Review: PACIFIC RIM UPRISING - Just Sit Back, Relax, and Enjoy The Ride!
Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim May have not received the greatest critical acclaim, but boy... it sure was a fun movie! I was excited to hear we were going to get a sequel and that it would be directed by Daredevil writer and showrunner Steven S. DeKnight. Going into the movie, my expectations were that I hoped it would at least be as good as the first one and it definitely delivered on that! In fact, I think this second film is actually even more fun than the first one.
Look, you know what you are getting yourself into when you go to watch a movie like this. It’s giant robots battling other giant robots and humongous Kaiju creatures! This isn’t a prestigious Hollywood film out for awards, and the movie definitely has its issues, but lack of fun isn't one of them. The movie is filled with certain problems that will be easy for film critics to tear apart if they want to, but it doesn’t stop Pacific Rim Uprising from being an absolute blast! Any thoughts of wanting to criticize the movie just melted away as I watched these giant robot Jeager’s beat the living crap out of each other in the film.
That’s not all the movie is, though. The story is actually pretty good! It’s a simple story with a few fun twists and turns that you may or may not see coming, but that story is executed in awesome fashion.
I won’t get into any of the major plot details of the story, but it centers on John Boyega's character Jake Pentecost, so of Edris Elba's Stacker Pentecost. Jake finds himself in a situation where he is forced back into the Jaeger pilot program after a life of partying and crime, trying to stay out of the shadow of his father. Along the way, he befriends a street-smart young girl who is living on her own and building herself a jaeger in case the Kaiju come back. She ends up entering a Jaeger training program that Jake reluctantly has to teach with his old partner Nate Lambert played by Scott Eastwood. The big problems begin when those two characters go off on a simple assignment piloting the Gypsy Avenger Jaeger. While out on that assignment a mysterious Jaeger comes out of nowhere with no warning and brutally attacks them. This new Jaeger is wicked powerful and while trying to figure out what is going on with this thing and where it came from, the shit hits the fan and things then escalate into all-out war.
I would say that the movie is a bit more kid-friendly than the first film because there are a few new younger characters this time around, but it didn’t ruin the experience for me because the story was fun and I know my own kids will enjoy it a lot more, which is fine by me! Kids both big and small are gonna love this movie. It just has a good mix of silly humor and badass robot action!
As far as giant robot action films go, this movie is everything you want from those kinds of films! If you like what you saw in the trailers for Pacific Rim Uprising, you’ll most likely enjoy it. If you didn’t like the trailers or if you didn’t care for the first movie, you probably won’t like it.
Like the first movie, the sequel made me feel like a kid again. These are the kind of films I would have loved to have seen when I was growing up! Instead, I got movies like the 1989 film Robot Jox, which I still thought was awesome when I first saw it! So at least I get to enjoy this now as an adult with my own kids.
Just go seeing Pacific Rim Uprising! Leave all common sense at the door sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!
