Oceans of fun in solid sequel
Pacific Rim: Uprising (12A)
The first Pacific Rim movie didn’t make much of a positive impression on critics or the box office back in 2013 – but I was a huge fan.
The clash between giant, human-operated robots and Godzilla-scale monsters was another creative triumph from Guillermo del Toro.
Anticipation levels for this sequel were tempered by many, including myself after I discovered original stars Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba were conspicuous by their absence, while del Toro had departed the director’s chair.
Instead Steven S. DeKnight makes his big-screen bow behind the camera following stints on TV shows Angel, Smallville and, most recently, Daredevil.
The Jaegers (robots) and Kaiju (monsters) are back, the former this time being led by John Boyega’s Jake Pentecost, son of Elba’s character from the first flick.
Forget all of the grandiose special effects – which are impressive, albeit a little more videogamey that those in its predecessor – Londoner Boyega is Uprising’s ace in the hole.
After becoming a household name as a result of his already iconic turns as Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy, the 26-year-old proves he can carry a blockbuster movie on his shoulders with a charismatic leading-man turn.
Chinese actress Tian Jing (Liwen Shao) is a blast too as a straight-talking company woman, while not every aspect of the first film is lost with Rinko Kikuchi (Mako), Charlie Day (Dr Geiszler) and Burn Gorman (Dr Gottlieb) making welcome returns.
But where del Toro’s movie had heart and depth to go along with its city-smashing madness, Uprising’s story – penned by DeKnight and three other writers – doesn’t amount to much beyond a “let’s go to war” mindset.
The training of a younger generation of recruits is an overdone recent blockbuster trope and the intriguing prospect of human involvement in the Kaiju resurfacing isn’t blessed with the most effective pay-off.
Ultimately, however, a lot of people will flock to see Uprising for its robot-on-monster combat and, for the most part, DeKnight delivers.
The globe-trotting element allows for the battles to play out in a series of diverse environments, with colour palettes constantly Jake prepares for battle changing; unlike its predecessor, the conflict is mostly bathed in sunshine this time around.
For a brief moment I wondered if a trip to Tokyo would make my inner-monster movie fanboy erupt with an appearance from Godzilla himself, but it wasn’t to be.
Maybe in the sequel, as it becomes clear that the filmmakers view this as the second in a planned trilogy.
Whether we get as far as Pacific Rim 3 will probably depend on the box office numbers; and you could do worse than contribute to this target by spending your hard-earned cash on this entertaining followup that, for all its flaws, serves up a thick slice of spectacle.