- Actors: John Boyega;Scott Eastwood;Jing Tian;Cailee Spaeny;Rinko Kikuchi;Burn Gorman;Adria Arjona;Jin 'Max' Zhang;Charlie Day
- Director: Steven S. DeKnight
- Disc Format: 4K, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Subtitles: French, Spanish, English
- Region: Region A/1
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rated: PG-13
- Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
- Release Date: June 19, 2018
- Run Time: 111 minutes
Some sequels are
never asked for, because the original was never so loved that it demanded more
screen time. But Pacific Rim Uprising
doesn’t feel like a sequel, despite a few minor characters returning. Instead,
it feels like a complete reboot of the idea, complete with new protagonists and
focus shifted even more towards escapist entertainment. And one would also have
to be extremely naïve not to realize the extent that Pacific Rim Uprising is tailor-made to be exported to the Asian
film markets. Despite the American cast, the Pacific Rim franchise is built upon the giant monster (Kaiju)
sub-genre that was first popularized in Japan.
While there is a
distinct shortage of Asian actors in leading roles, Pacific Rim Uprising does make a conscious effort towards diversity
in the casting. John Boyega stars as Jake Pentecost, the son of a hero Jaegar
pilot from the first film. Jaegars are giant robots created to combat the
arrival of the Kaiju monsters from portals in the sea. Although Jake initially
followed in his father’s footsteps, the lack of monsters to fight led him to
pursue of life of cheap pleasures instead. Having closed the portals at the end
of the last film, the biggest task of the Jaegar pilots is hunting down humans
who have patched together their own illegal robots.
15-year-old
Amara (Cailee Spaeny) is one of these amateur Jaegar pilots, until she is
caught alongside Jake when they attempt to steal the same robot parts.
Threatened with jail time, Jake is convinced by his former co-pilot, Lambert
(Scott Eastwood), to train the hacker teenager how to become a real pilot. And
when breaches begin to occur, with Kaiju slipping through to attack major
cities, Amara’s skills and the bond between her and Jake may be the only thing
protecting humanity.
The storyline is all fairly
predictable, aside from a minor mystery about the reason for the portal
breaches, leaving a majority of the film’s enjoyment to come from pure
spectacle. Although not as mindless as the Transformers
franchise, there is a similar shift towards visual effects and flashy
action over narrative substance. If this occasionally makes the movie appear as
though it came from the mind of a child with action figures, I suppose that is
just part of the charm of watching a film about giant robots. It may not be as
well made as the original, but it does seem to have more fun with the premise.
This special effects bonanza is one
of the benefits of a 4K Ultra HD presentation. It doesn’t make the movie any
better, but the watching of it is certainly closer to the enjoyment of a
theater experience. The colors are incredibly rich and deep, which especially
seems to help in the darker sequences, along with the enhanced clarity. The
immersive audio is also an improvement on the 4K disc, as opposed to Blu-ray,
which is also included along with a digital copy.
Not only are there three ways to
watch the film, but Pacific Rim Uprising
also comes with a decent collection of special features on both of the discs.
There are a handful of deleted scenes, which all have an optional commentary
track by director Steven DeKnight, explaining why they were cut. There are also
more than a few featurettes, most of which are promotional in nature. They
cover everything from the new cast of characters/actors to the design of the
new robots/monsters, as well as discussion of the original that inspired this
new installment.
Entertainment Value:
7.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 5/10
Special Features: 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment