Movie Review: Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) co-written and directed by Steven DeKnight

It's ten years after the events of the first movie and Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) is living a wheeler-dealer lifestyle. His dad was the big hero the first time around, giving great speeches and sacrificing himself for the world. Jake is not so great a man. He winds up with a young idealistic girl named Amara (Calliee Sapeny) who's built her own small Jaeger (that's the name for the giant robots) to get ready if the Kaiju (that's the name for the giant monsters) ever return. Personal Jaegers are illegal and they both get tossed in jail. Jake's sister bails them out, only if they join up with a new Jaeger program. That offer seems better than serving time. They head off to a Jaeger base to get trained for any coming problems. And problems definitely come when a Chinese company gets permission to build remotely-piloted Jaegers, putting Jake and his crew in career jeopardy. When the Jaegers go rogue, they also face physical jeopardy.

The movie lopes along at a good pace, not worrying too much about the details. Even though they try to go bigger than the first movie, this one is not as compelling or as exciting. The mythology is developed a little bit and the fun scientists characters from the first film are back and play major roles. The main focus is on telling a fun story, which they deliver on. The actors are good and the fight scenes are entertaining if not as imaginative as the first film.

Mildly recommended--this is really for Pacific Rim fans.