Pacific Rim 2 - Part 1

[Quasimod0]

Saw it tonight on a whim and ended up enjoying it well enough. I really did not like the first one at all, and I thought those characters were totally flat. This one however had some good chemistry between the leads and some fun moments. Definitely an improvement on the first, and John Boyega does a real good job. Thought the young girl and Eastwood were good too. I'd probably say 7/10

 

[redhawk23]

Spoiler

They aren't drones.

You might have missed something.

Spoiler

The Chinese company is selling them as drones, piloted by desk jockeys. You know, just like our real life drone planes. It then turns out they have kaiju brains but they are still given remote directives by Newt.


You haven't really pointed out anything from my post that is "all wrong."

 

[Grootster]

I just got back from seeing it, and I have to be honest...it didn't meet my expectations.

It exceeded them!

Seriously, I thought it was absolutely amazing. Probably the best movie I've seen (on a personal level) since Spider-man Homecoming, and probably the most I've geeked out since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. I'm already planning to see it a second time.

I have so much to say I don't even know where to start.

First off, I think it's almost the perfect sequel to the first film, and probably one of my favorite sequels in general. I was a bit worried that it would be a retread of the first film, but it's an entirely new storyline with a few callbacks to the first (not as many as you might think through). It does what a good sequel does, it builds on the world of the first film. I was a bit worried that the worldbuilding might be lacking, but this movie does everything it possibly can to build on the gritty, lived in world of the first movie. The opening scene was just...wow. If you walked out of the first film wanting to be a Jaeger pilot, this will take it to a whole new level.

Also, it wasn't afraid to take chances. I was a bit concerned that it might feel "safe", but there are some big risks. Specifically [BLACKOUT]Mako dying and Newt becoming the villain (sort of)[/BLACKOUT]. I did not see either of those coming, and the second one just blew my mind! I did not expect the story to go that route. [BLACKOUT]Newt was arguably the most likable character in the first film.[/BLACKOUT] I was a bit unsure about the twist at first, but in the end I thought it was handled in the best way possible.

I love the main leads! Jake was great, an amazing performance by John Boyega. Leagues better than the guy from the first film. I really, really liked Amara. Yep, I liked her better than Mako (although Mako was very well used here). I've been reading the Amara webcomic, and I was looking forward to seeing what they did with the character on the big screen. They did a good job characterizing her, she sort of feels like a real teenager without being annoying.

As for complaints, I can only think of two main ones off the top of my head, and they're relatively minor. I felt like the other Jaeger pilots could have been developed more. The side pilots in the first movie weren't terribly deep, but at last they were slightly memorable. I'm not even sure some of these ones got lines. The other complaint is that the whole subplot with the Chinese organization felt a bit...pandering? There were entire chucks that were subtitled. I've already seen that as a complaint, and I'm guessing this had a big part in the low RT score. That much being said, I didn't really care that much here. It wasn't that intrusive, and it felt more natural than some other movies that do the same thing (Transformers 4, for example.) Heck, I hope it makes a billion dollars in China, I want to see more of these.

Overall, I loved it and would HIGHLY recommend it. I can already tell I'm probably going to be in the minority for loving it this much (the group of friends I saw it with didn't care for it nearly as much as me), but I don't care. I'm sure I'll be making several other posts about it over the next few days. I haven't even talked about the pacing or how it stacks up to the first film yet. GO SEE IT!

 

[Sithborg]

You might have missed something.

Spoiler

The Chinese company is selling them as drones, piloted by desk jockeys. You know, just like our real life drone planes. It then turns out they have kaiju brains but they are still given remote directives by Newt.


You haven't really pointed out anything from my post that is "all wrong."

Spoiler

I think the point of contention is whether or not Obsidian Fury is a drone or not. I mean, they left it open, because they wanted to use Tien Jing as a red herring for the villain.

But I don't think they were necessarily drones, per se, once the kaiju brain was fully activated.

 

[TheVileOne]

You might have missed something.

Spoiler

The Chinese company is selling them as drones, piloted by desk jockeys. You know, just like our real life drone planes. It then turns out they have kaiju brains but they are still given remote directives by Newt.


You haven't really pointed out anything from my post that is "all wrong."

See Sithborg's post.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

This seems to be an argument of semantics, that ends with the same basic plot.

 

[redhawk23]

This seems to be an argument of semantics, that ends with the same basic plot.

Right? It doesn't change a single thing that I said about the film.

 

[Elayis]

Well, the score is a big letdown. I was hoping with Lorne Balfe replacing John Paesano that we'd get some thematic continuity with the first film, but aside from some token (and uninspiring) appearances of Djawadi's main theme the score goes in its own (and unimpressive) direction. I'm not sure how long Balfe had to work on the film, but maybe it's comparable to the amount of time Giacchino had on Rogue One.

I'll give the score a few more play-throughs, but it seems awfully generic at first glance. So far RCP is off to a pretty lame start to 2018 with The Alienist, 12 Strong, A Wrinkle in Time, Tomb Raider, Hurricane Heist and now Uprising all disappointing.

Here's hoping Slender Man, Jack Ryan, Westworld, Aquaman, The Darkest Minds, Keepers and Alita: Battle Angel turn out better. Solo and Dark Phoenix are the only ones I'm almost positive will live up to expectations.

 

[Loki882]

I just got back from seeing it, and I have to be honest...it didn't meet my expectations.

It exceeded them!

Seriously, I thought it was absolutely amazing. Probably the best movie I've seen (on a personal level) since Spider-man Homecoming, and probably the most I've geeked out since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. I'm already planning to see it a second time.

I have so much to say I don't even know where to start.

First off, I think it's almost the perfect sequel to the first film, and probably one of my favorite sequels in general. I was a bit worried that it would be a retread of the first film, but it's an entirely new storyline with a few callbacks to the first (not as many as you might think through). It does what a good sequel does, it builds on the world of the first film. I was a bit worried that the worldbuilding might be lacking, but this movie does everything it possibly can to build on the gritty, lived in world of the first movie. The opening scene was just...wow. If you walked out of the first film wanting to be a Jaeger pilot, this will take it to a whole new level.

Also, it wasn't afraid to take chances. I was a bit concerned that it might feel "safe", but there are some big risks. Specifically [BLACKOUT]Mako dying and Newt becoming the villain (sort of)[/BLACKOUT]. I did not see either of those coming, and the second one just blew my mind! I did not expect the story to go that route. [BLACKOUT]Newt was arguably the most likable character in the first film.[/BLACKOUT] I was a bit unsure about the twist at first, but in the end I thought it was handled in the best way possible.

I love the main leads! Jake was great, an amazing performance by John Boyega. Leagues better than the guy from the first film. I really, really liked Amara. Yep, I liked her better than Mako (although Mako was very well used here). I've been reading the Amara webcomic, and I was looking forward to seeing what they did with the character on the big screen. They did a good job characterizing her, she sort of feels like a real teenager without being annoying.

As for complaints, I can only think of two main ones off the top of my head, and they're relatively minor. I felt like the other Jaeger pilots could have been developed more. The side pilots in the first movie weren't terribly deep, but at last they were slightly memorable. I'm not even sure some of these ones got lines. The other complaint is that the whole subplot with the Chinese organization felt a bit...pandering? There were entire chucks that were subtitled. I've already seen that as a complaint, and I'm guessing this had a big part in the low RT score. That much being said, I didn't really care that much here. It wasn't that intrusive, and it felt more natural than some other movies that do the same thing (Transformers 4, for example.) Heck, I hope it makes a billion dollars in China, I want to see more of these.

Overall, I loved it and would HIGHLY recommend it. I can already tell I'm probably going to be in the minority for loving it this much (the group of friends I saw it with didn't care for it nearly as much as me), but I don't care. I'm sure I'll be making several other posts about it over the next few days. I haven't even talked about the pacing or how it stacks up to the first film yet. GO SEE IT!

Interesting, because those "twists" had the exact opposite effect on me. They were so poorly-conceived and lame that it killed the movie for me.

This was just, not that good.

 

[Roose Bolton]

....I'll probably just go watch Tomb Raider again.

 

[Grootster]

Hopelessly Fanboying Over Pacific Rim: Uprising, Part 2

I LOVE the pacing in Uprising. A while back I praised Spider-Man: Homecoming's pacing as being great, and this is probably the best I've seen since then. The movie just keeps moving along, it never gets boring, but it also doesn't go so fast that it's hard to tell what's happening and why (cough, cough JJ Abrams). By the time you know it you're already at the end battle, and so much has gone by. I legitimately thought we were at the halfway mark by the time the end battle started. Any movie that makes time fly by that fast gets points with me. I felt the same way with Doctor Strange, another fantastically paced movie.

I thought the runtime was used extremely well. Apparently quite a bit was cut, but it wasn't obvious to me at all. I have no clue what was in the extra scenes, but the director really knew how to cut the movie into something very concise. I'm glad they didn't add extra stuff just to get the typical 2h 20m runtime that most big blockbusters these days love. I said it a few pages back, most movie don't need to be that long, I can usually feel the runtime. I never felt it here.

I've heard complaints about the abrupt ending. I'm not going to lie, I loved it. I'm kind of a sucker for movies that end quickly like this. I'm a believer that it's better to end as soon as possible after a finale than to drag it on for 15/20 more minutes. Obviously there are exceptions, but I just like this kind of ending. It probably wasn't quite as well executed as the first film's ending (which also ended abruptly), but I still loved it.

I thought the soundtrack was good. Maybe not quite as memorable as the first film, but I'd have to listen to both back-to-back to fully judge. It definitely stood out to me more than a lot of movies, especially the piece that was played during the scenes with Scrapper, I loved that. I expected to hear the original theme pop up more, I was kind of glad it was used in moderation so it had maximum impact when it finally hits.

More to come...

I have a lot more typed up, I just don't want to make these posts too overwhelming, no sense making people read an essay, lol.

 

[jed]

Just came back from a screening. Great,enjoyable movie.

I didn't watch the first one.

John Boyega is great as the lead guy, while Scott Eastwood does well as the supporting lead.

Cailee Spaeny is also good in her role too.

I thought the villain is going to be

Spoiler

Shao Liwen but it turns out to be Dr Newton Geiszler

The chemistry between the three main characters, Jake,Nate and Amara is great too.


Poor Mako Mori. She only

Spoiler

appears for a few minutes before being killed in that helicopter crash

The final battle where

Spoiler

Amara replaces Nate, and fights alongside Jake with Shao Liwen was great too.

 

[Grootster]

Interesting, because those "twists" had the exact opposite effect on me. They were so poorly-conceived and lame that it killed the movie for me.

This was just, not that good.

Spoiler

I was worried about the evil Newt twist being lame at first because it came out of nowhere. At first I thought it was Newt's love for Kaiju that drove him to bring them back. That would have been contrived and lame, and a very out-of-place character motivation. As it is, I think it works because he's being mind controlled by the aliens.

As for Mako's death, I didn't find it lame at all. There's really not a whole lot else she can do, so killing her was a good decision. I thought it impacted the story, and was handled well without being overdone.

 

[moonclaw]

Just got back from seeing this. The movie was garbage. Remove boyega and eastwood and this is basically power rangers, a far cry from the original.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I can't remember where i read it, but there was this criticism that the movie doesn't need its main character. That they are irrelevant and could be anyone. That's odd.

 

[Sithborg]

I mean, the same could be said for the first movie as well.

 

[Grootster]

And Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I mean, the same could be said for the first movie as well.

I disagree. The prologue of the film sets that up. His personal conflict plays into Mako's arc as well.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

And Raiders of the Lost Ark.

This is completely incorrect.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I mean, the same could be said for the first movie as well.

I thought they needed Hunnam's character because he was a real good Jaeger pilot or something? Can't quite remember.

 

[2kt09]

I thought they needed Hunnam's character because he was a real good Jaeger pilot or something? Can't quite remember.

It's every buddy cop story.
Cop loses his buddy, so he has to adjust to the new recruit.

 

[Grootster]

This is completely incorrect.

If Indy wasn't in the movie the plot would have progressed pretty much the same. This has been pointed out many times at this point, it's pretty well known. The bad guys would have still found the Ark, opened it, and died. Indy attempts to do stuff, but he has no real impact on the outcome.

 

[Brother Jack]

If Indy wasn't in the movie the plot would have progressed pretty much the same. This has been pointed out many times at this point, it's pretty well known. The bad guys would have still found the Ark, opened it, and died. Indy attempts to do stuff, but he has no real impact on the outcome.

That is true, but to say Indy doesn't have any significance to the movie would be putting plot mechanics above character.

 

[Grootster]

That is true, but to say Indy doesn't have any significance to the movie would be putting plot mechanics above character.

Oh I agree, I'd argue the mere fact that Indy attempts to do stuff and has an interesting character makes him significant. But the same is true of Jake in Uprising. I found him interesting and likable, and strong enough to carry the movie.

Also, Jake [BLACKOUT]saves the day[/BLACKOUT] at the end and he's the one who gives the other pilots motivation to fight, so I'd argue he was just as significant as any other movie protagonist. He even had a character arc. I'm not saying he's the deepest character ever, but I found him fine.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

If Indy wasn't in the movie the plot would have progressed pretty much the same. This has been pointed out many times at this point, it's pretty well known. The bad guys would have still found the Ark, opened it, and died. Indy attempts to do stuff, but he has no real impact on the outcome.

Nope. The plot revolves around Indy's intervention. Indy isn't a random soldier or police officer. He is specifically an abnormal archaeologist. And Indy's intervention is directly related to his character and his relationships. Look at Marion's involvement. The movie plays out the way it does because of Indy.

You seem to be confusing the results of the plot and the actual mechanics of the movie. Plot with story.