Film Review: Pacific Rim: Uprising

To say Pacific Rim: Uprising is nowhere near as good as the first one is a disappointment, but it’s not a particularly surprising revelation. The main reason the first one worked as well as it did was because of the artistry that Guillermo del Toro was able to add to the film with details sprinkled throughout that informed the world and the atmosphere. With Uprising, not only is Guillermo del Toro out of the picture (only serving as a Producer and “visual consultant,” but so is the original screenwriter, Travis Beacham. In their place is Steven S. DeKnight, who is both the director and co-writer, which he shares credit with three other writers (Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, and T.S. Nowlin).

The major changes in creatives really shows. Instead of the dark, rainy, gothic, neon infused, art deco-esque design and look are mostly gone in favor of bright colors, and extensive use of daylight sequences. Instead of the awe-inspiring staging, and slow, lumbering brawls during the action sequences, we have a fluid, constantly moving camera, and fast paced fights with mostly wide shots. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the changes in aesthetic, but the ones made here don’t add to the experience as much as it takes away, especially in giving the film a distinctive identity. The craft here lacks a human touch, feeling like the ideas of the story were placed into some kind of machine so a four-quadrant blockbuster can come out ready to go.

The film is especially plot heavy, cramming a lot of new information within its thankfully under-two-hour runtime. Exposition dumps are placed throughout, not just to keep the audience caught up in the story developments, but even in a lot of the character building moments. We’re told about many of the characters, but we’re never able to really get their essence beyond cinematic shorthands. The characters in the first film are also broad, but the actors were at least allowed to breathe, and the filmmakers knew how to communicate those characters through both dialogue and action. It also helps that most of the cast was made up of character actors who are able to make the most out of little material while this film rests on the shoulders of a very young crop of actors, most of whom don’t have the charm, at least not yet, to carry the film. Thankfully the two who do take center stage, John Boyega and Cailee Spaeny, do have enough of a presence to make the story have a sense of stakes, but even for some, it might be a bit of an endurance test.

The few returning characters we do get are not really given much to do except for one major exception with Charlie Day’s character, Dr. Newton Geiszler, who takes a turn that might be the point where you know for sure whether you’re going with it, or you’re tapping out. I was willing to go with it because it at least felt like the one aspect of the story that seemed genuinely fun and unexpected. Though, if you end up feeling otherwise, I wouldn’t blame you. In fact, where his character eventually ends up does revert an otherwise weirdly compelling story choice back into generic and uninspired at the very end. If you were a fan of Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), then prepare to be disappointed. In fact, the only returning character who seems to come out of this unscathed is Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman). Even Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost, who doesn’t appear in the film is somehow made to look retroactively worse, if only because he never once mentioned the existence of a son who is played here by John Boyega.

If you enjoyed Pacific Rim because of the details and craftsmanship Guillermo del Toro was able to place within his love letter to kaijus, mechas, and anime, then Uprising won’t work for you. However, while it is a significant drop in quality, there’s still a broad, if superficial, appeal to a more younger audience that might latch onto the new, young characters more than the adults, and the fast paced action does have a very overt Saturday morning cartoon quality that they might find enjoyment in, especially if they have not been exposed to the kind of work that influenced these films. It’s not what most audiences have wanted, but it is ultimately harmless. The real disappointment comes from the fact that a film that almost didn’t happen feels no different from a franchise installment that is made out of pure obligation.