With almost a full year of build-up, Pacific Rim Uprising finally breached theaters to give us giant robot saviors theaters (in most of the world) have been missing. The original film was packed full of camp, unbridled bravado, shinny graphics, international appeal, and micro characterization that had fans digging into every nook and cranny of their origin, and in the case of tumblr, creating their own backstory, ships, and comics. With such a deep fanbase, Uprising had a ton of lifting to do, and one could only hope that a brand new generation of Jaegers and Monsters would be up for the job. And it is with that sentiment that I am sorry to inform you, the reader, that this film wasn’t quite up to the job.

By the time I was settled into my seat, having just barely made it on time for the 45 minutes of previews, I have to admit that recalling the trailers for Uprising left me feeling a bit cold. Previously directed by the 2017 Academy Award Winning Guillermo del Toro, Uprising is handed off to Steven S. DeKnight, a man of some television prestige, producing and directing hits like Netflix’s Daredevil, Smallville, Angel, and Dollhouse. All of which basically tells me this man knows the difference between camp film making and the Christopher Nolan-esq realism cliche action is known for these days. From the outset of the outstanding and unique Universal Studios logo (and I feel I needed to mention this, having taken the time to scribble it onto my notepad in the dark), I had a good feeling about the film. Just as the original Pacific Rim initiated us into the world of Jaeger and Kaiju, this film takes just a moment to catch us up on the 10 years that have passed between then and Uprising. Sadly, this turned out to be one of the brightest marks of the film, especially compared to its quick and succinct predecessor. Starting with a the military wash-out Jake Pentacost (John Boyega), son of Stacker Pentacost (Idris Elba), we are set on a crash course for life in the sequel, taking a prompt spill into Amara Nimani (newcomer Cailee Spaeny), a young girl hellbent on building her own Jaeger. The chemistry between Jake and Amara instantly feels of Senpai and Kohai, Senior and Junior, and is the setup for the entire film. You really get the sense that they spent a large amount of planning on each characters entrance, including other aspiring Jaeger pilots Suresh (Karan Brar), Jinhai (Wesley Wong), Viktoria (Ivanna Sakhno), Ryoichi (Mackenyu), Meilin (Lily Ji), Reneta (Shyrley Rodriguez), Tahima (Rahart Adams), and Ilya (Levi Meaden). Other items of note are a pretty solid soundtrack and Newton’s (Charlie Day) chinese.

After our story is set up, the film takes a strange left turn. With the huge list of characters mentioned, it decidedly makes this much more of a character piece, giving each actor a chance to deliver something. In doing so, they sacrifice what really drew and built their audience in the first place, Big Fucking Robots Fighting Huge Fucking Monsters. The film balances so much on the story end of the screenplay that they sacrifice the screen time of the main attraction. And this isn’t to say the fights aren’t good, because they are quite enjoyable, but in the previous film we not only got to see fights, but Kaiju getting sliced, diced, drifted with, and sold as viagra. Basically the film becomes just another sci-fi, action cliche in a lot of ways. Where it does shine is in the broad stokes. The cast is amazingly diverse, it still has most of the settings and backdrops made to feel tangible and real, and there is an impression that the world really has moved on from the Kaiju attacks from years prior. The last big swing to miss is the lack of Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), the lead actress and favorite from the first film. While she does play an important part, she is mostly background noise, which is sad because her creation was so well done.

Pacific Rim Uprising ends up delivering some thrills and an eclectic cast, but turns its back on its very simple roots. Without evolving into something grander, it laterals the ball into well known territory, making it a bit less memorable. Boyega delivers a fun lead, but he wasn’t given anything of substance to really branch out with. For his first film, I think director DeKnight just wanted to please the pockets of his executive overlords. In the end, I think this film will land solidly with most viewers, but its gonna leave you wishing you had gone for the buffet instead of just getting the single serving.

~* 7.5/10 *~