*Originally written September 21st*
It's pretty impressive we actually got a sequel to Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim. It was a genuinely exciting and original giant monsters vs giant robots movie that was dumb, but it fully embraced it to deliver one of the most visually interesting and gorgeous blockbusters in years. One I need to revisit soon on 4K.
This sequel is nothing but a colossal disappointment, while the first was a breath of fresh air, Uprising feels like the dumbed down, expensive backdoor pilot to a Sci-Fi Channel TV show that has more in common with Michael Bay's Transformers than Del Toro's original. I saw this in the theatres and utterly hated it, I then decided to give it a second chance on 4K as the steelbook was on sale at work. I instantly regret it.
Everything about Uprising is just appalling. The first didn't exactly shine in the character department. Charlie Hunham was a bit bland, but he was a fine enough lead, so it's so disappointing to see him not return. He's at least replaced by a John Boyega, who is trying his best, but his character is written to be such an annoying douchebag. Part of me does appreciate at least making Boyega the son of Idris Elba's character from the first, but he carries none of his charisma, and his attempt at a speech at the end is nothing less than pitiful compared to Elba's "Cancelling the apocalypse" speech from the first.
Since Del Toro decided not to return in order to focus on The Shape of Water (An incredibly wise decision), he is instead replaced by Steven S. DeKnight, a man who had yet to direct an actual film. He'd only previously worked on television and it shows. His direction is a jumbled mess. None of the action scenes are fun to watch or look at, all the Jaigers and monsters feel floaty and weightless. I know they had to dial the budget back a little, but there was no excuse for just how cheap this felt at times. It does at least look gorgeous on 4K, as I would expect from a huge-budgeted Hollywood film, but the cinematography just feels very televisual compared to the first.
A few characters from the first do return though, and they are pretty much universally awful. Burn Gorman is horrifically over the top, I don't remember him much from the first, but I highly doubt he was this scatty, erratic and over the top in it. Charlie Day is also an actor I love, but again, like Gorman, his role is ludicrously over the top and annoying, and riddled by awful and weird character decisions that feel remarkably dumb.
There are also some new characters that just don't work either. Hollywood really needs to stop trying to make Scott Eastwood a thing, he does not carry any of the charisma or presence his father has, he feels like one of the forgotten Hemsworth brothers no one wants to see in anything. Please, stop. Since the first Pacific Rim made most of its money in China, there's that cynical feeling that Hollywood added a bunch of Chinese actors in order to pander to this audience and rake in more money. Think Independence Day: Resurgence.
I'd say one of the biggest problems of Uprising is the writing. Nothing has any weight to it. It takes place about a decade after the first and civilisation has more or less moved on, with some places feeling like dystopian wastelands that Boyega lives in. They really fail to do anything interesting with that. There was potential to explore this post Pacific Rim world, but they just brush over it very quickly in order to get on with the insanely boring plot. Which is exactly what you'd expect and carries no surprises. I didn't even mention the painful MCU style comedy that just makes you cringe and roll your eyes rather than laugh.
Fans spent years pining for a sequel to Pacific Rim, and this is what they got, an insulting, poorly directed, scripted and boring mess that made me wish they hadn't bothered. They end Uprising with sequel bait, but I just can't imagine that will ever come to fruition after this mess.
2/10 Dans
Pacific Rim: Uprising is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD now in the UK. With a 4K Steelbook available from HMV
Watch the trailer below:
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