Pacific Rim: Uprising

Ever since i was a child, i loved watching anime films. And there was so much to check out, since in the UK you could get a lot released on VHS. So my friend Anders used to order anime VHS videos, in all kinds of categories. Most of them had monsters, lots of violence, martial arts, basically everything you wanted. But i remember one favourite that i used to watch over and over again. The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor, is a Japanese anime series, loosely based on the Yoshiki Takaya´s Manga. What i loved about Guyver, was that he transformed from being a human, into this Alien designed soldier, fighting monsters. It was fast, brutal and well made. I am not sure if you remember, but Mark Hamill ( Star Wars ) actually had the lead role in the full feature film adaptation of Guyver, in a film released in 1991. A film i have seen, but barely remember. A sequel was also released that i did not even see. The concept of monsters fighting have been seen before in many films, in very different styles. But in the year of 2013, legendary director Guillermo Del Toro released his epic sci fi action film Pacific Rim. I remember the first time i saw this film in the cinema, i fell in love right away. Massive robots, controlled by humans, fight against sea monsters called Kaiju. The CGI looks fantastic, the acting is really good, and the cinematography by Guillermo Navarro looks gorgeous. Pacific Rim have everything you could wish for, if you grew up watching Guyver like me. Those epic battles, with really powerful acting performances, made this film unique. Unfortunately, the film did not do as well as expected at the box office. Why ? I think people should have given this film a chance in cinemas. At least you can enjoy the film on DVD or Blu Ray. I suggest you get the Blu Ray with some nice special features. There were rumors later on about a sequel, but it seemed that director Guillermo Del Toro was not going to direct, so instead a new director named Steve S. DeKnight was chosen to direct. With a lot of fans excited about a new sequel, is this a worthy film to the epic action movie, or is Pacific Rim: Uprising a film that never should have been made at all ?

Ten years have passed since the Battle of the Breach. Former Jaeger pilot Jake Pentecost ( John Boyega, son of Kaiju War hero Stacker Pentecost ( Idris Elba ), is making a living stealing and selling Jaeger parts in the black market of Los Angeles area. He tracks parts of a disabled Jaeger´s power core to a secret workshop. Here he finds Jaeger enthusiast Amara Namani ( Cailee Spaeny ). Suddenly they are arrested by the PPDC ( Pan-Pacific Defence Corps ). PPDC General Secretary Mako Mori ( Rinko Kikuchi gives Jake a choice between going to prison, or return as a PPDC constructor with Amara as his recruit. As Jake arrives to China, Jake starts training Jaeger program cadets with his estranged former co-pilot Nate Lambert ( Scott Eastwood ). Jake finds out that the threatened by Shao Corporation´s drone program, wich offers to mass produce Kaiju-Jaeger hybrid drones developed by Liwen Shao ( Jing Tian ) and Dr. Newton Geiszler ( Charlie Day ). When Mako is killed by rouge Jaeger Obsidian Fury, PPDC decides to autherize the drone project and order their immediate deployment. But bigger problems are becoming very clear, when three powerful Kaijus are heading towards Mount Fuji. All the Jaeger pilots are needed, to win the war against the Kaijus.

In my personal opinion, the first Pacific Rim movie is one of the best science fiction action films in a very long time. You had massive robots fighting monsters, that looked fantastic. So my expectations for this sequel had mixed feelings, because i felt that it would not be easy making a sequel to such a wonderful film. Now after seeing this sequel in cinema, i have some positive things to say, but also some negative thoughts. Let´s start with the negative. Some of the characters in this film are not very good, for different reasons. In the first film, you felt that they had the right characters who had chemistry on screen. In this sequel, it becomes more clear that it does not work as well as the first film. It feels like some of the characters are just thrown in here to control robots, but they don´t get many good dialogues. The ending felt a little bit too easy. Remember the ending in the first film, that left such a powerful impact ? Don´t expect the same feeling with this sequel. Let´s get to the positive now. The design of the robots looks pretty good ( except for a few details ), and you can have fun with all of these robots fighting against monsters. The CGI also looks good for the most part, and this is important when you have big actions scenes. Actor Cailey Spaeny is actually good as the character Amara Namani, a tough girl that won´t let anyone get in her way. This is exactly what a film like this needs, a strong female character. Lead actor John Boyega is also good here, as the character Jake Pentecost. It is fun to see Scott Eastwood here in the role as Nate Lambert, even if i wish he would have been even more rough. It could not have been easy for director Steven S. DeKnight to direct this film, since this is his directorial debut full feature film. But i have to say, since this is his first full feature film, this is a pretty good start. He is especially good with the technical action scenes, this is where his biggest strength shows his potential. Pacific Rim: Uprising is a fun action film, if you just want to see robots fight against monsters. But i guarantee that you might be a little bit disappointed about this sequel, because it is not as majestic and fantastic looking as the first film. If you can accept this, i still think you might have fun in the cinema seat. After all, the remake of Kurt Russel´s classic Overboard is on the way to cinemas with Anna Faris. This is clearly a sign why you should pay for a ticket to Pacific Rim 2.

Rating: DDD