Pacific Rim Uprising: An Awesome and Entertaining Mess.

45%. Forty five freakin' percent. THIS is what movie critics think of Pacific Rim Uprising. With a crushingly low score and low Box-office record (in the United States), people are under the impression that Pacific Rim Uprising is hot garbage. Let me assure you that it is decidedly NOT. 

"Hu u", you ask? Well, I'm JJ: a regular dude with both regular and irregular tastes. I'm a corporate slave--- I mean employee who enjoys anime, video games and movies. I am a consumer of pop culture, a cog in the machine, a denizen of the interwebs and a flat-out geek who like every single male my age, grew up watching giant robots punch each other to death.

"But JJ, why should your opinion count? Where are your credentials proving your authority and knowledge about movies?" That's the point. I'm just an average Joe who likes watching movies and at the same time, I'm also *that* dude who geeks out on Gundams AND Go Nagai Super-robots (Voltes V etc). 

In short, I am you, only angrier. 

I'm not saying that the critics are wrong. Their "complaints" were valid. Pacific Rim Uprising is an inferior movie to the original. The writing was sub-par, the dialogue felt awkward at times, and the overall cinematography was simply WORSE than the original.

In the first Pacific Rim, the audience gets a feel of just how massive and destructive the Jaegers and Kaijus were. Their movements had momentum and weight and the surroundings did not feel like props but real-world locations being deliciously crushed to bits by massive brawling titans. In the second movie, the plot was a cliche color-by-numbers Power Rangers script that was aimed at an older audience but written for (or if you're being mean, BY) 10-year-old kids. But this is where I want to put my two-cents: It MAY BE mediocre but it was definitely NOT the dungheap critics would warn you about.

IN SPITE of all my grievances, I was utterly and thoroughly entertained. Sure, it was stupid. But you're not watching Pacific Rim Uprising for the plot, you're there for what the trailer promised: ROBOTS AND MONSTERS! And Pacific Rim Uprising spared no expense to bring you that.

The fight scenes were epic, colorful and satisfyingly CLEAR, much like watching Ultraman or Voltes V fight against the episode's requisite monster. Sure, the movements looked more like human-sized robots fighting monsters in a prop city, but few people would notice it right there and then, much less your average movie-goer.There were enough cool moments and tension-building portions of the fight scenes to entertain any fan of robot-vs-robot-vs-monster action while retaining that coherence sorely lacking in the Transformers franchise. Name ONE movie (excluding the original) that isn't an animated cartoon that can boast such a feat. No, the Transformers franchise does not count, unless you consider angry junkyard robot sex as fight scenes. 

Plot-wise it felt more like your typical B-movie; a thinly veiled excuse to start a robot-versus-monster fight. It was very similar to your typical mecha anime plot, with maybe a bit of super-sentai/power-rangers "YAY TEAMWORK" elements. Which is again not necessarily a bad thing: Chances are, you're interested in watching Pacific Rim Uprising because you were a fan of the first movie. And like any fan, you were looking for an excuse to see Jaegers fight against other Jaegers. WELL HERE YOU GO! Let's introduce rogue Jaegers! Let's introduce a new type of threat!. Point is, the simplicity of the plot had a purpose: To deliver what the audience came for in the shortest time possible. It needed to move the story forward while justifying the need for character subplots to provide the motivation for the MAIN EVENT. It was created so we can watch Voltes V team up with Mazinger Z and Daimos to punch Godzilla to death. 

Pacific Rim Uprising was a mess. The plot was a mess. The characters were bland (but had good chemistry). The cinematography was inferior to the original. BUT IT WAS FANBOY WISH  FULFILLMENT. It was beyond a doubt, an awesome and entertaining mess.