Ten years have passed since Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi’s heroes channeled their inner Stacker Pentecost and canceled the apocalypse, but the years have not been kind to the PPDC’s (Pan Pacific Defense Corps) Jaeger program.
Written off as a costly and unnecessary endeavor once the Kaiju have been defeated, by the time Pacific Rim: Uprising begins, those towering mechs will ostensibly be collecting dust – that is, until those otherworldly creatures begin to claw their way back from beyond the Breach. And so, the PPDC begins to mount a defense against yet another mass invasion.
Headed up by two Jaeger pilots – played here by John Boyega (The Force Awakens) and Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad) – the Mark VI fleet of Pacific Rim: Uprising is armed to the teeth with WMDs and other bells and whistles. Heck, one could even argue that each bipedal Jaeger is a WMD in and of itself, and thanks to the film’s larger than life first trailer, we now have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the hugely anticipated sequel.
In short, if it’s ridiculously entertaining action scenes set to a killer soundtrack that you’re after, you’ve come to the right place. Admittedly, there is a bit of a Transformers vibe to this footage that’s slightly worrying, but on the whole, it’s still a very promising look at Uprising and has us hopeful that it’ll live up to its fantastic predecessor.
Behind the scenes, poor timing ultimately forced Guillermo del Toro to vacate the director’s chair, after he spent the past little while toiling away on The Shape of Water. However that may be, it seems the illustrious Mexican filmmaker hasn’t given up on that long-rumored spinoff TV series just yet.
It may be some time before we get any further updates on that one, but circling back to Uprising, and casting-wise, it features a who’s who of international talent, including Jing Tian (The Great Wall), Wesley Wong, Lily Ji, Lan Yingying, Qian Yongchen, Zhang Jin, and newcomers Cailee Spaeny and Chen Zitong.
Make no mistake about it, folks. The Kaiju are mounting their resurgence, which only means that there’s another apocalypse looming over the horizon. Pacific Rim: Uprising has been scheduled for release on March 23rd, 2018 – one month after its initial due date. Other films penciled in for the same window include Marvel’s Black Panther, the untitled Cloverfield 3 and, crucially, not Shane Black’s reboot of The Predator, which recently uprooted for a late summer corridor.
