Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)

2013's Pacific Rim from Academy Award winning director Guillermo Del Toro was a straight up love fest of B-movie mania. Del Toro balanced the esthetics of the Kaiju film genre in all its absurdity, with the demands of a studio blockbuster franchise film to make a fun, if rather lightweight, adventure. The film took the desire to see giant robots fight gargantuan monsters and gave it a respectable home, a credible enough story, and a raging good time. Del Toro didn't shy away from the B-movie roots, embracing them proudly which was good news for fans of the genre.

This sequel may feel a bit derivative, but it proudly holds on to its B-movie credentials, embracing it all even more wholeheartedly. Uprising is pure, unadulterated genre B-movie mayhem which lets go of the restraints of respectability to just tell the rather silly yet damn fun story it wants to tell. It's lack of need to justify itself as a major tent-pole lets it tell the genre story it wants to tell. And that makes it, in some ways, more fun than the original.

At the heart of this is John Boyega getting to show us what an amazing screen presence he is. Yes he captivated us in Star Wars, but here is full on Attack the Block magical, oozing charm, charisma, and heroics. I could watch him do almost anything.

There is a thin line between the inane Hollywood eye candy and the deliberately campy genre fun that is Pacific Rim. This isn't a situation of so-bad-it's-good kind of film. It's more that it is just the embracing of a style which is to be appreciated differently. Spectacular, straightforward, and in the end fun, Pacific Rim Uprising is delightful candy to enjoy between more respectable cinema.

Pacific Rim Uprising
Starring: John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman
Director: Steven S. DeKnight
Writers: Emily Carmichael, Kira Snider, T.S. Nolan, Steven S. DeKnight