Thefanboyseo.com delivers it’s Pacific Rim review from EIC Earl Maghirang. The movie stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and more. Directed by Steven S. DeKnight. Opens March 31.

I loved this movie and while I was initially scared that I won’t like it, I’m happy to report that I actually loved the sequel. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be great. Nor does it hit the same level as Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim”. It was it’s own creature; sort of how one anime series gets a different animation studio and it changes everything. But we’ll get to that later.

Pacific Rim Uprising Review – Cast

Most of the cast were good and seeing them working with new ones fills me with joy that this could be a franchise that will go well beyond a trilogy (if they play their cards right anyway). John Boyega’s Jake Pentecost is at times formulaic, he’s strides between reluctant hero to witty arsehole and its just confusing. Cringey is also how I describe him whenever he oogles Scott Eastwood’s character; like how he refers to the man as “sexy and goodlooking”. It’s not about the man-crushing, that’s perfectly fine, its the number of times you do it to elicit a laugh or two.

John Boyega – United International Pictures

If there’s anyway I can describe Scott Eastwood‘s performance here in this Pacific Rim Uprising review, its that we found our new Captain America. It’s prety much Captain America taking control of a jaeger and kicking kaiju ass.

Charlie Day was wonderful here. I don’t know where they got that notion that he acted so bad in the movie, I found his character Newt pretty good. Especially towards the end. And he’s also involved in setting up a third movie.

Pacific Rim Uprising Review – Plot

As much as I want to cheer for the plot, I can’t fully cheer for it. Because it’s got plotholes the size of the Breach. Then again, the film’s still fun, it still managed to get the final solution right despite using different elements within the formula.

There was also a momentary lapse in the film’s story that made me do a massive facepalm and without spoiling it, it involves a dramatic moment which could have been easily solved with something that was used by Gipsy Avenger a few minutes prior. It was never implied that whatever I’m talking about needed a charge so why not use that?

I like the fresh things they added to both the jaegers and the kaijus in the movie. Sure they still cling to what was previously established but Pacific Rim Uprising managed to inject something fresh for their foray.

Season 2 Anime

As I mentioned earlier, Pacific Rim Uprising felt like it was an anime series that was transferred from one animation studio to another. Like the first Pacific Rim was done by Studio Ghibli and the second one was outsourced to Madhouse. Something like that. It looks and reads the same but you feel that there are somethings that differ from the first movie.

And I may add more to that metaphor, it’s like a Japanese anime that got outsourced to a Chinese animation studio that does top notch quality work.

What I find really missing here are those quotable dialogues that seem to have been prevalent in the first movie. Remember that line “when you’re in a Jaeger, you can fight the hurricane”? Those lines were gold and it’s not here. They tried but it felt lacking, then add in Petecost’s penchant for doing the whole GGSS and his man-crush for Eastwood and you got an aspect that sucks.

Action and Entertainment Value

Will you be entertained with Uprising? Yes, it’s definitely going to entertain you to bits. The jaeger action is intense (especially if you catch it on IMAX) and slick visuals will trigger the little kid in you. But at the same time, you also see that they were very calculated in piecing this movie, opting to stick to what was established rather than break the breach and go for the throat. I wouldn’t fault the studio for that though.

The Kaijus here were awesome to look at. The same goes for the Jaegers, although I would have loved to see more, this one works well with the way it panned out. I also need to holler at the production studio for the names they gave to these jaegers; names like Guardian Bravo, Saber Athena and Bracer Phoenix sure sound cool af.

Potential Sequel

To save you from utterly not seeing it, there’s a mid-credit sequence for Pacific Rim Uprising and it’s something that sets up a third movie quite nicely. And since they never did tackle Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Beckket’s fate, we could potentially see the original Gipsy Danger pilot return to the fold.

Pacific Rim Uprising Review – Verdict

I’m giving a score of 9/10 for this Pacific Rim Uprising review. The film opens March 31 in theaters nationwide.