Was anyone asking for this movie?
Five years after the very disappointing original film by one of my favorite filmmakers, Guillermo del Toro, we get another giant robot versus giant monster adventure, PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING.
John Boyega (Finn in the latest Star Wars trilogy) has plenty of fun as Jake Pentecost, son of the hero of the first film and aimless low-level thief as the film opens.
Having dropped out of pilot school for the giant Jaeger robots that have already saved mankind once (gee, do you think it could happen again??) he's given a last chance to rejoin the good guys.
Their timing is good as another gaggle of ancient monsters rises from the sea to destroy mankind.
Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad) looks so much like his famous Dad now that its scary. He's also grown nicely into plenty of his Dad's on-screen charm. He's the best thing in this noisy, gargantuan misfire.
Guillermo's original tale was a let down for me, but it least it spun a large scale legend of ancient creatures and man rising up to battle them at their own size.
This is just a bone crushingly loud, all too familiar collection of city destruction scenes and paper thin good guys and bad guys.
With a $150 million budget, every frame of it looks fantastic. An international cast guarantees it will play well for the global box office, but its just a hollow echo of the first film, crashing and smashing its way down predictable paths.
Like one of the giant Jaeger machines that takes two pilots to operate, the film seems torn between del Toro's imaginative designs and writer/director Stephen S DeKnight's B-movie execution.
I detest every Transformer movie since the second one. The only positive thing I can say about UPRISING versus those bore-fests is at least it's shorter!
Making the original disappointment looks terrific by comparison, this goofy sequel gets a D.
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