Reveiwed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Steven S. DeKnight, Universal Pictures International, M 110 Minutes
Instead of an enjoyable sci-fi action adventure film that academy award winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro delivered in 2013, there is now a disappointing sequel helmed by first time director Steven DeKnight who was previously a television show producer.
The excitement generated in the original was largely due to a gripping storyline supplemented by a great cast assembled to drive the gigantic Jaeger robots in defeating the giant-sized Kaiju sea monsters in the Battle of the Breach.
With a new threat on the horizon, hustler Jake (John Boyega –‘Star Wars’), son of the late Stacker Pentecost (Jaeger pilots’ former commander) is forced by adopted sister Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi –‘Pacific Rim’) to become a trainer for Jaeger recruits.
After being sent to the Hong Kong Shatterdome to begin training, Jake is accompanied by new recruit Amara Namani (debutante Cailee Spaeny) before joining up with former co-pilot Nate Lambert (Clint Eastwood’s son Scott Eastwood –‘Diablo’).
The Shatterdome facility is soon visited by officials from the Shao Corporation including CEO Liwen Shao (Tian Jing –‘The Great Wall’) and her Head of Research, Newt Geiszler (Charlie Day –‘Pacific Rim’) who outline plans to deploy numerous Jaeger drones worldwide.
This decision is of considerable concern to Mako just as Jake and Nate are deployed to Sydney where they confront a rogue Jaeger causing widespread destruction, learning later it is controlled by Newt having been corrupted earlier by the Kaiju.
With most of the Jaegers operating with a Kaiju brain it is a race against time for Jake, Nate and the remaining recruits to destroy the Jaeger-Kaiju hybrids, especially the three Kaiju monsters before becoming a Mega-Kaiju.
There is no denying that it is DeKnight’s desire to make this sequel (which supposedly takes place 10 years after ‘Pacific Rim’) as entertaining as its predecessor by providing a series of spectacular special effects that should please most patrons.
Regrettably this doesn’t compensate for a complicated storyline and Boyega’s own pathetic performance intimating to some PR fans that he may have been miscast – in spite of the movie being shot mainly in Sydney.
Vic’s Verdict: 2 ½ Stars
