March 21, 2018 (TCL Chinese Theatre)
March 23, 2018 (United States)
Pacific Rim Uprising is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Steven S. DeKnight (in his feature-film directorial and writing debut), and written by DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder and T.S. Nowlin. It is the sequel to the 2013 film Pacific Rim, and second installment in the Pacific Rim franchise. Guillermo del Toro, director of the first movie, serves as a producer; while production studios Legendary Pictures and Double Dare You Productions developed the movie. The sequel stars John Boyega, as well as Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny in her film debut, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona and Zhang Jin, with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman returning from the original film. Set ten years after the events of the first film, Pacific Rim Uprising sees former pilot and Stacker Pentecost's son Jake (Boyega) returning to the Pan Pacific Defense Corps to prevent a renewed Kaiju–giant sea monsters–threat sent by the extraterrestrial Precursors.
Principal photography began in November 2016 in Queensland, Australia. Pacific Rim Uprising premiered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 15, 2018, and was released in the United States on March 23, by Universal Pictures (unlike its predecessor, which was released by Warner Bros. Pictures). With a gross of $290.9 million worldwide, the film was a box-office disappointment. It also received mixed reviews; many critics considered it inferior to del Toro's film and criticized its story, while praising its visual effects, action sequences, and performances of Boyega, Eastwood and Spaeny. It was followed in 2021 by a 14-episode animated series on Netflix.
Storyline
In 2035, ten years after the Breach—an interdimensional portal on which the extraterrestrial Precursors and giant sea monsters called Kaiju live—was sealed, former Jaeger pilot and Stacker Pentecost's son Jake makes a living by stealing and selling Jaeger parts on the black market in Santa Monica, California. After he tracks part of a disabled Jaeger's power core to the secret workshop of fifteen-year-old Jaeger enthusiast Amara Namani, both are apprehended by the Pan Pacific Defense Corps (PPDC) following an altercation between Amara's small, single-pilot Jaeger Scrapper and the law enforcement Jaeger November Ajax. Jake's adoptive sister and Japanese Senator Mako Mori persuades him to return to PPDC as an instructor to avoid prison, with Amara as his recruit.
Arriving at the China Shatterdome, Jake starts training Jaeger cadets with his estranged former co-pilot Nathan "Nate" Lambert. Nate and Mako explain that the Jaeger program is threatened by the Shao Industries' new drone program, which offers to mass-produce Jaeger drones developed by Liwen Shao and Dr. Newton "Newt" Geiszler. Mako is due to deliver a final assessment to determine the approval of the drones at a PPDC council meeting in Sydney, but is killed by a rogue Jaeger, Obsidian Fury, during an altercation with the latter and Gipsy Avenger, Jake and Nate's Jaeger, before she can. Her death prompts the PPDC council to authorize and deploy the drones immediately. Obsidian Fury escapes into the ocean before backup Jaegers can apprehend it.
Moments before her death, Mako had transmitted the location of a defunct Jaeger production facility in Siberia. Jake and Nate travel there in Gipsy Avenger, but Obsidian Fury destroys the complex and engages them in battle. Although Obsidian Fury initially has the upper hand, Gipsy Avenger is able to overpower the Jaeger. Upon removing its reactor, they find that Obsidian Fury was controlled not by humans, but by a Kaiju's secondary brain, which testing shows was grown on Earth.
When the drones reach their respective locations, their piloting operations are hijacked by cloned Kaiju brains secretly mounted onboard. The Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids simultaneously attack all Shatterdomes, inflicting heavy casualties and incapacitating almost all Jaegers. While attempting to disable the drones, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb discovers that Newt, whose mind is possessed by the Precursors due to the scientists' drift with Kaiju brains, is responsible for the attack when he commands the Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids to open multiple breaches across the Pacific Rim. Newt has also placed the brains for both the drones and Obsidian Fury in proceeding the Precursors' plan.
As Liwen destroys the drones, closing the breaches in the process, three Kaiju—Hakuja, Shrikethorn, and Raijin—had already emerged and reached Tokyo. The team realizes that the Precursors' true goal is to detonate Mount Fuji with the Kaijus' blood which will cause every volcano lining the Ring of Fire to erupt, releasing volcanic matter into the atmosphere and wiping out all life on Earth. This simultaneously causes terraformation of the planet for Precursor colonization.
The cadets are mobilized while Hermann and Liwen repair the PPDC's four salvageable Jaegers; Hermann develops Kaiju-blood-powered rockets, which launch the team to Tokyo. Although the Jaegers, including Gipsy Avenger, initially repel the three Kaiju, Newt merges them into a "Mega-Kaiju" using robotic parasites from one of Liwen's factories. Three of the four Jaegers are destroyed, leaving Gipsy Avenger as the only one remaining. Jake and Amara, replacing the injured Nate, pilot it against the Mega-Kaiju, with Liwen remote piloting Scrapper and aiding them by locating a rocket and welding it to Gipsy, which sends the Jaeger (with Scrapper holding on) into the atmosphere and free-falling back to Earth, colliding into the Mega-Kaiju and killing it at the last second; Jake and Amara survive by transferring to Scrapper. Enraged at the Mega-Kaiju's death, Newt attempts to initiate a "Plan B" but is knocked out and captured by Nate. Later, Jake speaks with Newt, who warns of the Precursors' return. Jake states that humanity is preparing for the upcoming war.
Also See
Sound Effects Used
- E2, Tiger - Loud, Fierce Roar (Used for Hakuja.)