Pacific Rim Uprising
Oct. 22nd, 2019 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI enjoyed it.
+ I think an issue with the movie was that it was trying to do too much with too many characters in too little time. They either should have focused more on the cadets or more on Jake. By dividing the story between Jake and Amara it weakened both stories but especially Amara and the cadets.
+ Drift compatibility was so important in the first movie but this one really glossed over it and treated it as if it was no big deal. Especially with Amara and her co-pilots of Bracer Phoenix. They definitely needed to do more with her relationships with Viktoria and Jinhai to make that successful Drift more believable. At least give us one scene of the three of them practicing/trying to drift before everything went to hell! I did love the Amara/Jinhai hug and that the Russian he taught her was 'kiss my ass', lol. The Amara/Vik tension and fight was also good.
+ I was not happy that Mako's died. That was completely unnecessary and annoyed me. It would have been better imo, if Jake had caught her helicopter enough that it didn't explode upon crashing. Then him jumping out of his jaeger would be marginally less dumb if it was followed by him running to the helicopter, pulling an injured Mako out and managing to get away before Obsidian Fury blew up the helicopter. He told her that "I have your back" and it would have been nice if he did and managed to save her when there was nothing he could do to save his father. She could have told them the info she discovered (instead of relying on 'oh the jamming doesn't entirely work) and then spent the rest of the film in the hospital.
On the positive side: I really liked Mako/Jake and wanted more of them. It's clear that they had a strong and loving relationship and I liked that a lot. I loved that moment when she touched the window as she fell past Gipsy Danger. I loved that she was working to help save the world even as her helicopter was crashing. She looked great. I like that she was so successful after the last movie and her becoming Secretary General of the PPDC was great since they wanted her out of piloting.
+ I liked both Jake and Amara. I loved that Amara built her own Jaeger.
+ I liked the Jake and Amara relationship. I liked the bickering and the growing understanding between them and that they ended up partnering in the final fight. They worked for me. I loved the moment between them when they thought they were going to die. The snowball fight was cute.
+ I loved the twist that Newt was the bad guy. It made sense to me that him Drifting with the Kaiju's brain would have consequences. I found evil Newt pretty fun. I wonder just how much he's been taken over by the Precurors? He seems very him most of the time, well considering he's trying to end the world. Is he possessed? The creepy voice says yes. But he also seems very human and himself most of the time so how does it work?
+ I loved that little moment when Newt walks into the lab with a gun and his female scientist second in command (?) is like "I always knew you'd go crazy!" as she runs out, lol. And then he fires her. Again. It was great. Actually I loved her other scene too. Where she's skeptical about getting the drones out in 48hrs and he fires her and her reaction is to roll her eyes, sarcastically go 'fine' and lift her hands in a whatever gesture. You know what, she's barely in the movie but I freaking love her.
+ Liwen was excellent. I liked that she wasn't evil and I loved that she got to be involved in the final battle not just by deactivating the drones but also by remote piloting Scapper. Also she has great style. I wanted more of her.
+ I love that Scrapper came back at the end and was used the help save the day and was essential in saving Jake and Amara.
+ The half-hearted Jake/Jules/Nate triangle was weird. It was as if they felt like they had to add romance but didn't want to and this nothing was the result. Jake flirts with her when they meet, Nate keeps warning him off (but not in an overly jealous way), she and both boys only interact in plot ways until she and Nate have a 'moment' in the attack and then she kisses both of them on the cheek... What is that? I'd rather they had gotten rid of those tiny moments, or had alternatively focused more on it. As a character we don't really know much about Jules or her personality. Give her more focus!
+ Poor Suresh. It does strain credulity a bit that he was the only one to die in that big final fight. At the very least shouldn't Ilya have died/been more messed up since their neural link was still active when he died? I have nothing against any of the characters but it needed more death.
+ Man, they were super really not fussed about destroying buildings. Just no care at all.
+ There being no mention of Raleigh was weird.
+ I think an issue with the movie was that it was trying to do too much with too many characters in too little time. They either should have focused more on the cadets or more on Jake. By dividing the story between Jake and Amara it weakened both stories but especially Amara and the cadets.
+ Drift compatibility was so important in the first movie but this one really glossed over it and treated it as if it was no big deal. Especially with Amara and her co-pilots of Bracer Phoenix. They definitely needed to do more with her relationships with Viktoria and Jinhai to make that successful Drift more believable. At least give us one scene of the three of them practicing/trying to drift before everything went to hell! I did love the Amara/Jinhai hug and that the Russian he taught her was 'kiss my ass', lol. The Amara/Vik tension and fight was also good.
+ I was not happy that Mako's died. That was completely unnecessary and annoyed me. It would have been better imo, if Jake had caught her helicopter enough that it didn't explode upon crashing. Then him jumping out of his jaeger would be marginally less dumb if it was followed by him running to the helicopter, pulling an injured Mako out and managing to get away before Obsidian Fury blew up the helicopter. He told her that "I have your back" and it would have been nice if he did and managed to save her when there was nothing he could do to save his father. She could have told them the info she discovered (instead of relying on 'oh the jamming doesn't entirely work) and then spent the rest of the film in the hospital.
On the positive side: I really liked Mako/Jake and wanted more of them. It's clear that they had a strong and loving relationship and I liked that a lot. I loved that moment when she touched the window as she fell past Gipsy Danger. I loved that she was working to help save the world even as her helicopter was crashing. She looked great. I like that she was so successful after the last movie and her becoming Secretary General of the PPDC was great since they wanted her out of piloting.
+ I liked both Jake and Amara. I loved that Amara built her own Jaeger.
+ I liked the Jake and Amara relationship. I liked the bickering and the growing understanding between them and that they ended up partnering in the final fight. They worked for me. I loved the moment between them when they thought they were going to die. The snowball fight was cute.
+ I loved the twist that Newt was the bad guy. It made sense to me that him Drifting with the Kaiju's brain would have consequences. I found evil Newt pretty fun. I wonder just how much he's been taken over by the Precurors? He seems very him most of the time, well considering he's trying to end the world. Is he possessed? The creepy voice says yes. But he also seems very human and himself most of the time so how does it work?
+ I loved that little moment when Newt walks into the lab with a gun and his female scientist second in command (?) is like "I always knew you'd go crazy!" as she runs out, lol. And then he fires her. Again. It was great. Actually I loved her other scene too. Where she's skeptical about getting the drones out in 48hrs and he fires her and her reaction is to roll her eyes, sarcastically go 'fine' and lift her hands in a whatever gesture. You know what, she's barely in the movie but I freaking love her.
+ Liwen was excellent. I liked that she wasn't evil and I loved that she got to be involved in the final battle not just by deactivating the drones but also by remote piloting Scapper. Also she has great style. I wanted more of her.
+ I love that Scrapper came back at the end and was used the help save the day and was essential in saving Jake and Amara.
+ The half-hearted Jake/Jules/Nate triangle was weird. It was as if they felt like they had to add romance but didn't want to and this nothing was the result. Jake flirts with her when they meet, Nate keeps warning him off (but not in an overly jealous way), she and both boys only interact in plot ways until she and Nate have a 'moment' in the attack and then she kisses both of them on the cheek... What is that? I'd rather they had gotten rid of those tiny moments, or had alternatively focused more on it. As a character we don't really know much about Jules or her personality. Give her more focus!
+ Poor Suresh. It does strain credulity a bit that he was the only one to die in that big final fight. At the very least shouldn't Ilya have died/been more messed up since their neural link was still active when he died? I have nothing against any of the characters but it needed more death.
+ Man, they were super really not fussed about destroying buildings. Just no care at all.
+ There being no mention of Raleigh was weird.
