Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Pacific Rim: Uprising is the sequel to the 2013 Guillermo del Toro original Pacific Rim.

Written and directed by Steven S. DeKnight, the same man who directed some of Smallville and Angel, but is better known as the writer. There are some camera issues that Transformers doesn't have. The shots of the Jaeger's are cool, but the character direction is odd and some of the choices in close-ups are technically flawed. I should say extreme close-ups.

John Boyega tries to carry a film as the lead actor again and it's not really selling to me. His character adds humor to the film which destroys some of Scott Eastwood's smooth delivery. Finn from Star Wars is his best acting so far and that's because of his direction there.

Speaking of Scott Eastwood, he plays Nate Lambert who is a Jaeger Ranger and veteran in training the young crowd. I wish that he could lead the film because he's a better actor. I hope with whatever sequel comes next that Eastwood gets to come back. Knowing his personality from watching interviews with Josh Macuga I could easily see him coming back.

Cailee Spaeny was the standout from the film as a very young Jaeger pilot who wants to be ready for when the rift opens up and the monster's come back to Earth. I can't really go into much detail without spoilers for the film.

Charlie Day also is hard to talk about without spoiling anything but I did not like the direction his character took but I understood the reason why. It was predictable but I enjoyed more how his character was handled in the original.

Result: B (I just have a nostalgia for gigantic mechs and couldn't lower my grade any further.)

Comments

Hope (2026)

Hope is directed by Na Hong-jin , the same director who brought us The Wailing , and it has a similarly interesting approach to suspense. The story itself is intriguing, but the editing desperately needed some work. The pacing can be all over the place, which makes some sections feel much longer than they need to be. The comedy also comes completely out of nowhere, considering most of the movie is built around suspense and action. Some of it works, but the tonal shifts can be pretty jarring. Hwang Jung-min's character has the best arc in the movie. His character actually changes throughout the story, and watching that progression is one of the film's strongest elements. Ho-yeon's character, she was in Squid Game, on the other hand, is great from the beginning and doesn't really have much growth. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the contrast between the two characters' arcs pretty noticeable. Zo In-sung, known from Netflix show It's Okay,...

Runner (2026)

Runner is directed by Scott Waugh , the same director who brought us Act of Valor and Expendables 4 , and he knows how to handle action. The action is well directed, and the editing is tight enough that the movie never feels unnecessarily drawn out. The film is pretty straightforward, but it knows what it wants to be and delivers a fun action movie without overstaying its welcome. Alan Ritchson tries to branch out from the role of the giant who beats people up, but he doesn't get very far away from it. He's clearly capable of playing more than the typical physically imposing action hero, but this movie still leans heavily into what he's already known for. Owen Wilson , meanwhile, basically plays himself, or at least a character very similar to the one he played in Wedding Crashers . If you've seen Wilson in that type of role before, you know exactly what you're getting. Rodrigo Santoro , who most people will probably recognize from 300 , plays the main villain. H...

Buddy (2026)

Buddy is written and directed by Casper Kelly , who is better known as an Adult Swim writer. That probably explains why this type of film is right up his alley. The movie tries to be funny, but it tries way too hard. At the same time, it tries to be a horror movie but doesn't try nearly hard enough. It feels like the whole premise is being pushed to its extreme primarily to create something that could go viral rather than because the story actually has anywhere meaningful to go. Cristin Milioti is the main actress in the film, and while she's definitely charismatic, her performance feels a bit overdramatic at times. The child actors are all fine with one exception, although none of them really stand out enough to make much of an impression. Topher Grace is another example of the horrible male characters we've gotten in a long line of that particular trope throughout the 2020s. I can't wait to see what comes next in that line of writing. At this point, it's almos...

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog