I really enjoyed the first Pacific Rim movie and looked forward to seeing the new sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising. Giant creatures threaten the Earth once again and our only hope are giant robots piloted by humans. One is played by John Boyega, (ex-storm trooper Fiin from Star Wars: The Last Jedi) who is a pilot that struggles more with himself than with the monster threat. In addition to Scott Eastwood, (who sounds so much like his dad Clint), the film stars plenty of young actors including Cailee Spaeny, and brings back Charlie Day from the first film. The first was released in 2013, was written and directed by recent Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro. He did neither task for this film and it did not take long to realize this one had a different creative team, budget, and direction. Gone is the epic scale of how huge the combatants are, replaced by the less breath taking, rapidly moving almost human sized looking, (more Power Ranger than Godzilla). The impending doom and terror expressed by actors are replaced by more uses of the computer animated running crowds wiped out by other cgi elements. Filmed mostly in Australia, PR:Uprising was enjoyable for the fight scenes (they are the reason I went to see this), the robot designs were really cool (although they feel out of place in this franchise and I wish they spent more time designing the creatures), and I look forward to seeing Boyega in more films, (and not just in the Star Wars universe). Steven S. DeKnight makes his feature directing debut after working as a writer, producer, and director on Daredevil, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Smallville, and Angel. Producer and star John Boyega was recently in Detroit with Anthony Mackie, Scott Eastwood was in The Fate of the Furious, and Charlie Day was in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

IMDB

2018, PG, 1h 51m