Film: Pacific Rim: Uprising
Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day,Adria Arjona,Tian Jing, Rinko Kikuchi, John Burn
Director: Steven S. DeKnight
Rating: * * * +
Director and co-writer Steven S. DeKnight took over “Pacific Rim Uprising” from Guillermo del Toro for his feature-film directorial debut. Del Toro who helmed the 2013 film Pacific Rim dropped out of the sequel on account of a “little movie”. That movie, ‘The Shape of Water’, swept the Oscars this year. Did Toro get the idea for Shape of Water from PacRim’s mad scientist Newt Geiszler (Charlie Day) who has a thing with a monster in a tank? Or was it the other way around?
Beautifully shot with splendid set designs and high production values, the sequel is set in 2035, 10 years after the events of the first film. Now, awesome new Jaegers (giant robots controlled by two mind-linked pilots) fight the Kaiju monsters. (which glitter like the sea creature in The Shape of Water) Naturally, there is action galore. Mercifully, unrelenting destruction is offset by themes of bravery and team spirit imbued in characters with names like Redeemer, Saviour Athena and Jake Pentecost (John Boyega, solid) son of the legendary Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) who died to save the world.
After the death of his father, Jake has taken to a life of petty crime. Then when the world is threatened with extinction, he gets a chance to redeem himself through adopted sibling Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), who shepherds the new Jaeger pilots, including Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood, ooh as handsome as his dad Clint) and 15-year-old hacker Amara (Cailee Spaeny, impressive) to Shanghai China where violent protests are being staged against a drone deployment program.
If they only knew what awaits their world. What? Devastation wreaked by fighters powered by alien brain tissue harvested from the grotesque Kaiju. Whodunnit? A sinister multinational staffed by aforementioned rogue Dr Geiszler. Expect fire and brimstone in 3D. You will not be disappointed, especially not if you are a tween or teen.
