Pacific Rim Uprising

[Q99]

Pacific Rim Uprising is out I have seen it and I enjoyed it a lot!

It's hard to compare to the first which had somewhat different tone, but regardless it was a LOT of fun, had some great action, a number of cool fights, a couple missed opportunities (which, considering the first one, seems like a bit of a traditional at this point ^^), felt like it was part of the same universe, and yea, I wanna see more! On the whole still came across as a labor of love by people who love kaiju and mecha to me, just, well, *different* people who love kaiju and mecha ^^


Now I wouldn't be surprised if not all of you liked it or felt the same, iirc this forum was mixed on the first one, but I'm curious as to people's thoughts.

[FaxModem1]

It was okay. My friend brought me to it because he's a huge giant mecha and Kaiju fan.

The twist on the villain was rather telegraphed, which made it being a 'twist' rather odd.

[Bedlam]

I just got back from it and I wasn't hugely impressed. I can't exactly point at one thing to say what made it fall on it's face but I just didn't like it as much as the original.

[K. A. Pital]

It was a massive failure IMO.

The first film was made good by talented people who had fun and managed to deliver a solid plot working with a silly premise. It joked where needed and was epic where needed.

This film failed at both the script and the execution. Poorly-timed puns were icing on the cake... And the soundtrack... Ouch. After the themes from the first one, which I still have on repeat sometimes in my Ramin Djawadi playlist, it was nothing at all.

[Kingmaker]

I enjoyed it, though not as much as the first one. It wasn't good, but it was mostly what I wanted. I agree that the soundtrack was unbelievably worse (like, I'm legitimately confused as to how they fucked that one up; they could've just recycled the soundtrack from the first and been fine).

They also made the first film's mistake of teasing a bunch of cool mecha and then pushing them aside for the blandest one of the lot.

[Majin Gojira]

Not as good as the first one, but not bad. Above average Kaiju movie overall. Not Great, but fun. Part of it felt like a big budget fan-film, and in some sense it is. And I find nothing wrong with that.

There are, however, 3 flaws that hamper it. One was unavoidable, the other two . . .

1) China. We are only getting this movie because of China. China is funding a lot of this movie. As such, it is heavily influenced by the Chinese. We got big-name Chinese actors in large rolls, we got some thematic points popping up (IE: Working Together For the Greater Good, Western Decadence is Bad, etc). So, it's a thing that must be acknowledged and cannot be ignored.

Spoiler

2) The Fridge. Mako Mori is stuffed in the fridge. At its basic definition, she is killed to lend drama to male characters. It scores strongly on my scale of what a narrative death needs to do to be effective, but it doesn't feel right. She was the breakout character of the first movie. Having her offed as a victim rather than a heroic sacrifice or something else epic rubs me the wrong way. That and China-Japan relations rearing its ugly head. it would have been stronger with a simple change, too (Hug your brother, damn it!). Still, it wasn't as bad as I feared, and that they call back to it before the end makes it so much better.

3) Not Flat, but not that deep. One of the things I love about Pacific Rim is how deep it could get with the characters and lore. This doesn't feel as deep. The leads are sufficiently multilayered, the primary supporting cast is okay, but I didn't feel the same from the minor supporting cast that I felt from the prior film. I mean, we never see the main Jaeger pilots for most of the non-main mechs before they are offed so the cadets we've been following can fill in. And the main culprit of doing this is found in not adequately using the greatest backstory revealing tool ever made: The Drift. If you want backstory, the Drift can reveal it. If the final battle was a bit shorter, and they gave more time to the drift flashes of character, it would have been just that better.

But even though I complain, I'd still rather watch this again than, say, "Terror of Mechagodzilla" or, god help me, Reptilicus without MST3K. It's an above-average Kaiju movie, but just an okay regular movie.

Before I saw it, I was considering not getting the DVD/Blu Ray when it comes out. After seeing it, I'm probably gonna get it.

That and it makes me really want to see Pacific Rim in a Super Robot Wars game. Because I know they'd fix the some of the problems I had with it.

[Q99]

NPR has a fun review


My view is the first one was made by people who love kaiju and robots, while this one was made by different people who love kaiju and robots, and so there's different strengths and weaknesses. Jake's a better protagonist than Raleigh, the side Jaegers get to do more, the first movie has better dramatic moments and did the heavy lifting on worldbuilding.... they aren't the same and one can like one or the other more, but everyone who made both wanted to see robots punching monsters and share their take on that with us.

[mr friendly guy]

Its already made a $150 million according to box office mojo, but it doesn't show the Chinese sales figures, the market its supposed to target.

I thought the first one was ok, with a nice fun premise. The tone of this movie is different according to people here, but for all I know the changes might be something I actually like given what I thought of the first one. I mean the humanity teams up to fight aliens is a nice theme, and it does appeal to me (just think the two Independence day movies). However it needs more than that to work.

So, the more pertinent question is, does it have good mecha vs kaiju scenes? And do you think it will appeal to non geeks (just wondering whether I should bring my gf or my best friend to see it).

[Q99]

Its already made a $150 million according to box office mojo, but it doesn't show the Chinese sales figures, the market its supposed to target.

Yes, but it is out ther and thus probably in the total, so I dunno why it's not listed. Still, reaching budget in first weekened? Nice!

I thought the first one was ok, with a nice fun premise. The tone of this movie is different according to people here, but for all I know the changes might be something I actually like given what I thought of the first one. I mean the humanity teams up to fight aliens is a nice theme, and it does appeal to me (just think the two Independence day movies). However it needs more than that to work.

Depends on what you didn't like on the first one. The world's pretty much already together on this one, though there's some disagreement on how to go forward, with a new competing program in the works.

So, the more pertinent question is, does it have good mecha vs kaiju scenes? And do you think it will appeal to non geeks (just wondering whether I should bring my gf or my best friend to see it).

Yep, it does (also some Jaeger vs Jaeger action), and, well, I'd say it's fairly squarely aimed at the mecha/kaiju fan.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

At least this film's Holdo reveal didn't leave the audience feeling cheated.

[Q99]

At least this film's Holdo reveal didn't leave the audience feeling cheated.

Yea, I thought that reveal worked better. In part because we're more in the dark about Shao, and naturally empathize with Newt.

[mr friendly guy]

I enjoyed it better than the first film. Things to note

1. Its easier to follow the action in this film, because it mainly occurs in the day. Or maybe because its not in 3D. Either way the action scenes look nicer.

2. The Kaiju controlled drones have a mouth which reminds me of Evangelions.

3. At least when the Jaegers are virtually disabled, we aren't treated to pilots getting out and starring at the big arse kaiju which I felt was anti climatic. When the Jaegers are knocked down, they managed to get a last shot in which takes out an enemy.

4. The reveal was better rather than the obvious person who was supposed to be the bad guy.

5. The drone tech could have potential for a third movie. Especially when we might be going in after the Precursors. Imagine the pilot from their safety piloting drones and making headway, only to have the precursors use a counterstroke and jam our transmissions. Then the pilot actually has to take the Jaeger right into the Precursor's homeworld.

[Q99]

I imagine after this, they're never going to go to *only* drones. What I think would be cool is Drones supporting the main fleet.

[wautd]

I enjoyed the first one and I'll probably wath the second one when it's ever gets aired on TV but I don't see myself running to the cinema for it.

Meanwile, I've heard about the existance of the, likely glorious, Atlantic Rim movies

[Q99]

I enjoyed the first one and I'll probably wath the second one when it's ever gets aired on TV but I don't see myself running to the cinema for it.

Meanwile, I've heard about the existance of the, likely glorious, Atlantic Rim movies

That reminds me just how few live action giant robot movies there are.
The Pacific Rim flicks. The Atlantic Rim flicks. The Power Rangers flicks. Robot Jox/Robot Wars. The Transformers movies. The Mechagodzilla movies. G-Savior. That is it.