Review of Pacific Rim: Uprising

By Dave B.

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018, currently on HBO) takes place 10 years after the original movie. Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), son of the world-famous Kaiju killer and heroic martyr, Stacker Pentecost (played brilliantly in the first film by Idris Elba), is a washed-out former Yeager pilot who steals for a living. When fate places him in the path of orphan prodigy Amara Namani, Jake finds himself back in the Yeager program. When hybrid Kaiju/Yeagers begin spontaneous attacks all over the world, Jake and Amara find themselves as the last line of defense in a new war against the Kaiju menace. 

I loved the first Pacific Rim movie. It was fun, epic, well-acted, and overly dramatic in just the right way. Unfortunately, Uprising falls far short of its predecessor. But then again…so what? If you’re watching one of these movies, you mostly want to see giant robots fighting giant monsters and Uprising doesn’t disappoint in that regard. Yes, the performances are markedly inferior to the first movie. The plot couldn’t be more cookie-cutter. And the movie gets steadily and consistently worse as it progresses. All negatives, I admit. But the fight scenes are fantastic, offering a surprising improvement over the fights in the original (which were badass). 

Sure, the sequel is inferior to the original. And if I had paid money to see this movie in the theater, I’d probably have harsher feelings towards it. But if you go into a sequel expecting it to be better than the original, more likely than not, you’re going to be disappointed. And if you watch a Pacific Rim movie hoping that it will contain some element more appealing than big monster/robot fights and lots of destruction, you’re probably a bit delusional. Pacific Rim: Uprising fails where expected, but delivers where it needs to. For that reason, I’m recommending it to fans of the original and anyone who likes calculating the imaginary property damage costs of disaster movies in their head. Also, it’s not a bad movie to watch while nursing a Sunday morning hangover. 

Rating: 5.5/10