Going in to Pacific Rim: Uprising, I knew in advance that it wasn't going to be as good as the original Pacific Rim. There was simply no way it possibly could be. And it wasn't. It wasn't even close. I consider the original film a 10/10, and I think this film is lucky to rate a 6/10 from me.
Now keep in mind that 6/10 is still a fundamentally positive score and I think the film is worth seeing because it's often very enjoyable. But it's seriously flawed in many places. The plot is full of holes and wracked with Fridge Logic, most of which I can't mention without covering this review in spoiler tags, and a major subplot is forgotten and left to die once one aspect of it takes over the rest of the story. Mako Mori provides a sterling example of I Let Gwen Stacy Die (happens so early and so obviously it's not even worth spoiler tagging), killed off solely to further Jake's character development. The action scenes aren't nearly as good, neither are the Jaegers designs, and the Kaiju (when they finally show up) are almost completely forgettable compared to the likes of Otachi and Leatherback. There are way too many direct retreads of things from the original movie, like characters walking through a Jaeger hanger naming all the ones that will be relevant later, two of the characters having a short fight when their dislike of each other boils over (only this time gender flipped) and Amara's backstory is basically a discount version of Mako's (and told in almost exactly the same way). And the climax stretched suspension of disbelief far, FAR beyond breaking point, to the point where I spent the last 3 minutes of it saying to myself "that's ridiculous" rather than "that's awesome".
Still, it's enjoyable in a dumb sort of way, the final confrontation brings the Sequel Escalation over the original at least (one of the few flaws in the original was that Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon were basically fodder while this one makes Jaegers other than the new Gypsy actually matter) and there are some good bits outside of the action scenes, such as John Boyega's Jake and his interactions with young Amara, particularly when he talks about his father. I've never been a fan of excusing a bad film just because you can "turn off your brain and enjoy the explosions", but I feel the film is just good enough that with an open mind you can just enjoy it flaws and all. Hopefully the possible 3rd one teased by the Sequel Hook can redeem the series and bring it back up to "great" status again.
Enjoyable, but not a patch on the original.
Going in to Pacific Rim: Uprising, I knew in advance that it wasn't going to be as good as the original Pacific Rim. There was simply no way it possibly could be. And it wasn't. It wasn't even close. I consider the original film a 10/10, and I think this film is lucky to rate a 6/10 from me.
Now keep in mind that 6/10 is still a fundamentally positive score and I think the film is worth seeing because it's often very enjoyable. But it's seriously flawed in many places. The plot is full of holes and wracked with Fridge Logic, most of which I can't mention without covering this review in spoiler tags, and a major subplot is forgotten and left to die once one aspect of it takes over the rest of the story. Mako Mori provides a sterling example of I Let Gwen Stacy Die (happens so early and so obviously it's not even worth spoiler tagging), killed off solely to further Jake's character development. The action scenes aren't nearly as good, neither are the Jaegers designs, and the Kaiju (when they finally show up) are almost completely forgettable compared to the likes of Otachi and Leatherback. There are way too many direct retreads of things from the original movie, like characters walking through a Jaeger hanger naming all the ones that will be relevant later, two of the characters having a short fight when their dislike of each other boils over (only this time gender flipped) and Amara's backstory is basically a discount version of Mako's (and told in almost exactly the same way). And the climax stretched suspension of disbelief far, FAR beyond breaking point, to the point where I spent the last 3 minutes of it saying to myself "that's ridiculous" rather than "that's awesome".
Still, it's enjoyable in a dumb sort of way, the final confrontation brings the Sequel Escalation over the original at least (one of the few flaws in the original was that Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon were basically fodder while this one makes Jaegers other than the new Gypsy actually matter) and there are some good bits outside of the action scenes, such as John Boyega's Jake and his interactions with young Amara, particularly when he talks about his father. I've never been a fan of excusing a bad film just because you can "turn off your brain and enjoy the explosions", but I feel the film is just good enough that with an open mind you can just enjoy it flaws and all. Hopefully the possible 3rd one teased by the Sequel Hook can redeem the series and bring it back up to "great" status again.