Okay so yes I have been to see Pacific Rim Uprising (2018), but what I think about it isn’t the important thing right now. (It has more clarity than the first Pacific Rim (2013) and so exposes more dumb things about the entire premise; Jing Tian was surprisingly good, Charlie Day did his Sam Rockwell impression, and John Boyega had an absolute blast. Also, the title has no colon(!!).) The whole reason I’m writing this piece—the reason I went to see it in the first place—is to present to you three remarkable reviews.
First is a short theater piece by Glen Weldon, in which he presents his views in a press conference Q&A format. It works very well, because this film stands up not at all to analytical scrutiny, but is perfectly suited to the “You have to go see it!” kind of word of mouth.
Next we have a work of speculative fiction by Bilge Ebiri, in which a father and son discuss some ancient Pacific Rim toys they find in his garage. It’s a perspicacious stab at the film’s likely place in cultural history. Also, its creativity garnered some media attention; it’s not every day that multiple journalists write about a single film review!
Finally, I give you Noah Waldman’s mindblowing take on the film’s world-building elements. Sure, it’s just a dumb popcorn flick, but if we start thinking about the intervening ten years between the events of the two films, we quickly hit upon some downright horrific conclusions. You know how WWI basically led to WWII? Yeah.
Review Film Review 