Pacific Rim (2013) / Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) – Tandem Review
I’ve always had a predilection for giant monsters. My first foray into this was Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla from 1998—as I said in my Weekly on that, I still have some of the Taco Bell promotional material from when the film was released. Then, I went back in time, sat through the Showa and Heisei series of Toho Godzilla films, respectively, and was hooked.
I. Love. Kaiju.
Pacific Rim was a no-brainer for me; pitting giant, Godzilla-esque monsters against Gundam-style fighting robots? Sold. Giving it an indie-type treatment and with a touch of visual prowess from (now Oscar-winning) director Guillermo del Toro? Hell, yea.
What Pacific Rim does well is in its presentation, and that’s what first caught my eye upon first viewing—so much so that I felt compelled to buy it on DVD before seeing the sequel, which may or may not have succeeded it in the original film’s mission. As I said, del Toro employs and almost indie aesthetic; the sets are gritty and fabricated, but are so expertly-thought-out and crafted that the audience becomes consumed in their creativity as fast as we note that they are, in fact, fake rooms for the actors. As far as computer graphics, this is where the fame of the film comes in. The Kaiju and Jaegers—very briefly introduced with text in the first shot, and expounded upon in an intro montage only as much as giant monsters and fighting bots need introduction—look and move and interact with their environments in an incredible and destructive manner.
We get a real sense of scale for these creatures, and the city-spanning skirmishes, as well. Painstaking hours must have been spent in the graphics department, fine-tuning all the fight scenes and backdrops to look and feel and integrate into the physical sets so seamlessly. A $190M production budget is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s far higher than what I ever imagined; if there’s one thing he’s good at, del Toro knows how to stretch his buck (see The Shape of Water’s $19M budget, and all he did with that). Lots of practical effects are also employed—the Jaeger cockpit interiors, for example, are all working machinery for the actors to perform to. I wonder if stunt actors mo-cap’d some of the Jaeger-Kaiju fights, they’re so fluid…
This is also a film that knows it’s a film. Playing off that spectacle—and knowing and performing for its audience, that camp-celebrity hybrid aesthetic—is what makes it so beloved to most serious fans. Expo-dumps are a thing, sure, but it plays out like a comic book—like the graphic novel the film’s based on. The hyper-real design and flamboyant characters lend to the escapist atmosphere. This is a popcorn flick, to be sure…but don’t discredit it as such.
Despite its camp, Rim has a very ecological message at its heart, concerning the as-yet-unsolved mysteries of the deep, and what happens when nature and society come to an apocalyptic clash. As it’s hinted at throughout, a lot of folks thought the Kaiju were destructors sent from their gods to punish for squandering nature, until the truth was found out about the creatures’ origins. While this concern isn’t front-and-center, it’s always lingering, like a nagging thought in the back of the mind.
The performers. Charlie Hunnam as protagonist Raleigh Becket—whom I don’t see enough of, these days—is great. The plot is a classic “hero’s journey” arc for him; disgraced, he goes into hiding, only to be called upon as a last hope for a failing civilization. We see his character grow, rise, and succeed, and—hopefully—get the girl, as is the paradigmatic norm for such a plot. Idris Elba, as well, is phenomenal in his role of Stacker Pentecost—a grizzled veteran now all the leadership that this resistance of Jaeger pilots clings to for guidance in what seem to be humanity’s final hours. As more of his tough shell is chipped away through finding out bits about his past, he becomes more and more sympathetic, and all this culminates in a very emotional fate for his character. The inclusion of Ron Perlman (Blade II, Hellboy), along with the comic relief—but smartly-so—interplay between lab-jockeys Gottlieb and Geiszler (played by Burn Gorman and Charlie Day, respectively), make for the more perky and ad-libbed on-screen moments. Rinko Kikuchi as Stacker’s surrogate daughter and hopeful Jaeger pilot, Mako, can hold her own, and surprises even Raleigh in the cockpit. Clifton Collins, Jr. (Capote, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day)—again, someone I don’t see very often, anymore—is also a memorable part of the film, more of a deskman, but whom provides some gravitas to the goings-on.
Rim’s score is epic, and lends to the whole giant fighting monster thing. That theme, too… Some stand-out scenes that stuck with me over the years between first viewing and this—the detonation of an underwater nuke in an attempt to close the Breach; the scene where lead Jaeger Gipsy Danger plays whiffle ball with a Kaiju’s head and a tanker ship; Stacker’s epic, “let’s get this sorted” speech before the final assault on the Breach, which rivals (and is clearly a nod to) President Whitmore’s speech from Independence Day.
This film is brimming with love for sci-fi’s oldest, campest traditions, the fans, and the spectacle that the cinema is supposed to be. And with a loving, end-credits tribute to Ray Harryhausen, the mastermind behind stop-motion monster movies of old, and Ishirô Honda—often credited as the father of the King of the Kaiju, Godzilla—earns its final ‘Risk Assessment: *****/.
* * *
Sequels are a tricky terrain…especially when the original man in the chair has moved on to other projects.
While del Toro stayed on as an executive producer for Uprising, he wasn’t in the director’s seat. That said, I think Steven S. DeKnight (whom was directly involved in much of the first season of Netflix’s Daredevil) did well.
Bigger. Better. That’s what these sequels are all about, right? The sense of scale—of both the Kaiju and Jaegers and all their fights—the CG, and the threat that the alien invaders pose is all cranked up in the sequel. This franchise still knows its audience, and gladly shows off that spectacle on the big screen. That same feel from the original film is carried over, even if a bit besmirched by the attention garnered by the first. Taking that and running with it, though, DeKnight and his crew still manage to craft a fitting sequel.
This time around starring Scott Eastwood (as in, Clint’s son, yes), and John Boyega (The Circle, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), and many relative newcomers, Uprising made me forget about life for a while. And that, if nothing else, is what I loved about it.
Let’s dive into the Breach…again…
First of all, the CG technology has improved greatly since 2013’s outing; this time, I have no doubt that motion-capture was used in crafting these larger-scale fights, in that they’re so fluid and fast-paced. Not as many as in the first film, but the ante-upping done here more than makes up for that—there’s a scene where the Kaiju literally combine forces, and the Jaegers throw everything they have at the mutant, and to little avail. Surprisingly, though, this sequel has a lower estimated budget than the original, according to IMDb—only $150M.
Performances are solid. While I missed a few minutes of the beginning-which, from context clues, I deduced was just fluffy character-intro material for Boyega’s Jake, I sank right into the plot. Boyega and Eastwood have great bro-chemistry, once their characters warm back up to one another, and this comes through in their drifting in the Jaeger cockpit. Newcomer Cailee Spaeny really wowed me. Her character, Amara, is a fresh take on the teen girl stereotype, and I enjoyed every minute of her no-nonsense, go-getter attitude on-screen. I hope she returns for the next film—stay for the ending! Hers is the type of female protagonist I aspire to write. Fan favorites from the first film—Mako, Gottlieb, Newt—all return, and to excellent effect, for each part they play in the plot. Alliteration win. I would’ve liked to have seen more of Adria Arjona, as her character of Jules is, unfortunately, relegated to the sidelines of potential love interest of Eastwood’s Nate. Maybe next film, Evan… Ivanna Sakhno as Jaeger cadet Vik has potential, too, and she so reminded me of my current writings’ protagonist, Kelly Tremaine. It was uncanny…if only Kelly was Russian.
A lot of the same themes carry over, here. The story seemed a tad flimsy, but I didn’t come for the narrative. I wanted giant robots and monsters bashing each other’s brains out, and I got that. Smooth camerawork, neat filming angles, emphasis on the scale of the Kaiju and Jaeger skirmishes, and a great montage preparing for the final fight all make for a visually-entertaining one-hundred and eleven minutes. Shorter than I’d hoped, but the film also moves at a healthy clip.
Self-aware, and often making call-backs to the original and other monster movies—Toho’s Godzilla, for instance—make this cinema candy for any die-hard fan. Uprising is a great sequel, and I know the money it fails to make here in the West, it’ll make back doubly overseas; the film to make the trilogy is a definite go, I think.
A PG-13 film that seems to be overtly allergic to cussing of any kind…that sort of put me off. I was thoroughly-entertained, though, and can definitely see myself making the Blu-Ray purchase for my collection, down the line. That remixed theme, too! Epic, on the level of Halo 2’s “Mjolnir Mix”.
Although seeming rushed, at times, I can’t discredit the passion that the filmmakers and all those involved on-screen in making a faithful sequel.
Final ‘Risk Assessment: ****/*.
Next review: Midnight Sun
