Now-Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro was at the helm at it was a deliciously wonderful and entertaining film for all the right reasons. It embraced its "B-Movie" heritage, had enough uniqueness to call its own, and featured some awesome technical and sound achievements. It was the epitome of "dumb fun" and it eventually landed in my Top 5 for that year.
Over the last several years, a sequel has struggled to get made. The first was somewhat of a commercial flop except oversees and if I remember correctly, del Toro was in and out of the would-be director's chair before he decided to be a producer for this follow up.
Usually when a film that I cherish gets a sequel where the public perception is along the lines of "Well...I guess we'll do it...", I'd be highly cautious and ready to be disappointed. For Uprising, I liked the trailers well enough to know it would be more of the same, but I was prepared to walk out of a somewhat vapid affair. Having enjoyed my time to a certain degree, but not really being jazzed about what I had seen like with the first film.
I'm very happy to report that, as a fan of the first, Uprising is a highly worthy sequel that packs a lot of good, dumb fun into its short-feeling runtime.
The best thing about Uprising is that it keeps the spirit of the original. This series clearly has anime/Japanese roots a la the Godzilla, but it also doesn't shy away (or overdo) its ham. At least not any more than the original. It knows that it has the right to be goofy from time to time, but it also earns a few of its more emotional moments, similar to the way the original did. It's this infectious spirit that makes watching the film very easy as you enjoy the continuation of the story. It's here that the film isn't really anything special and perhaps where the "dumb" aspect is, more or less, the bad kind of dumb -- at least for explaining how the Kaiju come back. There's a twist that worked well on me (I had perceived it would go another way, so I can say I was surprised), but ultimately the whole premise seems like a total reach, even in a world of made-up science. Luckily, if you can make it past the questionable explanation of how we're having Kaiju exist 10 years after Stacker Pentecost "cancelled the apocalypse" the rest of the film is worth your time.
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| When you try to walk through a narrow hallway and your shoulders be too damn big |
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| Finn and a young Captain Phasma try to make their choice... |
Perhaps better than the first are the action scenes. I say that with mild hesitation because I haven't seen the original in a while but the action in Uprising is, while kind of slow due to the sheer scale, well choreographed and well filmed. I often think of these Pacific Rim films as better versions of the Transformers and it's amazing how effortlessly they beat those films at their own game. Actual film editing and non-claustrophobic camera angles help, but Uprising sports some fun use of the environments these robots fight in as well as some incredible visuals based on scale. An easy example is seeing a Jaeger (the robots in the film) receive an uppercut from another Jaeger. It's backed against a tall building and the punch lifts it upwards a few stories as its head crashes through glass and higher floors before coming back down. Something simple like that looks outstanding and adds a comedic, but impressive element to these fights that lasts throughout the film. There's really only one "action" portion of the film where our heroes are outside of their robots on a base that's not very well done as it continuously cuts back and forth without really moving anywhere for a length of about 5 minutes. Otherwise though? This is some grandiose large scale smackdown that's a blast to watch.
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| Seems really inefficient to just carry that around but ok! |
CONS
- The plot is obviously not the strongest, but it gets ridiculous (read: dumb in a bad way) to try and get the Kaiju back in play
- An extended sequence near the middle where a base is being attacked seems like it gets stuck in gear for several minutes
- Not as impressively original as the first, which is understandable (they take very little time to explain the technology here)
- Scott Eastwood has some really stiff/awkward delivery here and there
- Missing the good/great original score that the original featured
- Dumb fun to the max. Like watching a live action cartoon. In fact, this world would make an awesome TV series with the right budget
- Embraces the spirit of the original and is decidedly "B-movie" while not overdoing it to the point of nausea
- Boyega is an awesome lead and earns his keep here. He's charismatic, easy to watch, and often very funny
- The rest of the cast fits in well too!
- Awesome visuals and fight choreography. The action is well organized and thought out and ends up being a delight to watch in motion
- Superb sound effects and sound editing
- A big heaping of large-scale destruction fun. Sometimes that's just what you need at the movies
Rath's Review Score | 8/10
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