The world building is stronger than the first film, and director Steven S. DeKnight does successfully out-direct Guillermo Del Toro in pulling off the highly ambitious and action packed, yet character driven story. It was the work of true believers with childlike enthusiasm for the absurd. https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/03/20/pacific-rim-uprising-review John Boyega, in particular, saves long stretches of the movie just by being his appealing self. Kim Newman 23 … Pacific Rim: Uprising is big and dumb, but at least it's having fun. The globe-spanning conflict between otherworldly monsters of mass destruction and the human-piloted super-machines built to vanquish them was only a prelude to the all-out assault on humanity in Pacific Rim Uprising. Gun threats, airstrikes, sparring and chokeholds are seen. On a craft level, this sequel to Guillermo del Toro's monsters-versus-biomechanical warriors saga "Pacific Rim" isn't terrible. An orphaned street urchin turned juvenile pilot named Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny) is also regrettably indistinct—essentially a retread of Mako Mori with a few years knocked off her age, ready-made for big brother-little sister or surrogate father-daughter bonding. Pacific Rim: Uprising is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and some language.. Violence: Characters engage in battles throughout the film. Del Toro even believed in the themes of personal redemption and collective effort that were baked into the details of the jäger's mechanics. Rated PG-13 A disjointed script shortchanges at least half the cast in favour of letting John Boyega’s star shine as brightly as possible, and that left me wishing a simpler, cleaner story had been told around the action. There are acrobatics inside the robots as the Jaegers mimic the actions of their drivers who are performing flips and somersaults, the main characters are much younger than in the original movie, and it just feels less realistic. What parents need to know Parents need to know that Pacific Rim: Uprising is the sequel to 2013's Pacific Rim. The project lacks the purplish intensity and explosions of juvenile poetry that made the original "Pacific Rim" so distinctive, whether you loved or hated it. Here's my review of PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING! To its credit, this sequel from director Steven S. DeKnight (TV's "Spartacus") doesn't just decide, "Well, the portal that we thought we'd closed is open again, and there are more monsters, so everybody saddle up," because that would've been as lame as the plot of the  "Independence Day" sequel. While the principal concern of both was the robot/monster fighting, Guillermo del Toro’s picture was a universe builder, giving us context and backstory and memorable characters. With expectations set very low, Pacific Rim Uprising will mildly satisfy fans of the first movie and if taken as pure popcorn escapism. Know about Film reviews, lead cast & crew, photos & video gallery on BookMyShow. Kudos must be given to production designer Stefan Dechant here, because Uprising’s cities are all either fully fleshed-out hubs of dust and skeletal remains of past battles, or vast, neon playgrounds at the cutting edge of futuristic rebuilding. But at least he registers: Eastwood may be even duller than Charlie Hunnam was in the first installment, and Spaeny plays the spunky Amara with maximum attitude and a paucity of charm. It really just feels like an unnecessary sequel. A sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 robots-fight-monsters movie, Pacific Rim: Uprising picks up the story ten years after the events of the first one (there is a handy reminder at the start in case you’ve forgotten what happened). FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisStuckmann TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Chris_Stuckmann OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.chrisstuckmann.com Chris Stuckmann … In the original, Idris Elba’s Staker sacrificed himself to save the world, but his son Jake (Boyega) hasn’t followed in dad’s footsteps. There are a lot of stunning visuals and Jaegar versus Kaiju action to witness in Pacific Rim: Uprising. That's definitely more anime-authentic than most movies... but not in a good way. Even at their liveliest, these performers can only do so much without the originator at the helm. Ever since "The Force Awakens," he's been honing a screen persona that owes a lot to the late James Garner—a funny, cynical survivor who makes a point of avoiding unnecessary fights and keeping one eye on the exit at all times, but who also has a buried streak of righteous honor that surfaces during dire moments. Julian Lytle idobi.com. And the cast is filled with actors doing everything they can to make their characters as memorable as possible even when the script (credited to four people) isn't lending them the support they deserve. Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. 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