Pacific Rim: Uprising Review

Pacific Rim: Uprising
Director: Steven DeKnight
Cast Headliners: John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day, Scott Eastwood?
Original Release Date: March 23rd, 2018

     Pacific Rim: Uprising presents a conundrum. On one hand, it's great that it exists as it faced numerous delays and behind the scenes changes in what is a fascinating universe of robotic jaegers and monstrous “kaiju”. On the other hand one of those losses along the way was original director and creator Guellirmo Del Toro departing. In this second film, he only has some loose ideas and production whilst Steven Deknight steps into the director chair. So too is just some of the old cast and ideas used and yet like him some totally original concepts as well. The result is... a fun if mixed bag. It shows that sometimes the way things were were for a reason.
Picking up 10 years after humanity repelled the kaiju back to their alien planet with their massive jaeger mecha suits is a world that's changed. Bootleg jaegers run in the streets and police ones aim to stop them. New generations rise from the ruins and latest technology. The main protagonist of this film (with the previous one only getting some all too brief mentions) is in Jake Pentecost(John Boyega) so of the previous film's jaeger Commander Stacker. Through his scavenging (and a goofy typical “nameless minor bad guy gang” chase scene) he meets young inventor Amara (Cailee Spaeny). Their actions land them in trouble with authority figures including the first film's Mako (Rinko Kikuchi).
Therein lies the premise for the film. In a world devoid of kaijus invading a young academy of teens is lead by pilot veterans Jake, Mako, and Nate (Scott Eastwood) to prepare for their possible return. Of course problems arise from mysterious rogue jaegers and other entities lurking out there.
While the “acadamy” shtick is fitting for Del Toro's original anime roots it is also one of the film's biggest flaws. It's not to say every film needs to have experienced warriors in the lead but there's a line between character growth and sheer in-narrative incompetence.  This derives from the weakness of the kid's training plot between the momentary (cool) action. Stereotypes and silliness abound, from Spaeny's Amara having a rivalry with a peer to the other kids existing as one note. Seeing Kirk fail at his tests in Star Trek was fine because he quickly learned how to win the challenge. Here this takes hours with less effectiveness.
It's not as if the other characters are more than a note or two either. Eastwood's Nate is as generic as they can be aside from a bit of his real dad's dry humor. His love interest Jules (Adria Arjona) may have literally less than 4 lines in the film. Kikuchi's Mori is given far less to do in this film.  The cheese is evident in additions in support through inventor Shao (Jing Tian) and commander Mashall Quan(Zhang Tin).
There is highlights however. Boyega's Jake brings the charm and enthusiasm he has as Finn and other such roles in other movies with a bit of extra ham. He's nothing record setting but he has some sense of ingenuity, sincerity, and humor. The surprisingly increased roles come from returners  cane-touting Dr.Herman Gottleib( Burn Gorman) who's fierceness and humor have been dialed up and his peer Dr.Newton Geizler (Charlie Day) who has as well...perhaps too much in what as to be seen firsthand to see why. In the latter's case, it certainly isn't boring but is questionable.
These films aren't about characters and acting though (although the first suffered , if less so, in the same departments). They're about the wild action. That's one thing that DeKnight gets kind of right. While action is sporadic, when it happens its as destructive and large as one would expect. New weaponry and ideas are used in this one for some sweet if at times missed opportunities of  situations. This is aided by a pumping score and pace for when it gets going its brisk. Of paticuliar note is the jaeger vs jaeger duel and the mania of the last act.
The aesthetic takes a turn that some may view as either an improvement or not. The battles take place almost entirely in broad daylight, unlike Del Toro's dark , rain and neon infused scenes . This makes for clearer views and yet also shows of special CGI effect that range from awe-inspiring to undercooked.  These two have some overly ridiculous moments at times.
It's definitely not perfect, and a bit of a bar below the first film, but this movie has fun value. Aside its narrative oddness there's big dumb monster fun inside. Fans of the first may enjoy where the worldbuilding has gone. Hopefully if a 3 ever comes it can learn from the changes of this and focus on the strides. 7.41 out of 10