I don't know if the Box Office results are going to be as pleasant as the movie itself so might as well enjoy the ride while it lasts.
While the original “Pacific Rim” was little more than a
proof of concept production for the high profile niche genres of Japanese
Kaiju, Mecha, and Tokusatsu that have inspired generations of genre fiction
aficionados, synthesized with Western flair, director Guillermo Del Toro’s artistic eye,
stylistic visual sensibilities, and sincere passion for the material and
subjects of its genre went a long way in making it a beloved homage for the
members of its niche fandom and an infectiously refreshing change for casual
viewers.
Without Del Toro’s involvement in telling a surprisingly and
effectively intimate story juxtaposed with the massive apocalyptic stakes
defining much of its storytelling conventions, its sequel, “Pacific Rim:
Uprising,” unfortunately falls into the trap of being bloated by too many
decent individual elements that don’t add up to more than the sum of their
parts.
That’s not to say that the film isn’t good; it’s certainly
serviceable enough as the popcorn entertainment its studio is clearly hoping
for but unfortunately doesn’t quite retain its predecessor’s minimalistic
lesson of doing more with less at your disposal.
Set 10 years after the first film, “Uprising” follows John
Boyega as the never before mentioned son of Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost from
the first movie, Jake. Having spent the years following the Kaiju war, slumming
it in disaster relief zones, salvaging tech from the decommissioned giant
robots, referred to as Jaegers, Jake finds himself reenlisted in the Jaeger program
as probation after running into some legal trouble.
His timing couldn’t be more impeccable as debate over the
program’s fate tragically coincides with a conspiracy that reopens the
dimensional breach that the Kaiju utilized to cross over onto Earth, forcing
him to take command of the program and its trainees to tackle the reemerging
threat to protect the world’s newfound peace once and for all.
Director Steven DeKnight’s capacity for telling relatable
stories with an excellent capacity for world building reminiscent of high
concept genre faire doesn’t quite fully translate to that of a tale that
explicitly identifies with the genre in question but does at least make for
solidly crafted and consistently endearing enough blockbuster entertainment.
Boyega is at his A-game and his early chemistry with recruit
Amara Namani played equally impressively by Cailee Spaeny makes you wonder why
they bothered to team him up with the substantially less interesting but
nonetheless competent Scott Eastwood.
Along with the thread of Amara boot camp-esque adaptation to
pilot cadet lifestyle, Eastwood’s presence kind of hones in on the biggest flaw
of the film; its core components are good but its actual storytelling is
clunky. There are far too many perfunctory characters to allow the better ones
to properly shine and with all of the focus and technique of the movie put into
the action and world building, barring one or two legitimately effective plot
twists, the cast unfortunately feels thinner than ever despite brimming with
charisma.
The bread and butter of “Pacific Rim: Uprising” however is
of course, the battles themselves and while I generally found myself preferring
the unique details put into making the first movie’s battles feel like dueling
natural disasters powered by an actualization of the human will, the film does
deliver.
All of the Jaeger’s have unique capabilities, all of the
monsters have unique designs and no two battles of the film feel the same,
creatively choreographed and displayed crisply for the enjoyment of every
second.
If “Pacific Rim: Uprising” is explicitly guilty of anything,
its delivering an enjoyable film that could have so easily been reworked into a
sleeker, compelling and infinitely greater one. Although it’s impossible to
ignore how easily it could have been improved while watching it, you’d also be
hard pressed to say you’re bored coming out of it if large scale destructive
extravaganza in the form of mechanical armed MMA beat downs are your flavor of
escapism.
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