The movie has the robots, the badass fight scenes, the enjoyable cast of characters and all the makings of a fun time. For most part, it is. However, when compared to the first it lacks that certain reverence for its inspiration which shows most apparently when watching the action.
Character scenes aside, since the first was no winner in this department either, what Pacific Rim did amazingly well was craft gargantuan mechs and monsters that we can remember. Uprising almost feels like the director was following a checklist, but forgot to watch the first one to see how Del Toro put it all together to make it special. The result is a 'cool' and 'badass' robot v monster fight scene collection that ultimately fails to resonate.
As a sequel, it also fails to cover any new ground. This is most likely due to having to basically cast a whole new group of characters, give them scenes rather than simply starting off where the last left it. Consequently we don't really get too much more info in terms of what or how or why things happen, only that the Kaiju are coming again and we gotta stop them.
Pacific Rim Uprising fixed the pacing issues from the original, but thats about it. Otherwise, more doesn't always equal better sums it up pretty well. It IS still a fun watch, especially if Jaeger v Kaiju action was what you're looking for in the first place.
Character scenes aside, since the first was no winner in this department either, what Pacific Rim did amazingly well was craft gargantuan mechs and monsters that we can remember. Uprising almost feels like the director was following a checklist, but forgot to watch the first one to see how Del Toro put it all together to make it special. The result is a 'cool' and 'badass' robot v monster fight scene collection that ultimately fails to resonate.
As a sequel, it also fails to cover any new ground. This is most likely due to having to basically cast a whole new group of characters, give them scenes rather than simply starting off where the last left it. Consequently we don't really get too much more info in terms of what or how or why things happen, only that the Kaiju are coming again and we gotta stop them.
Pacific Rim Uprising fixed the pacing issues from the original, but thats about it. Otherwise, more doesn't always equal better sums it up pretty well. It IS still a fun watch, especially if Jaeger v Kaiju action was what you're looking for in the first place.