PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING REVIEWED

“Pacific Rim: Uprising” took a solid 20 minutes to make an impression of me. From that point on, I felt myself readdressing the first film. Was the first movie total Chinese propaganda? I mean, Del Toro loves his monsters and you got way more Kaiju in the first movie. But, the nationalistic military presence was all over the first film too. Be well aware that I’m going to spoil some stuff, so prepare your reading accordingly.

John Boyega is a great actor with a promising future. I buy him as Idris Elba’s son and he is the unquestionable lead of this movie. It’s just that no one else keeps up with Boyega. Charlie Day tries to, but he feels like a Chinese producer’s attempt to stereotype American academics. What was an eccentric in the first film has now become an evil Westerner trying to give the Earth to dark forces. But, wait? Where are the monsters?

You don’t get any quality Kaiju action until the Third Act. The rest is melodramatic posing and government financed Mechas smacking into each other. Almost all of the action takes place in Eastern environments. Honestly, it feels like some sort of battle zone travel guide rather than a film. That is probably my grand takeaway about this movie. It feels like a chapter in a longer TV series ala the Independence Day sequel.

So many plans are talked about onscreen, yet nothing comes together. Kaiju worship is fascinating, but it feels like a device just to get us to what people wanted to see onscreen. Will there be a third movie? We got this one due to China pumping it full of 300 million dollars that it couldn’t find in America. I’d love to see what would happen if the third movie dropped the pretense and just turned into a Gundam monster propaganda piece.

We’re through the looking glass, people. Also, Scott Eastwood continues to be terrible. I thought it was important to include that bit of continued wisdom.

FILM STATS

• 1 hr and 51 mins
• PG-13
• Universal

RELEASE DATE: 3/23/18