Pacific Rim: Uprising
Entry updated 2 November 2026. Tagged: Film.
US film (2018). Legendary Pictures. Directed by Steven S DeKnight. Written by Emily Carmichael, DeKnight, T S Nowlin, and Kira Snyder, based on characters created by Travis Beacham. Cast includes Adria Arjona, John Boyega, Charlie Day, Scott Eastwood, Burn Gorman, Rinko Kikuchi, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, and Max Zhang. 111 minutes. Colour.
This sequel to Pacific Rim (2013) begins ten years later, when the world has re-established a force of the giant human-controlled Robots or Mecha called jaegers, under the leadership of former jaeger pilot Mako Mori (Kikuchi), in anticipation of another Invasion of monstrous Kaiju emerging from another Dimension under the Pacific Ocean to attack humanity. Another former jaeger pilot, Jake Pentecost (Boyega), is now in the shady business of trafficking in used jaeger parts when he encounters the precocious jaeger mechanic Amara Namani (Spaeny); when they are captured, Mako cajoles him into becoming a trainer for new jaeger pilots, including Amara, while working alongside an old antagonist, Nate Lambert (Eastwood). Complications arise when the Aliens take mental control of Scientist Newt Geiszler (Day), who creates jaegers with kaiju brains that begin opposing the humans; the aliens also take over the drones built by entrepreneur Liwen Shao (Tian) to fight the kaiju. After a series of colourful battles involving Jake, Amara, and Nate pitted against evil jaegers, drones, kaiju, and an enormous mega-kaiju, the aliens are defeated, though they are expected to return.
After a lengthy and dull prologue establishing the film's premises and characters, Pacific Rim: Uprising belatedly becomes entertaining, with well-rendered mayhem in the tradition of giant Monster movies. But the science behind the sudden interest of the kaiju in rare earth Elements, and the combination of those elements and kaiju blood to create a powerful new fuel, is far from persuasive. The film also reverses the story of another sequel about alien invaders, Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), in that here it is the aliens that learn from their opponents' Technology to become more formidable opponents, and it is logical to imagine that, as jaegers become more common, a black market in jaeger parts might emerge to be employed by do-it-yourselfers like Amara. Despite these and other novelties, this film was not as successful as its predecessor, perhaps because it lacked the commanding presence of actor Idris Elba, or perhaps because the film was largely offering audiences what they had already seen before on many occasions. In light of its disappointing returns, plans for a second sequel were abandoned.
The novelization is Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) by Alex Irvine. [GW]
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