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When Guillermo del Toro‘s PACIFIC RIM hit theaters in 2013, it seemed promising and a prime candidate for becoming a big blockbuster film. Giant robots fighting giant monsters, Hollywood’s hottest actors in hi-tech armored suits… what could go wrong? While the film itself was enjoyable, the characters just weren’t that great, and in the end all the CGI and giant action sequences just seemed like forgettable fluff. It wasn’t a bad film, it just wasn’t phenomenal. But the movie did well enough overseas for a sequel to be considered, and this weekend we’re getting PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING. Before you get too excited knowing Guillermo del Toro gave us the first film, especially since he’s hot off his Oscar wins for THE SHAPE OF WATER, it should be noted the beloved director had little to do with this sequel, other that getting a consultant credit in the end. Steven S. DeKnight is taking the director chair this time around, which is interesting since he’s primarily known as a TV executive producer, though he has directed a few episodes of popular shows here and there (like DAREDEVIL and SMALLVILLE). And if you were attached to any of the stars from the first film, sorry to say only a few made it to this outing, though it is nice to see Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Burn Gorman reprising their roles.

The new movie focuses on Jake Pentecost (John Boyega playing the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first film), and is set several years after the last story. After the military beat the giant monsters, or “Kaiju”, with their giant robot Jaeger suits, the higher ups are still constantly preparing for another inevitable attack, and giant skeletons and debris still remains in many major cities across the globe. This has left citizens with sometimes questionable morals, and theft of robot tech is frequent in the streets. Jake meets Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), a young girl with a gift for handling robot technology. She even built her own Jaeger suit out of spare parts, which can be driven by her alone – this is special as most Jaeger suits require at least two pilots. When the military capture these two, they push them into the training program as new recruits, which isn’t good for Jake as he’s lived that life and wants nothing more to do with it. He keeps saying to himself and others, “I’m not my father” in an effort to keep folks from assuming he could ever be a hero. His old co-pilot Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood) isn’t happy about Jake’s return either, as he thinks the man is incapable of doing the job now. We also learn that Chinese tech mastermind Liwan Shao (Tian Jing) and her Shao Corporation are about to release a series of Jaeger drones, which are just like the giant American suits but can be controlled from anywhere. She’s assisted by Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day), and those two eventually cross paths with Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman), who works on the American side and feels incomplete without Geiszler in his life anymore. Before long we see a rogue Jaeger come out of the ocean, attacking everyone, and displaying advanced tech that the military Jaeger suits can’t beat. Then the drones start malfunctioning, and soon our heroes and their trainees realize a new threat has emerged, and may potentially start a new and much more lethal war for the planet.

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING is in many ways a retread of the first film, but with some interesting new twists, and arguably better and more likable characters. John Boyega feels more at home using his real accent here, and plays the part of the tortured son living in the shadow of his father quite well. In fact watching this production shows us that Boyega forcing (no pun intended) an American accent in the STAR WARS movies is one of the reasons why his character there always feels a little held back. The role of Jake is also a tricky balance, as he has to be the hero type while still conveying he doesn’t want to, this is more of a hero who becomes what he needs to be by destiny and circumstance situation. Cailee Spaeny is quite good as Amara, the young girl who knows her tech and is sometimes a bit too eager without earning her place at the table. Michael Bay attempted a similar character in the last TRANSFORMERS movie, but it felt shoehorned in for younger viewers… here it just feels right, and Spaeny and Boyega have an almost instant chemistry with each other that serves the film well. Even Scott Eastwood, who up until now has seemed consistently stiff in roles, feels more laid back and natural here, and even looks and sounds eerily like his famous dad in more than a few scenes. Tian Jing is a smart choice playing the overconfident Shao, and we get to see a rather cool arc with her character before the movie comes to a close. Charlie Day and Burn Gorman have fun reuniting as the awkward scientist characters from the first film, and this movie does some really interesting things with those roles as the story plays out. Only Rinko Kikuchi feels a little underused, especially considering she was such a central character in the first movie, but she does serve an important purpose in terms of motivation for at least one central player. Steven DeKnight really did a great job at defining the characters in this production, and making them memorable and fun enough for the audience to attach weight to… something that was sadly lacking from del Toro’s initial film, which was a bit surprising.

The “giant robots fighting giant monsters” carnage is fun to watch, albeit a bit familiar here. Maybe it’s just me getting older, but as I see these behemoths tackling each other while knocking down buildings, I find myself more focused on the level of destruction they’re doing to the architecture around them than the actual fight going on. You know, it took a LOT of hours to erect those buildings… can’t you guys move over to the mountains a little?? And toward the end, there’s a sequence in Japan where it almost seems like they destroy the entire continent, which is somewhat ironic considering the Jaeger pilots are supposed to be SAVING the planet, not adding to the destruction.

I’m not sure if I’d say PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING is a huge improvement on the first movie, but it is better in certain ways, and smartly shorter in run time than its predecessor. The first half takes some time to find its footing, but if you can make it to the second hour you’ll be rewarded. If nothing else this movie should help solidify John Boyega as a good leading man in action fare, and make a blockbuster director out of DeKnight. It’s hard to imagine someone taking material developed by Guillermo del Toro and doing it better, but I almost wonder if Guillermo is too artistic of a director for this kind of flick. One thing I can say about these PACIFIC RIM movies, if I was a kid I’d probably watch them ten times in a row, then go find my toys and smash them together until nothing was left… and have a big smile on my face the entire time.

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