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‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’: Generic Popcorn Spiller
by Sandra Olmsted
Although the first installment in this franchise benefitted from having Guillermo del Toro insert his delicious adroitness for monsters into the original, in this new film, director Steven S. DeKnight, can only mimic del Toro’s style occasionally. In Pacific Rim: Uprising, the biggest action scenes, which are all computer generated, occur not in del Toro’s rain-soaked nightscapes, but broad daylight, which makes the monsters less scary. The film does have some good young actors who are playing their hearts out despite the lackluster script and dialogue. The characters are at least worth rooting for, and there’s a surprising plot twist that is pleasurable enough.
Jake Pentecost (John Boyega, who also plays Finn in the Star Wars franchise) has left the Pan Pacific Defense Force Academy and his career as a Jaeger pilot. Instead, he parties and steals parts for criminals intent on building their own personal Jaegers. When a deal goes bad, Jake meets his match in Amara (Cailee Spaeny), a teenage orphan who has built a Jaeger, named Scrapper, from the same scavenged parts Jake is after. When she powers Scapper up, the PPDF sends a real Jaeger to stop her unauthorized Jaeger.
While jail should await both Jake and Amara, Jake’s family connections to his deceased hero father and his adopted sister Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), who is now in a position of power, saves them both and Scrapper. Jake must resume his position at PPDF’s training facility, and Amara becomes a cadet who must learn to pilot real Jaegers. Meanwhile, the Shao Corporation, which is owned Liwen Shao (Tian Jing), wants to deploy remote-control, drone Jaegers developed by her smarmy R&D guy Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day). When the kaiju return, will the drones fight as well as the human powered Jaegars? Is there a sinister motive to deployment of the drone Jaegers?
The kaijus and Jaegers bathed in daylight look cartoonish, and, without del Toro’s political subtext, Pacific Rim: Uprising is geared to a younger, less cerebral audience. Spaeny acts her heart out, making her Amara a very sympathetic character. Boyega turns in a solid performance and adds nuance to the otherwise weak script. DeKnight throws out the first pitch in the summer action movie competition with thrilling ride and popcorn spiller — for the right audience. In theaters now, Pacific Rim: Uprising, a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and some language and runs a longish 111minutes.
