You remember the first time you saw Pacific Rim in 2013, right? That sense of absolute scale. When a Jaeger punched a Kaiju, you didn't just see it; you felt the rattling in your teeth. Guillermo del Toro basically gave us a love letter to mecha and monsters, wrapped in rain-soaked, neon-drenched practical effects. It was heavy. It was industrial.
Then came Pacific Rim 2, officially titled Pacific Rim Uprising.
Honestly, the shift was jarring. Gone was the atmospheric grime of the first film, replaced by bright, sunny skylines and robots that moved like they were in an Olympic gymnastics floor routine. If you’ve ever wondered why the sequel feels like a completely different beast—or why a third movie seems to be stuck in permanent limbo—you’re not alone.
What Actually Happened with Pacific Rim 2?
Production for the sequel was a bit of a mess. Most people don't realize that Guillermo del Toro was actually ready to go. He had a script. He had a vision. But a "clerical error" with the studio's deposit for the Toronto soundstages supposedly cost him the space he needed. While he waited, he went off and made The Shape of Water, which eventually won him an Oscar.
By the time things got moving again, Steven S. DeKnight (the guy who ran the first season of Daredevil on Netflix) took the director's chair.
The story jumped forward ten years to 2035. We meet Jake Pentecost, played by John Boyega. He’s the son of Stacker Pentecost—Idris Elba’s character who "canceled the apocalypse" in the first flick. Jake isn’t a war hero, though. He’s a scavenger stealing Jaeger parts to trade for "hot sauce" and luxury items in the ruins of old cities.
The Tone Shift Nobody Asked For
The biggest gripe fans have? The weight. Or lack of it.
In the original film, the Jaegers were massive. They felt like walking skyscrapers. When Gipsy Danger moved, there was a delay, a hydraulic hiss, a sense of massive inertia. In Pacific Rim 2, the Jaegers are fast. Way too fast. They’re jumping, spinning, and sprinting through Tokyo like they’re made of carbon fiber instead of thousands of tons of steel.
It turned a gritty sci-fi war movie into something that felt a bit more like a live-action Saturday morning cartoon. Some people liked that! It’s flashy. It’s colorful. But for the die-hards who loved del Toro’s "junk-tech" aesthetic, it felt like a step backward.
Characters, New Faces, and a Controversial Death
John Boyega actually brings a ton of charisma to the role of Jake. He’s funny, irreverent, and has great chemistry with Cailee Spaeny, who plays Amara Namani, a 15-year-old mechanical genius who built her own "scrappy" Jaeger named Scrapper.
But then there’s the Mako Mori situation.
Rinko Kikuchi’s Mako was the heart of the first film. In Uprising, she’s relegated to a supporting administrative role and then—spoiler alert—killed off in a helicopter crash about halfway through. For many, this was the "jump the shark" moment. Killing a beloved protagonist to provide "motivation" for a new male lead is a trope that hasn't aged well, and the fandom hasn't really forgiven the writers for it.
The Weird Twist with Dr. Newton Geiszler
One thing Pacific Rim 2 did that was actually pretty gutsy was making Charlie Day’s character, Newt, the villain.
Basically, Newt drifted with a Kaiju brain too many times. The Precursors (the aliens from the other dimension) basically "hacked" his mind. He becomes an emissary for the monsters, living in a creepy apartment with a Kaiju brain in a tank that he calls "Alice." It’s weird. It’s campy. It’s totally different from the first movie’s vibe, but Charlie Day looks like he’s having the time of his life being a total psycho.
By the Numbers: Was it a Flop?
Let's look at the cold, hard cash.
The first Pacific Rim wasn't a massive domestic hit in the US, but it exploded in China, eventually pulling in about $411 million worldwide. That’s what earned it a sequel.
Pacific Rim Uprising had a budget somewhere between $150 million and $176 million. It ended its theatrical run with roughly $290 million. In Hollywood math, once you factor in the massive marketing costs and the cut that theaters take, a movie usually needs to make double its budget just to break even.
Pacific Rim 2 didn't hit that mark. It was a box office disappointment.
The Future: Is There a Pacific Rim 3?
Right now? Don't hold your breath for a live-action trilogy capper.
The "Uprising War" was continued in the Netflix anime series Pacific Rim: The Black, which actually does a decent job of bridging the gap between the two movies and expanding the lore. It introduces the idea of "Kaiju-Jaeger hybrids" and shows what happened to Australia after the continent was basically abandoned to the monsters.
If you’re looking for more Jaeger action, that’s your best bet.
What You Should Do Now
If you've only seen the movies and want to see the "true" spirit of the franchise, check out these steps:
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- Watch Pacific Rim: The Black on Netflix: It leans harder into the horror and survival aspects that the sequel missed.
- Read the Graphic Novels: Books like Pacific Rim: Tales From The Drift offer backstories on the Mark-1 through Mark-3 Jaegers that never got screen time.
- Re-watch the 2013 original: Pay attention to the lighting and the sound design. It’s a masterclass in making the impossible feel "heavy" and real.
At the end of the day, Pacific Rim 2 tried to be a "bigger, louder" version of its predecessor. It succeeded in being bigger, but it lost that specific soul that made the original a cult classic. Whether you love it for the spectacle or hate it for the changes, it’s an essential chapter in mecha cinema history—even if it's a messy one.