Pacific Rim: Uprising

[jellydonut25]

SciFi Japan has a BTS article up with a plot synopsis.

There's are several things in it that give me pause and one thing that, no matter how "well" they do it, is craptastic.

Excuse me if there are typos here, I'm doing this by feel as my eyes have rolled out of my skull.

[The Shadow]

In regards to the spoiler, I think they revealed that in one of the earlier trailers.

As eye-rolling as the spoiler is, what seems worse is that in that earlier trailer

[jellydonut25]

[mrbluehair]

Yeah but we are talking about a movie in the FUTURE where a hacker can engineer such a machine.....

Anyway, once we escape that part, the single pilot issue is actually easier to solve IMO. Since the Jager is a mini version, the amount of neural energy to manipulate a scale model is much less than a 300 foot machine. This is movie science I'm using based on the first film stating the neural load was too great. So it's PLAUSIBLE for a single person to pilot a 1/5 scale version.

I'll go, I do miss the weight of the first one (just watched it again, and the physics are just great) while the new ones feel too light. The kids want to see it since I've got them giant monster/robot obsessed so the next couple years are going to be a blast!

[The Shadow]

[jellydonut25]

Seems we're on the same page then, Shadow. It's problematic to say the least.

[Jinzo Ningen]

Is this girl actually drifting or are they merely driving the 'bot, like the pilot in ROBOTJOX ???

[mr.negativity]

[Psycho Soldier]

Reviews are starting to trickle in. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie currently has a 63% Fresh rating and an average rating of 5.3/10. I guess if the movie turns out to be mediocre, we've had fair warning.

[eabaker]

[Mac]

Everything about this looked uninspiring, so I can't say I'm surprised. Only thing now is to see if Rampage is better, lol.

[lhb412]

Listened to a few tracks from the OST and I'm pretty happy. In the same genre as the original music and the (totally classic) original theme returns.

[jellydonut25]

[Psycho Soldier]

Steven DeKnight has talked on Twitter about keeping the movie lean and fast-paced, and that's probably how it's turned out. Of course, that might be to its detriment in some ways, but we'll see. I generally prefer films to run less than 2 hours long.

I'm pretty much expecting quality on par with last year's Power Rangers. That movie surprised me in some ways but still got a 6/10 from me. I don't know if I ever thought a PR sequel would be as good as the first, even when GDT was set to direct, but the least it can do is entertain me.

[O.Supreme]

About what I expected. Sounds like I can still have fun, even though there isn't a compelling story, unfortunately.

[jellydonut25]

Been glancing at some reviews and discussing with some friends who then said, "Yeah, well, people said a lot of the same stuff about the first one, so whatever," and I thought to myself, "Did they?" and just quickly looked.

The first is at 71% on RT, the second at 46% (and falling).

Certainly SOME reviews for the first were about the same as those for Uprising, with phrases like "Big, loud, and dumb" and "Transformers-y" thrown around but there were also reviews praising GDT's world-building, and the visual mastery, the attention to detail, and the quiet moments of introspection that bring it all together "Stupid done smart" was a phrase used, and a lot of reviews pointed out the heart at the center of it all.

Uprising reviews use words like "Generic" and "mindless" and it definitely seems like everything that made the original great has been cast by the wayside to provide more action with less context. The positive reviews seem like the person checked out mentally and just wrote "Eh, whatever. It's kinda fun or something I guess. People like this for some reason. 3/5" while one of the negative reviews really stuck out to me (paraphrasing), "The punch isn't the point. We don't want to see the punch done right. What matters is the motivation behind the punch, why it's being thrown, what people feel about it, what effects it has and what its aftermath are. Punching alone isn't enough."

I still have a shred of hope, but it's down to about a shred.

[mrbluehair]

Well, I have an 8 year old and 11 year old that are killing me to go to this. I've turned my expectations off and just want to grab a soda and popcorn and watch them enjoy it because really, to them, it's akin to the Showa era for me growing up. It they love it, that's all that matters.

[jellydonut25]

[mrbluehair]

Yeah agree on the GOTG quote...sure it goes over most kid's heads but still....

My son reminded me that I have yet to let them watch Pacific Rim, only a couple of the monster battles...OOPS

I enjoy the first movie more each time I watch it. It will be one of my go to's for a long time.

[The Shadow]

[DannyBeane]

I enjoyed it. It's definitely more light hearted than the original. Don't go in expecting high art. It was a little too fast paced and the story was written mostly for pre-teens/teens. It's teenage wish fulfillment, so I can let a lot of the plot stuff go. Overall I give it a B- I fully plan on watching this again.

[Henry88]

'Pacific Rim Uprising' Looks to Dethrone 'Black Panther' Atop the Weekend Box Office
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4381

[GFan]

My gf and I just saw it and we were both pleasently surprised! I think it made for a well-paced and fun follow-up to the first.

[lhb412]

I'm sad to say that Pacific Rim Uprising is... flat. That's the best description I can give it. Of course, without GDT's touch I wasn't expecting the movie to be a classic, but sadly it fell short of my low expectations.

The actors were all charismatic (except for Eastwood) and trying their damndest (especially the always game Burn Gorman) but without the steady hand of a good director or producer or strong script they were all kinda meandering about in the pool and not swimming in the same direction. It's a campier, simpler plot aimed at a younger audience, but it lacks the energy or craft to do that well. Judge it against something like the recent Jumanji, which was a campy, simple family adventure film that worked like gangbusters. Jumanji was also very funny, but Pacific Rim Uprising's jokes fall flat, usually delivered by actors who are hilarious in other movies or TV shows, further evidence that the problem isn't with them.

The fighting and kaiju stuff is pretty unspectacular. It's not very dynamic, not well choreographed, and there's less of it.

[jellydonut25]

As a follow-up to Del Toro’s movie, it’s a pretty big failure (man, if you walk into this movie remembering that the first one EXISTS, there will be so many things that piss you off)...




...but as a movie unto itself, well, it’s a COLOSSAL failure...





...but as trashy fun, the kind kaiju fans like and a movie you might enjoy if you enjoy such piles of camp as Godzilla vs Gigan, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, Gamera vs Guiron, and others of that ilk? It’s mostly...well, “successful” isn’t the right word when that’s what you’re being compared to, but it’s FUN (mostly).
Some stuff I absolutely HATED, like cringe-worthy awful (not in one specific area, either...some acting was putrid, some casting was terrible, some directorial decisions were bad, some editing was crap, some plot elements were total garbage), but also a lot of visceral fun, especially from Charlie Day.