If the first Pacific Rim made us all feel like giddy fifth graders, Pacific Rim: Uprising
makes us feel like giddy fifth graders just wrote the movie.
Steven S. DeKnight's sequel plays like a $150 million after-school cartoon — a city-leveling
monster mash with Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
And there's no world in which that's a truly bad thing.
Of course, the humans win the day, fighting back the Kaiju threat by learning the value
of teamwork.
Even Ms. Shao sets aside her corporate greed to assist the Jaeger pilots with their mission
to stop the Kaiju assault on Mt. Fuji.
But was it all so clear-cut?
Let's clear up those pesky little details that you may have missed in the final act.
Here's the ending of Pacific Rim: Uprising explained.
Spoilers ahead, of course.
Crazy Newt
Newton Geizsler, resident Kaiju biological expert, was one of the best characters in
the first film.
A little crazy, a little genius, he was the one who finally put all the pieces together
so the Jaeger pilots knew how to close the breach once and for all.
How'd he do it?
Drifting with a chunk of Kaiju brain.
"And I'd like you to know it's all your fault.
It really is, you drove me to this.
In which case ha I also won.
sort of."
Clearly, it made him a little crazy.
When Newton's first introduced in Pacific Rim: Uprising, you just think he's kind of
a jerk because all that success went to his head.
Eventually, though, it's revealed that Newt's private drift sessions with the Kaiju hive
mind have turned him into a lunatic brainwashed traitor.
And from that point on, all the chaos happening in Tokyo is being controlled by him…or is
it?
Right before the mega-Kaiju leaves Tokyo, it approaches the building where Newt's watching
the show and gives him a disapproving look, like that Kaiju beast kind of wants him dead
too.
Because even though Newt made it possible for the Kaiju to come back, in the end he
was just a pawn for their schemes.
Kaiju centipede
After the breaches are shut down, the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps realize that three Kaiju made
it to Earth.
These three baddies all converge on Tokyo, where the remaining Jaegers take a stand to
protect the city.
In the midst of all this city saving, Newt releases his swarm of micro drones that bond
the three Kaiju into one massive Mechagodzilla Kaiju, stitching them together like an interdimensional
human centipede.
If you blinked, you may have missed the transformation.
One second there are three big lizards, the next there's only one bigger, more menacing
one.
The film later shows a hologram of the creature with its three brains — one for each adjoining
Kaiju — lined up inside the big beast's body.
Kamikaze strike
So this massive Kaiju-tron is heading for Mt. Fuji, because falling into a volcano is
the best way for the Precursors — the alien species that created the Kaiju — to terraform
the Earth to suit their needs.
Since the monster has three brains, it also has three weak spots, and the regular attacks
aren't going to work.
It'll take too long to destroy one brain, let alone three of them.
This is no time for sparkle whips.
With no other option, Jake Pentecost and Amara launch their Yaeger almost into space, planning
to drop it directly onto the Kaiju like Kirby's Super Smash Bros. rock smash.
"Game!"
Knucklehead
When things — whether they be spaceships, meteorites, or robots — fall through Earth's
atmosphere from space, they get hot.
Like 3,000 degrees hot.
So how did Jake and Amara survive their reentry in a robot diving head-first with a broken
faceplate?
One word: knuckles.
As they begin their descent, you can see the Yaeger's knuckles turn red hot — it's shielding
their open cockpit.
Not only does their heroic dive look cool, it's functional, too!
Would that have actually made a difference?
Yeah, probably not.
"But nobody's expecting the giant robot movie to be scientifically accurate.
The point is, it was nice that they tried."
Pacific trilogy
In the pre-credits scene, we see Dr. Newton Geiszler being held captive in a dark, gloomy
bunker somewhere.
He's still off his rocker, spouting nonsense about how the overlords will find a way to
come back, and there's no way humans will be able to stop them this time.
Viewers probably felt a minor stirring in their bowels, picturing a third film in the
works.
In an interview with IGN, John Boyega, who played Jake Pentecost and also served as a
producer on Uprising, reiterated the potential for a third film, saying
"We'll probably have to go to their world this time."
While the box office numbers will ultimately be the deciding factor in whether or not we
get to see a third Pacific Rim film, we definitely have our fleshy, non-Jaeger fingers crossed.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!