Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)

Sometimes, an artist's enthusiasm for their work is so great, it infuses the project and creates something wonderful.  It doesn't mean the work is good in a critical sense, but the project is so full of the joy the creator experienced bringing it to life that one can't help but smile and enjoy the end result.

Such was the case for me with 2013's Pacific Rim.  As I mentioned in my review of that film, the script is a cliche loaded military action film that one would expect to fall flat.  And it might have, if the robot/monster battles weren't so damn awesome.  The film was little more than director Guillermo del Toro's inner eight year old with a box of cool toys inviting us to play with them.  And for me, as well as my inner eight year old, it worked.

Now we have the followup, Pacific Rim Uprising and, though del Toro is listed as producer and visual design consultant, it is quite evident he's not the one running the show.

And, just so you know, I have a minor SPOILER ahead.  Skip the next four paragraphs if you don't want to know, though you'll see it coming early on in the film.

Maybe if we have the Jaegers fighting three Kaiju at once this time,

that might be enough.  Maybe...

The movie takes place ten years after the events of the first film, with Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) stealing Jaeger parts to sell on the black market.  During one heist, he runs into Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), who's built her own single person Jaeger.

Of course, the authorities realize people running around in Jaegers is not a good idea and the two are arrested by the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps.  Jake's adoptive sister Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), now the PPDC General Secretary, offers to get Jake out of jail if he returns to the Hong Kong Shatterdome as an instructor.  So with Amara in tow, Jake returns to the PPDC, butts heads with his former co-pilot Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood), and starts teaching a bunch of forgetful stereotypes how to be Jaeger pilots.

Wow, it appears all the older Jaeger pilots have

just retired and left the fate of the world to a bunch of new recruits.

We might be screwed.

Meanwhile, Mako is preparing a final assessment on a drone Jaeger program developed by the Shao Corporation, ran by Liwen Shao (Tian Jing).  Working with her is Kaiju junkie Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day), who left the PPDC for the better paying private sector.  Good thing mathematician Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) is still at the Shatterdome, as a rogue Jaeger attacks the PPDC council meeting in Sydney, killing Mako in the process.

The drone program is approved, but Jake and Nate follow Mako's last message to a decommissioned Jaeger facility in Russia and find the rogue Jaeger.  And I'm going to end the summery there, because past this point are some massive spoilers.  Let's just say not all is what it seems with the drone program, which you probably figured out, and eventually, Kaiju mayhem ensues.

Nope, not saying what's happening here.

Except it's not good!

All the elements are in place for a fun, robots verses monsters smackdown.  But film lacks any spark to engage the audience.  The script (by director Steven S. DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder and T. S. Nowlin) might be loaded with stock characters and cliche moments from other military action films, but that isn't the problem.  Rather, part of my issue with the script is how it deviates from the original.

For example, in this film, Drift compatibility is not an issue.  Any two pilots can work in the Drift now, and the cool staff fighting test in the original is never brought up.  Gottlieb and Geiszler's character's aren't as interesting as in the first, which is a shame, as they were two of the most enjoyable characters in the original.  It also doesn't help that original hero Raleigh Becket isn't in the film, and is only mentioned in passing before the climatic battle.  The lack of any explanation for his absence should have been addressed, as his co-pilot Mako is back.

As I mentioned, the cadets are a crew of stereotypes from other movies, much like the first film.  The actors are fine, given the material, but unlike the original, they all just look like a bunch of pretty faces.  To use one example, the Russian Jaeger pilots in the first film look the part, while the Russian character in this one lacks the physical appearance of a badass Russian Jaeger pilot.  Again, that's not to say any of the performances are bad, but the cast just blends together into a sea of attractive young people who are instantly forgettable.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize this room was being used

by the cast of a CW show.

The problem of cast members blending together extends to the Jaegers as well.  In del Toro's film, the brawler looked big and bulky, the acrobatic Jaeger was thin and lithe, and the one piloted by the heroes was the barrel-chested machine you expected to have a big "S" emblem painted on it.  In this film, the only defining characteristics of the Jaegers are the weapons and color schemes, lacking any uniqueness or identifiable abilities based on the Jaeger's physical appearance.

As for the Jaeger weapons, they are pretty nice, with an electronic whip, a mace, and the ever present sword, in addition to missiles and some really big guns.  But again, this army of Jaegers are lacking in the little touches that del Toro brought to the original.  Sure, these new Jaegers still punch their opponents in the face, but cool stuff like the rocket elbow, or the piston-driven fist that delivers a second blow to a Kaiju's nose, are gone.  Such moments added to the "Oh, wow, that's so COOL" factor of the first film and are sorely missed here.

But that's not to say the battle sequences are bad.  Director DeKnight (who worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Netflix's Daredevil) keeps the action visible to the audience.  Unlike another giant robot franchise, the battle sequences are well shot, exciting and allow you to see what is happening, rather than showing a rolling mass of metal and monster in extreme, overly kinetic close up shots.

You know Michael Bay would have shot this scene 

so you'd have no idea what was going on.

It's just too bad this film lacks the childlike joy that infused the original.  Though both have the same shortcomings, del Toro's movie delighted my inner eight year old, allowing me to overlook the weaknesses in the film and just enjoy the spectacle of giant robots beating up giant monsters.  But during Pacific Rim Uprising, he was content to stay in his room, playing with his own action figures.  And without him at my side, the movie was pretty bland.

Race you to the toy shop shelves!