Pacific Rim Uprising – Initial Review *SPOILERS*
Sunday, March 25, 2018
I have so much to say about this movie and yet, I don't quite know how to formulate those thoughts coherently. A lot of disappointment, rage, and confusion is mixing around within me. I'll start off by saying that the first Pacific Rim movie was an instant favorite of mine and I've rewatched it many, many times over the years. I loved the strong and independent Mako Mori and the subtle and successful way great writing blended with imaginative sci-fi. I was, at first, wary of a sequel (how could anything ever be as good as the first) and then hopeful as I convinced myself that "at least they're continuing the series."
For the sake of time I am going to limit this criticism to a list of four reasons Pacific Rim Uprising was such a disappointment:
Lousy writing
The storyline might have been somewhat bearable if the script hadn't have been so cringy, but what do you expect when three of the four writers have no other big-screen writing credits.
Unnecessary teenage characters
The film was so full of missed opportunities such as developing the friendship between Jake and Amara rather than introducing a team of irrelevant teenagers and their petty drama. The only logical reason I can think of for these kids is that they're going to take over this series for either a spin-off tv show of their own or another awful sequel without any of the original characters. Take out these kids and there would have been enough time to build up the storyline to something more than just failed action scene after failed action scene.Newt as the villain
I know that Del Toro had originally planned to make Newt a villain in the first film but had decided against it and I am so glad. His storyline in Uprising was so badly written and forced. This background story is what the entire film relies on and it just makes the whole thing so hard to swallow. There must have been another way to re-introduce the kaiju. AHHHH.
The death of Mako Mori
No. Just no. Not necessary and not okay. This was just a cheap way to get rid of her so that we didn't sit there for the whole moving wondering where she was or why she wasn't relevant to the storyline. They could've just left her out of the movie completely if they didn't want her as the star and that would have been so much better.
I really could go on and on about why I am so disappointed about this movie but I'd just end up making myself even more distraught. This really was just some insane fan-fiction gone wrong and now I need to rewatch the first movie about ten times to erase the insanity from my mind.
I know this post reads like the insane ramblings of a crazy person but this is because I love Pacific Rim SO much and I am also writing this right after returning home from the theater. Maybe in a month or two I'll revisit my thoughts and make a more composed analysis.
Thanks for reading!
– Samantha
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