Guilty Pleasures #54 - Pacific Rim: Uprising

There’s something about giant robots fighting giant monsters that’s just awesome. It’s why shows like Power Rangers, Transformers, Voltron and various anime still last till this day. I said I’d be awaiting this sequel with interest, and so here we are. Pacific Rim: Uprising.

Pacific Rim Uprising had a troubled development, there was a dispute over something or another (likely budget) between the distributors Universal Studios and the production company Legendary Pictures that lead to production being delayed by a year. Guillermo Del Toro, although instrumental in getting the film off the ground, was not directing this one (he was doing The Shape of Water, he got the better end of that deal) and a rewritten script by Steven S DeKnight (who also directs), Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder (no relation to Zack or Scott Snyder) and the soon to be infamous on Rage Issues T S Nowlin

The film had a budget of around $190m and made $270m at the box office, a significant downgrade on its predecessor and likely a financial failure for the studios. Critics and audiences gave it a mixed response with 44% and 41% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes respectively with average scores of 5/10 and 3/5. So, what is it about this one where people drew the line where they didn’t last time? Let’s take a look and find out.