Review by An Honest Fangirl
This review contains no spoilers.
The core of this franchise's appeal, for me at least, is watching giant robots fight giant monsters. The mere spectacle of it is enough to make me giddy. That carries through here as well. I spent most of the fight scenes with a giant grin on my face as my friends cackled in glee. (I'm sure we were annoying to our fellow moviegoers. Oops.)
All of the new jaeger designs were unique and a lot of fun to look at, with Saber Athena being a personal favorite. Of course, the kaiju were fantastic, especially the final one. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough of them. I can't believe that I am actually saying this, but this movie had too much plot and not enough vaguely mindless action scenes.
There is a conspiracy theory at the center of Pacific Rim: Uprising, and while it introduces new and interesting ideas to the franchise, the execution is flawed and riddled with a few plot holes that are large enough to pilot a jaeger through. I will say, though, that the identity of the mastermind did surprise me. Looking back on it, there were plenty of signs pointing to the real perpetrator, but I had ignored them in favor of the red herrings.
The actors do the best they can, but only John Boyega really shines. His scenes are consistently the better ones, and he elevates whoever is currently sharing the screen with him. I really liked the dynamics that he had with both Scott Eastwood's Nate and Cailee Spaeny's Amara. Charlie Day was incredibly campy and over the top, but it was obvious that he was having a ton of fun with it. There were a couple of really quick moments with him that were some of my favorite in the movie. His arch was properly the only one that made logical sense following the events of the first movie.
Besides these few exceptions, all of the other characters kind of fade into the background. Not enough attention is paid to the batch of new recruits for any of them, besides Amara, to make much of an impression. Mako's return in honestly wasted, and there's a female mechanic who is on screen for all of two minutes and is only there for the two male leads to make flirtatious comments towards and about.
And yet.... and yet, I still saw it twice in theaters. If you can turn off you mind and not worry about the details, then this is a pretty fun popcorn movie. It never reaches the same heights of the original, but it's definitely an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.
Random Thoughts
Holy Property Damage, Batman! Seriously...
Raleigh, from the first movie, gets a very brief mention, but otherwise there's no word on where he is or what he's doing.
There was some really strange editing at the end there. Not only was there an abrupt and sudden cut to the end title card, but it was immediately followed by what felt like an end-credits scene. Before the credits. And then immediately followed by another end title card. It was so weird.
If you enjoyed the first movie, then you'll probably like this one as well, especially if you properly manage your expectations. Otherwise, there's honestly nothing here that will sway you into changing your mind.
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An Honest Fangirl loves superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, and really bad horror movies.
An Honest Fangirl loves superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, and really bad horror movies.
I can't believe that I am actually saying this, but this movie had too much plot and not enough vaguely mindless action scenes.
ReplyDeleteLol, Fangirl. I bet I'll get around to this one, but probably at home. :)