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PACIFIC RIM : UPRISING
Dir: Steven S DeKnight (12A 120 mins)
Guillermo del Toro brought us an initial monsters vs robots mash up several years ago, it was loud, CGI heavy and, for Del Toro, rather dull. Surprisingly this sequel has emerged under the guidance of newly minted Star Wars regular John Boyega promising more of the same, but bigger. Initially due to be directed by Del Toro, he went on to make the rather more sublime The Shape of Water, leaving Daredevil and Spartacus writer DeKnight to make his feature debut. Boyega plays Jake Pentecost, the fantastically named son of Idris Elba’s character from the forgettable first film, a promising pilot who following his father’s death has fallen in with the criminal underworld. As a new threat looms however, he is brought back into the fold by half sister Mako Mori played by Rinko Kikuchi and creates a new family for himself, including rival Nate played by Scott Eastwood and a teen hacker played by Cailee Speney. They, along with a new generation of pilots, are sent to do battle with the weirdly limbed creatures emerging from under the sea. Cities are levelled, Charlie Day attempts to be funny and Burn Gorman twitches once more as trite dialogue is exchanged, and as the umpteenth CGI brawl ensues it’s hard to care.
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Opens March 23