Now I want my Pacific Rim: Evangelion spinoff. (Caution: minor spoilers.)

Pacific Rim: Uprising (M)
Ticket purchased

As someone who knows far more about Neon Genesis Evangelion than can be considered healthy, Pacific Rim: Uprising is extremely familiar. There are a bunch of similarities between PR:U’s story and premise and those in Evangelion (pilots making neural links to pilot the robots, strange alien beasts with unclear motives, etc)- even some shots in PR:U are evocative of NGE (helicopters airlifting in the Jaegers, for example). None of this is a big secret- the crew admit being influenced by a number of early Japanese works, both animated and of the men-in-dodgy-rubber-suits variety.

At one point in Uprising, the Big Bad even says something along the lines of “big robots? How original!” The line somewhat sums up the premise of the whole film, whilst lampshading that there is very little here that doesn’t draw directly from those earlier works.

And yet, it’s fine. The original Pacific Rim was a Perfectly Acceptable Film in its own right and wore its influences on its sleeve, and Uprising is more of the same. It makes sense in and of itself, although with very few returning characters from the first flick there are a few plot threads left dangling. (Just in case you were super-attached to Pacific Rim’s worldbuilding.)

In the first film, the Kaiju- giant monsters from a dimension beyond- are invading Earth, so humanity develops giant robots called Jaegers to fight them. The Jaegers fight off the Kaiju, close the portal from whence they came, and the war is seemingly won.

Ten years on, the Jaegers are still in service, but a black market has sprung up around parts from decommissioned units. Jake (John Boyega) pilfers and resells parts to make his living, and while hunting for new merchandise he crosses paths with Amara (Cailee Spaeny), a tinkerer who is building her own Jaeger. When the pair is arrested, they get the option of joining the military rather than going to prison; in Jake’s case, re-joining, as he is the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first film.

Jake is forced to work with a former rival, Nate (Scott Eastwood), and the movie teases a possible battle for the affections of… I think it’s Adria Arjona’s character, but even looking it up on IMDB doesn’t help. She’s only briefly in the movie, plays almost no further part after she’s introduced, and I’m not even sure they address her at any point by name. What little conflict there might be between Nate and Jake is basically wrapped up immediately after they get their butts handed to them by the aforementioned rogue stompy robot.

For her part, Amara is added to a plucky bunch of cadets who’ve signed up from around the world. (“Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a Russian, an Indian, a Korean, and an American walk into a recruitment office…”) Much like the love interest, the cadets don’t play that much role in the storyline. Only one of the cadet crew gets any kind of character development at all, and only because she gets to fight with Amara. The rest are interchangeable. (To be fair, I saw the movie in Japan and the subtitles might have distracted me a bit. But I dare suggest I didn’t miss that much.)

Meanwhile, one of the scientists from the first film (Geiszler, played by Always Sunny‘s Charlie Day) is working with a Chinese company on remotely-piloted Jaegers, which would remove the need for pilots to be in the field. When a rogue, previously-unknown unit attacks Sydney during a conference to approve the new drones, it appears a new threat is emerging…

All of that setup basically gives us an excuse for an hour and 50 minutes or so of big stompy robots punching each other. In Uprising, though, the fights take place in daylight, and with shiny, new, cleaned-up robots instead of the scarred, grimy, battle-hardened Jaegers featured in the first film. This at least means that we can tell the combatants apart (rather than having everyone look identical, like in the Michael Bay-era Transformers flicks), and can see what’s going on (thanks to better lighting and the slower movement of the skyscraper-sized Jaegers). So the action sequences at least have that going for them.

The movie also does a reasonable job of hiding who the real Big Bad is, setting up one (fairly obvious) candidate until about halfway through the film. It’s hardly a twist of Sixth Sense or Memento proportions, but it at least keeps the film interesting as it builds to its final action sequence. (Although, if you know much about how films get financed and produced in 2018- or you saw the trailer, which hints at the swerve- it’s a lot more obvious. Or at least, you’re less likely to believe what the movie is trying to set up beforehand.)

So much like its predecessor, Uprising is flawed, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome and the parts that the trailer really wants you to see- big stompy robots punching each other- are executed well enough. As a Popcorn Movie™ it does exactly what it needs to do, and even has a vague setup for a Pac Rim III just before the credits roll. If you feel the need to while away two hours in a totally inoffensive manner, and want to see Sydney and Tokyo get smashed up as a bonus, grab your snacks and your 3D glasses (or don’t, and save a few bucks) and settle in.