Pacific Rim: Uprising

Plot

In 2035, ten years after the events of the previous film, the Jaeger Program has been reinstated and now thrives under the watchful eye of Mako Mori, the Senator who runs the Pan Pacific Defense Corps (PPDC). Former Jaeger pilot and Stacker Pentecost's son, Jake, ekes out a living for himself by stealing and selling Jaeger parts on the black market in Santa Monica, California. After tracking a disabled Jaeger's power core to the secret workshop of fifteen-year-old Jaeger enthusiast Amara Namani, both are apprehended by the PPDC following an altercation between Amara's small, single-pilot Jaeger Scrapper and the law enforcement Jaeger November Ajax. Mako persuades Jake to return to the PPDC as an instructor to avoid prison, with Amara as his recruit.

Arriving at the China Shatterdome, Jake begins training Jaeger cadets alongside his estranged former co-pilot, Nathan "Nate" Lambert. Nate and Mako explain that the Jaeger program is threatened by Shao Industries' new drone program, which offers to mass-produce Jaeger drones developed by Shao CEO Liwen Shao and Dr. Newton "Newt" Geiszler. Mako is due to deliver a final assessment to determine the approval of the drones at a PPDC council meeting in Sydney. A rogue Jaeger, Obsidian Fury, attacks the city and during an altercation between the former and Jake and Nate's Jaeger Gipsy Avenger, Mako is killed. Obsidian Fury escapes into the ocean before backup Jaegers can apprehend it. Mako's death prompts the PPDC council to authorize and deploy the drones immediately.

Moments before her death, Mako had transmitted the location of a defunct Jaeger production facility in Severnaya Zemlya. Jake and Nate travel there in Gipsy Avenger, but Obsidian Fury destroys the complex and engages them in battle. Although Obsidian Fury initially has the upper hand, Gipsy Avenger manages to overpower and destroy the Jaeger's power core. Upon removing its control module, they find Obsidian Fury controlled not by humans, but by a Kaiju's secondary brain, which testing shows was grown on Earth.

When the drones reach their respective locations, they are hijacked by cloned Kaiju brains secretly mounted on board. The now Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids simultaneously attack all Shatterdomes, incapacitating or destroying most of the Jaegers and inflicting heavy casualties. While attempting to sabotage the drones, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb discovers that Newt—whose mind is possessed by the Kaiju's creators, the Precursors, due to him drifting with Kaiju brains—is responsible for the attack when he commands the Kaiju–Jaeger hybrids to open multiple breaches across the Pacific Rim. Newt had also implanted the brains for both the drones and Obsidian Fury in accordance with the Precursors' plan.

Production

Development

In 2012, prior to the first film's release, del Toro noted that he had ideas for a sequel, adding in 2014 that he had been working on a script with Zak Penn for several months. In June 2014, del Toro stated that he would direct the sequel, and the film's distribution was taken over by Universal Pictures. In July 2015, it was reported that filming was expected to begin in November, though production was halted following conflicts between Universal and Legendary. As the sequel's future became unclear, Universal indefinitely delayed the film. Still determined to have the film made, del Toro kept working and by that October announced that he had presented the studio with a script and a budget.

After the sale of Legendary to Chinese Wanda Group for $3.5 billion, observers noted an increased likelihood of Pacific Rim 2's production being revitalized because the first film was so successful in China.

In February 2016, the studio, and del Toro himself via Twitter, announced that Steven S. DeKnight would take over directing duties, with a new script written by Jon Spaihts, marking DeKnight's feature directorial debut. Del Toro remained on the project as a producer. Del Toro revealed he left the film once the studio lost their reservations to the Toronto sound stages where the first film had been shot, as he was not willing to move to China to film the sequel given he would remain in the city to work in The Shape of Water. Derek Connolly was brought in on May 12, 2016, to rewrite the script again.

Casting

Cast announcements began in June 2016, with John Boyega accepting a role, and news that Scott Eastwood was in talks appearing later that month. Further announcements took place in September and November. A notable absence from the cast was Charlie Hunnam, who could not join the project because of his scheduling conflicts with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Filming

Principal photography on the film began on November 9, 2016, in Australia. On December 14, 2016, the official title was revealed to be Pacific Rim Uprising. In January 2017, John Boyega was photographed in his costume in Sydney. In February 2017, three new Jaegers for the film were revealed. On March 8, 2017, filming started in China. The Battle of Tokyo sequence was filmed in Seoul and Busan in South Korea using drones. Filming was completed on March 30, 2017.

Visual effects

The visual effects were done by DNEG (Double Negative), Atomic Fiction, Blind LTD and Territory Studio, with Peter Chiang and Jim Berney serving as visual effects supervisors. Production designer Stefan Dechant tried to push "the look and the feel" of the Jaegers, stating that while in the original film they resembled tanks, the new generation of robots tried to be more like a fighter jet, adding more speed and strength and combining them into one. The robots became more acrobatic and had silhouettes and color schemes that allowed them to become distinct and recognizable. Artists from Industrial Light & Magic, who made the effects in the first film, helped develop Gipsy Avenger, a "sleek and advanced" upgraded version of Gipsy Danger which DeKnight often compared to the USS Enterprise in being "awe-inspiring" given its status as the Jaeger flagship.

Music

Composer John Paesano was originally slated to be writing the score for the film, replacing the first film's composer Ramin Djawadi. However, in January 2018, it was announced that Paesano had been replaced by Lorne Balfe, who recorded his score at Synchron Stage in Vienna. The soundtrack was digitally released on March 23, 2018, by Milan Records with the physical format being released later on April 6, 2018.

Release

Theatrical

Pacific Rim Uprising premiered on March 21, 2018, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was initially scheduled for released on April 7, 2017, but was later pushed back to August 4, 2017, then February 23, 2018, and finally March 23, 2018.

Home media

Pacific Rim Uprising was released on Digital on June 5, 2018. A 4K Blu-ray, a Blu-ray 3D, a Blu-ray and a DVD was released on June 19, 2018.

Reception

Box office

Pacific Rim Uprising grossed $59.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $231.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $291 million, against a production budget of about $150 million. Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film would have needed to gross $350 to $450 million to break even.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Midnight Sun, Sherlock Gnomes, Unsane, and Paul, Apostle of Christ, and was projected to gross $22–29 million from 3,703 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.35 million from Thursday night previews, down from the original's $3.5 million, and $10.4 million on its first day (including previews). It went on to debut to $28 million, becoming the first film to dethrone Black Panther (which made $16.7 million in its sixth week) for the top spot. It fell 67% to $9.2 million in its second weekend, finishing 5th.

In Korea, the film ranked first on March 22, with 82,486 admissions. In China, the film opened at number one, grossing $21.36 million on its first day and $25.84 million on its second, for a two-day gross of $48.59 million. It went on to have a debut of $65 million in the country, as well as $6.9 million in Korea, $6.8 million in Russia and $4.9 million in Mexico, for an international opening weekend of $122.5 million.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 42% of 262 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.0/10. The website's consensus reads: "Pacific Rim Uprising won't win any points for subtlety or originality, but it delivers enough of the rock 'em-sock 'em robots-vs.-kaiju thrills that fans of the original will be looking for." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, with PostTrak reporting filmgoers gave it an overall positive score of 76%.

Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press called the film "cheer-at-the-screen fun" and awarded it 3.5 out of 4 stars, lauding Boyega's performance and his chemistry with Spaeny, while also commending DeKnight for using daylight instead of the rainy night settings of del Toro. Ethan Sacks of New York Daily News gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and was also positive of Boyega's and Spaeny's performances, comparing Boyega's character to Han Solo. However, he criticized the dense backstories of the characters, noting that, "a movie about massive monster-fighting robots doesn't need so much engineering".

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying: "The climactic battle drags on forever and looks like a high-tech update of a monster movie clash of the titans from a half-century ago. Even the sight of the residents of Tokyo scrambling for their lives as a giant lizard monster stomps through the city serves only as a reminder we're sitting through a glorified B-movie with nothing new to say." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "C−", calling it a "generic and diverting sequel that corrects some of the original's biggest mistakes while also highlighting some of its more eccentric charms".

Cary Darling of the Houston Chronicle gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars and called it the worst film of 2018 so far, being especially critical of its bland premise and pandering attempt at international marketability. Darling concluded, "Pacific Rim Uprising is a lot like the city-crunching monsters it stars: big, loud and as dull-witted as Homer Simpson roused from a medically induced coma. It's a rote, paint-by-numbers blockbuster that would be offensive in its mediocrity if it also weren't so relentlessly uninspired," and "all that's left is the robot brawling and the marketing." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club called the film an "impersonal sequel", stating, "simply put, it lacks its predecessor's curiosity about its world—its fascination with colorful backdrops and machines. Del Toro's movie [...] had an idealistic vision for its anime-influenced hobby-store pursuits [...] Pacific Rim Uprising offers only its spare parts." Similarly, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that "DeKnight doesn't attempt to invest his monsters with majesty, the way Guillermo del Toro did in the previous film. With DeKnight it's just a lot of pounding, smashing and driving, purely functional".

Accolades

Pacific Rim Uprising was nominated in two categories at the 2018 Golden Trailer Awards: "Untouchable" (Inside Job) for Best Music and "Pacific Rim Uprising" (AV Squad) for Best Sound Editing. At the 2018 Teen Choice Awards, it received nominations for Choice Action Movie and Choice Action Movie Actor (Boyega).

Franchise

Possible sequel

In October 2017, five months before the film's release, DeKnight stated "If enough people show up to this, we've already talked about the plot of the third movie, and how the end of the third movie would expand the universe to a Star Wars/Star Trek-style [franchise or series] where you can go in many, many different directions... You can go main canon, you can go spin-offs, you can go one-offs. Yeah, that's the plan." DeKnight also talked about the possibility of a crossover with the MonsterVerse; co-writer T.S. Nowlin was a member of the writers' room for Godzilla vs. Kong. In January 2021, del Toro stated he had "no plans to return" for a third film. In December 2024, Steven S. DeKnight revealed details of a scrapped multiverse-based concept for an unmade sequel and said that he would like to see del Toro return to direct a future installment.

Animated series

On November 8, 2018, Netflix announced Pacific Rim: The Black, an original anime series that expands upon the story and universe of the two live-action films. The first seven-episode season was released on March 4, 2021, the second and final season was released on April 19, 2022.

Other media

Comic book

Legendary Comics released Pacific Rim: Aftermath on January 17, 2018. The six-issue comic book series serves as a bridge between the two films.

Novelization

On March 13, Titan Books released Pacific Rim Uprising: Ascension, a prequel novel written by Greg Keyes.