EXPLOSIVE: Director Stephen S. DeKnight delivers a colorful, action-packed sequel to Guillermo Del Toro’s more somber 2013 film, Pacific Rim.
By Micah Pierce, Staff Writer.
Pacific Rim Uprising begins ten years after its predecessor with the victory of human over an other-dimensional race called the precursors, who sent the giant monsters (kaiju) to eradicate humankind. The first character introduced is Jake Pentecost, the son of Stacker Pentecost, played by Idris Elba in the original. Jake is the polar opposite of his father, a decorated war hero who gave his life to defeat the kaiju and close the inter-dimensional breach in the Pacific ocean that the kaiju used to enter the Earth. Jake, on the other hand, makes a living selling discarded giant robot (jaeger) parts to criminals. Through a series of events that introduce a resourceful orphan named Amara Namani, a young girl who scavenged enough parts from old jaegers to assemble one of her own, Jake is forced to return to the Pan Pacific Defense Corps (PPDC) at the orders of his adoptive sister, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) who also starred in Pacific Rim. Once Jake has returned to the PPDC, he is reunited with his former partner, Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood) and begins to train the new generation of pilots. Through the machinations of the precursors, the breach is once again opened, kaiju return, and Jake is forced to follow in his father’s footsteps of “canceling the apocalypse.”
Upon its release, DeKnight’s action/sci-fi film, Pacific Rim Uprising, received incredibly mixed reviews. Despite many finding both the scale and intensity of the plentiful giant robot action a positive aspect of the movie, there has been a general consensus that Pacific Rim Uprising lacks the heart and memorability of its predecessor. The sequel hits the same notes as the original in the action aspect, if not surpassing it, but all that action overshadows the failed attempts to give the characters and overall plot importance and depth. However, there’s nothing wrong with this difference between the two films. For many, watching giant robots battling giant monsters is enjoyable regardless of how invested the viewer is in the characters piloting the robots.
On the other hand, Pacific Rim Uprising didn’t go over quite as well with the critics or the audience as the original, earning a measly 43% on Rotten Tomatoes as opposed to Pacific Rim’s 71%. Pacific Rim’s success over its sequel can be attributed to multiple problems in Uprising. First, the lack of depth in its storyline. Even with John Boyega and Cailee Spaeny delivering outstanding performances as Jake Pentecost and Amara Namani, their expertise and charm alone isn’t enough to cover up the blatant lack of character development. When Pacific Rim first came out, the concept of two characters having to link with each other’s minds in order to pilot huge robots was new to audiences. Although Pacific Rim Uprising does deliver some surprising twists and fresh action scenes, the lore itself doesn’t progress very much, and the viewer never truly learns anything new about the monster-ridden universe Pacific Rim Uprising attempts to expand upon. That’s one of the major flaws with sequels, they can never truly be original, as the entire idea of sequels is that they are based on previously established canon. The least that Uprising could do is try to further the lore, but the writers seemed intent on packing as much action as they could into the film. The aesthetic differences between the two films are also heavily contrasted. Del Toro’s film took place primarily at night during intense rainstorms, giving off a more menacing feel to its monsters. In Uprising, the final battle as well as most of the previous ones take place in broad daylight, making the monsters and robots far less imposing. These artistic and story choices create a noticeable rift between the two Pacific Rim movies.