections had stated that they had been a disaster, where the public reacted negatively to the film, highlighting the bad performances, scenes lacking in logic, the meaningless story or the bad visual effects, which caused the film to be delayed since its date was the January, but it ended up being delayed to March or May, but in the end, due to decisions by Universal, the film was released in March.
- In fact, this film went through a way where it was supposedly re-recorded up to 2 times, as in its test broadcasts the audience reaction was very negative, causing various things to be removed or filled in from the film.
- Some characters from the previous film are either completely forgotten and no longer exists (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 (Charlie Day's character), the comic relief of the first film, is suddenly changed to becoming an antagonist with no build-up or development, which none of them is helped by his hammy and over-the-top acting. This is just extremely obviously at all. This is another example of pulling a "Scrappy Doo", where a likable character from the source material is made into the villain for no reason other than to piss fans off.
- Excluding Raleigh Becket is not helping since he was the main character of the first film.
- Like with Newt, killing off Mako Mori was very anticlimactic and her death was essentially the whole point of this character returning in this film purely for shock value purposes, making it pointless to even include her at all. Had she appeared for a while and then sacrificed herself to save everyone, like what Stacker Pentecost did in the first film, her death would make more sense.
- The new characters are very forgettable and bland, which received underdeveloped. Especially since one of these characters is the son of Stacker Pentecost, which was never established in the first movie.
- This film, rather than continuing with the personalities that Guillermo del Toro established for his characters, recycles various aspects or attitudes of the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Comics, and the Transformers Universe.
- Being the character of Amara the greatest exponent, since it is a very bad copy and union of Iron Man, Batman, Cyborg, and Sam (From Transformers).
- The same can be said for the character Jules, who is a copy of Michaela (from Transformers) and Black Widow.
- 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.
- This film presents many main characters as secondary characters, which far from attracting attention, the only thing that does is startle the viewer since it is not known who the protagonists are.
- Despite being a sequel, the film contains several contradictions with the first film, for example:
- In the first film in the words of Stacker Pentecost and Raleigh Becker, the construction of a single Jeagers required the support of a large number of resources such as scientists and technicians, however, in this film Amara, a young woman, was able to make a Jaegers and the people they could also make Jaegers.
- In the first movie Stacker Pentecost explains that the two pilots drive a Jeager, they must have an emotional connection otherwise they risk dying, but in this movie, anyone can drive a Jeager.
- In the first movie Mako Mori tells Raleigh Becket that due to how unstable it was to handle a Jeager, the person just using it could die, instead of in this movie the children can handle a Jeager and do not suffer any effect from it.
- In the first one he was able to see the true plan of the Kaijus and was traumatized by the effect of having contact with the Kaijus, however in this film it is explained that he was controlled from the beginning that he had contact, so why did he not sabotage the plan if It was controlled from the start.
- In the first film, it is explained that all the nations of the world had to put aside their differences to be able to do the Jaegers program, but in an insulting way in this film, it is said that only the United States handles this project.
- In one part Amara explains that she graduated and is an expert in fighting as well as in advanced engineering, as if she were Tony Stark, how it was possible for her to have all those skills if she was orphaned or had no money.
- In one part of the movie the boys put on the Jaeger's suits very easily, when in the first movie, he had to have the support of a lot of people, just to put on the suit, otherwise, the Jaegers would be damaged.
- In one part, the Jaegers are easily repaired, as if they were Transformers or the Iron Man Armor when in the first film it required the support of many people to repair just one Jeager.
- When Jake explains that the reason he got kicked off the show was that he wanted to get on even Jaegers and turned it on by accident, in the first movie getting on even Jeager by himself was quite tricky and therefore required the support of many people, to just turn it on, but Jake did it all by himself.
- It is said in the movie that the reason the Kaijus destroyed cities was that they wanted to get to Japan, but because the Kaiju controlled Jaegers were going to Alaska if Japan was supposed to be their destination.
- When the Kaiju controlled Jaegers open the portal, all the characters say that their plan all along was to destroy the earth on a whim, this completely contradicts the first movie, where it was explained that the Kaiju were attacking the Superior Kaiju's orders.
- In the first film, it is explained that Jaegers were unable to carry a weapon as they risked loyally affecting the operators, however, the children are able to let Jaegers handle weapons without suffering consequences. All the operators tell him that the Jaegers used up a lot of energy so the movements that the operators had to make in a fight were quite limited, but in this movie again the children make stupid movements (like the middle finger) and the Jaegers take no damage. It is explained that the Jaegers were able to withstand the crash or impact of a building, but in this movie, the Jaegers are easily destroyed.
- Whenever the cities are destroyed by the Kaiju, it lacks the same impact as whenever cities were destroyed in the previous film.
- Although the visual effects are amazing, there are very marked moments in the film, where the effects of the Kaijus and the Jaegers are similar to those of a PS4 or Xbox 1 video game, at the same time the movement of the Kaijus or the Jaegers look very robotic and stiff to difference from the first movie.
- Speaking of effects there are also moments (mainly at the base) where you can see the green screen or the film set.
- Besides that of effects several of the scenarios used for this film look like cardboard or plastic, being more visible in the fight scene between the Yeagers against the Kaijus and the scene where Newton sends the drones.
- The interactions or chemistry between the characters, whether they are new or old, is completely pathetic as they lack charm and dynamism.
- The film is very saturated, since it has a total of 12 subplots, it does not help at all that none of them are well executed
- Jake Pentecost joins the Jaegers team
- Jake Pentecost befriends Nate Lambert
- Jake's sister's relationship with Mako.
- Liwen Shao takes control of PPDC
- Nate's alleged affair with Jules.
- Newton's betrayal.
- The new generation of young Jaegers.
- The Kaijus' plan to dominate the land.
- The Jaegers conspiracy.
- The plan to stop the Kaijus.
- Amara's past.
- The friendly relationship with Amara and Jake
- The film uses too much overexposure in its dialogues, there are moments in which the characters tell important things for the plot or things that have just happened in an accelerated way, falling into the serious error of "Show don't count".
- At the same time that the film tells terrible dialogues between characters, being the characters of Jake, Nate, and Amara, those who have the most embarrassing dialogues.
- All of the scenes serve no other purpose than to just pad out the runtime so the film would feel longer than it actually is.
- The design of the Jaegers as well as that of the Kaijus, although at first, it is striking and surprising, the truth is that they are not original and reach a certain point pathetic, since most of the designs of the Jaegers are recycled or discarded figures from the first film, the same can be said for the Kaijus that retain various designs of the Kaijus from the first film, with only slight changes or minor variations.
- Although the soundtrack of this film is decent, it is noticeably mediocre or lower compared to the first film, in turn, there are scenes in which there is no background music.
- The acting performances aren't great, mostly with the actors of Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and, Jing Tian.
- A particular moment where the lousy direction and acting of the actors is revealed is the moment when Amara remembers the death of her family, it is supposed to be a sad and hopeful moment, but due to the unnatural or almost feigned acting of John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny as the girl who plays Amara as a child, the moment seems like a parody or in this case a hilarious scene.
- Most of the attempts at comedy try way too hard to be funny but fall flat instead.
- The movie goes from taking itself seriously to becoming goofy and comedic creating confusion in the film's scope.
- Too much time is spent trying to set up a sequel than proceeding with the main story. Speaking of this...
- Sequel baiting: In the pre-credits cutscene, 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.
- Speaking of which, the film did bad enough critically by both fans of the first film and critics, that a third film may never happen, all in favor of the animated TV adaptation, Pacific Rim: The Black on Netflix, which was released in 2021 as it was never resolved what would happened.
- False advertising: In the different Trailers that are distributed for this film, there are several dialogues between the main characters implying that the Kaijus have already invaded the earth, that the Jaegers organization is plotting against the world, and that the Jaegers acquired their own awareness rebelling against humans, all of this never happens in the movie, in fact, the only thing ever mentioned is the Kaijus but in a pathetic way.
- In fact, in all the trailers, as well as the main posters, it is understood that the Jaegers' fights with the Kaijus will be the centerpiece of the film, yet the most publicized fight in the film (which is poorly focused and filmed), lasts approximately 12 to 14 minutes of the 111-minute film.
- Since this film heavily damaged the image of the Pacific Rim franchise, as this film aimed to create a cinematic universe and several television series, but due to mixed reviews and financial disappointment (this film supposedly caused a loss of 120 million), this Cinematic Universe was never born and the sequel that was in the works ended up being canceled.
- In fact, this movie can be considered a racing killer, as this movie was a black mark in the racing of John Boyega, Jing Tian, Cailee Spaeny, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona, Karan Brar, Levi Meaden. , Ivanna Sakhno and, Shyrley Rodríguez, as well as its director Steven S. DeKnight (who has not directed a film since 2018).
- Besides that, this movie was one of the main reasons why Guillermo del Toro left the Pacific Rim franchise.
- The only thing this movie spawned was the Netflix animated series in 2021, which ignores the events of this film.
Good Qualities
- The story or the script has great potential, although the execution failed enormously.
- The action scenes, although less, is decent and fun to watch, like in the previous film.
- The soundtrack, while lower, composed by Lorne Balfe, is good.
- Nice performances from John Boyega, Burn Gorman, and Scott Eastwood.
- The visual effects are amazing, again like the first movie.
- There are some legitimately funny jokes here and there.
- Some of the Kaijū designs are genuinely cool, like the Mega Kaijū.
- The photography is spectacular.
- The design of environments, surroundings and cities look good.
- Decent cinematography in some scenes.
- The different international dubbing that was distributed for the film is a lot of fun.
Reception
Critical response
Pacific Rim Uprising received mixed reviews 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, the returning characters that got ruined, and the underdeveloped new characters, though others praised the visual effects, action scenes, Lorne Balfe's score and performances of Boyega, Eastwood, and Spaeny. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 43% based on 257 reviews and an average rating of 4.99/10. The site's critical consensus 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 thrills that fans of the original will be looking for.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, with PostTrak reporting filmgoers giving it an overall positive score of 76%. 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."
Chris Stuckmann gave this movie a C- grade. Jeremy Jahns gave this movie a T-minus two days, who later included top 9 from Top 10 WORST Movies 2018.
Box office
Pacific Rim Uprising grossed $59.6 million in North America and $230 million internationally. In total, the movie grossed $290.5 million worldwide against its $150 million budget and was declared a box office disappointment by analysts, on top of that, according to some leaks from people who worked on this sequel, the budget was estimated at $150 million it reached $190 or $220 million, added to an additional expense of almost $100 million in advertising or marketing.
The film was supposed to raise $350 millon or $400 millon to breakeven, and $600 millon to be considered a good investment, but it only managed to raise $290.5 million, apparently, this sequel caused a $120 million devaluation Universal Pictures studio, moreover, then its own production house consider it a bad investment and a complete failure since they expected that its box office would be $800 or $900 million.
At the same time, according to a leak from the studio and the main producers of the sale of toys or merchandise related to the film, they had lost large amounts of money, as the public literally "did not buy any of the toys", being a case similar to Godzilla 1998.
The possible third movie?
In October 2017, five months before the film's release, DeKnight stated, "If enough people show up for this, we've already talked about the plot of the third movie and how the ending of the third movie would expand the universe to a star. ... Wars/Star Trek style [franchise or series] where you can go many, many different directions... You can go main canon, you can go spin-offs, you can go one-offs. Yeah, that's the plan.". DeKnight also discussed the possibility of a crossover with the MonsterVerse, as co-writer TS Nowlin is a member of the writers' room.
During the end of 2017, some users asked Cailee Spaeny about this future installment and her character, to which she mentioned that Universal had several future plans that included at least 6 sequels, a spin-off for her character and several television series.
Initial response and discussion of future projects
In that same 2018, given the low box office and the poor reception of the film, several fans, critics and users asked DeKnight about the possibility of making a third part, the same case with his production company Universal, to which in both cases they gave in response "For now we don't have a fixed plan for the third part of Pacific Rim, but don't worry we have in mind to continue with the story", the same thing happened with actors like John Boyega who said he was ready for a third movie for "Travel to the dimension of the Kaijus to face them", in addition to several actors including Scott Eastwood and Cailee Spaeny, who confirmed that the third film was in development.
However, at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, some Reddit users leaked information from the Universal studio where they said that Universal did not know what to do with Pacific Rim, this also coincided with the financial disappointment of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, where Warner stated that the possible crossover with Godzilla has been postponed indefinitely, however several users revealed that this crossover was cancelled, in that same year Burn Gorman and Scott Eastwood were again consulted about the third film and the television series, who confirmed that Universal for now had not contacted them but if they were willing to return, time for the production of the film.
During that time Universal said that the production of the film was about to begin, but again the users leaked information, where they stated that Universal did not have in mind to make a television series or that it was canceled, at the end of 2019 after the poor reception of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Boyega criticized the film and caused controversy for alleged mistreatment by Disney, however, according to film leaks, John Boyega had shocking or erratic behavior during the production of the film , where Disney accused him of defamation.
Pandemic COVID-19 and the alleged resignation of the actors of the sequel
In 2020, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the various millionaire losses caused by the various film production companies, Universal stated that it did not have in mind to show the first script or release a trailer for the third part in that year due to the crisis he was experiencing, but the production would continue, however, given the controversy with John Boyega, where "he was on more than one occasion accusing Disney of sabotaging his career", and Disney "accusing him of being unprofessional and defamatory ", Universal claimed that John Boyega would continue for the sequel, however, in a leak from Universal sources, it was said that the studio was not considering him for a sequel and that they already had an actor to replace him, or that Universal had conflicts with he and fired him before during the premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
With the issue of where John Boyega was supposed to return, Universal also claimed that the cast of the second film would return, however, in a new Reddit post and leaks, it was claimed that John Boyega was either fired or ostracized from the company in turn several actors of the sequel expressed their lack of interest to return, further stating that Universal had not paid them or offered them a lesser amount of money to return for a third installment, which was taken as an affirmation because that trailer that Universal had said earlier in the year, it was never released at the same time some users revealed that the first script for the third movie was unfinished and that the television series or spin-offs did not even have a fixed budget for production, this was also included in Burn Gorman and Scott Eastwood's testimony who said that "to date they have never been called".
Probable Cancellation
In 2021 at the beginning of the year, John Boyega was asked again about the third part, and mentioned that “for now I have no interest in going back now that I work at Warner”, coinciding with the premiere of Godzilla vs. Kong, where the movie was a huge box office success, they told Universal about the crossover, to which they said that Legendary had lost interest in doing a crossover, this also included the opinion of Cailee Spaeny, who said in late July of that year that she was never contacted to reprise her character of Amara and, in her words, "Universal hadn't even started pre-production, hadn't even talked to her about it of a third installment" and in turn said that "Universal to date had not paid him what he promised in the sequel".
At the same time three years after the release of the sequel and the announcement of pre-production, Universal confirmed that production on Pacific Rim 3 had not even started, this also included its director DeKnight, who was asked again about the sequel, to which he mentioned that his contract with Universal had expired a long time ago and he was not called to direct a sequel, he also added that since 2018 he had not directed any other film.
In that same 2021 Guillermo del Toro declares that "I do not plan to return" for a third installment, at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022 Guillermo del Toro published the script he had in mind for this film, stating that it could never be visualized given the decisions of Universal, in turn, Universal stated that the plan to create a Pacific Rim Cinematic Universe would never see the light of day and that the third part would possibly suffer the same fate, and that to date the actors of the film would not return.
Currently this sequel, which aimed to create a new franchise for Universal, was one of the reasons or responsible for the failure of the Pacific Rim franchise, at the same time during the year 2017 where the film was placed on the list of the most anticipated of 2018, as of late 2020 and early 2022, the film is currently on the list the most disappointing movies of 2018 or the decade, one of Universal's biggest flops of the 2010s and of movies that killed franchises.
Videos
Trailers
Reviews and the Top 10
Trivia
- Guillermo del Toro stepped down as the director to direct The Shape of Water (2017), which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- In 2012, prior to the first film's release, del Toro noted that he had ideas for a sequel, noting in 2014 that he had been working on a script with Zak Penn for several months.
- Composer John Paesano was originally slated to be writing the score for the film, replacing the first film's composer Ramin Djawadi. However, in January 2018, it was announced that Paesano had been replaced by Lorne Balfe for unknown reason.
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References
- ↑ Box Office Mojo reported the film's budget to be $150 million. Deadline Hollywood reported the budget to be $155 million but also noted that other analysts marked the budget at $176 million.
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