Pacific Rim: Uprising:Synopsis: John Boyega stars as the rebellious Jake Pentecost, a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity's victory against the monstrous "Kaiju." Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld. But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through our cities and bring the world to its knees, he is given one last chance to live up to his father's legacy by his estranged sister, Mako Mori, who is leading a brave new generation of pilots that have grown up in the shadow of war. As they seek justice for the fallen, their only hope is to unite together in a global uprising against the forces of extinction. Jake is joined by gifted rival pilot Lambert and 15-year-old Jaeger hacker Amara, as the heroes of the PPDC become the only family he has left. Rising up to become the most powerful defense force to ever walk the earth, they will set course for a spectacular all-new adventure on a towering scale.
My thoughts: Obviously not as strong as the first as it wasn't a love letter to the genre that Guillermo Del Toro crafted in the original but newcomer Steven S. DeKnight does enough to make it a worthy sequel. Writing was strong and the chemistry of the leads was well fleshed out.
Final verdict: 4 dead Kaiju out of 5.
Synopsis: The parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier has nightmares with her childhood in New Mexico, where she lived with her brother Christian, her supportive mother Audrey and her father Gerald, who frequently beats her when she claims that she sees ghosts everywhere in the house. When the client Ted Garza calls Elise to ask for help since he is haunted since he moved to a house in New Mexico, Elise refuses the request since the address is the same house where she spent her childhood. However she changes her mind and accepts the job, and travels with her assistants Specs and Tucker to New Mexico where they will discover an evil entity in the house.
My thoughts: The scares are effective enough but the draw here is the fan favourite team of Tucker, Specs and of course Elise. As this film shows them joining up in the first place, however outside of their tremendous chemistry and the scares there isn't much else, the other actors fell flat and the script and direction was not nearly as strong as previous entries... I'd like to see them do a #5 and get it right but at what point do we stop giving them some leash?
Final verdict: 3 dead franchises out of 5.
Synopsis: In this action-packed thriller, Liam Neeson is Michael, an insurance salesman, whose daily commute home quickly becomes anything but routine. After being confronted by a mysterious stranger (Vera Farmiga), Michael is blackmailed into finding the identity of a passenger on his train before the last stop. As he works against the clock to solve the puzzle, Michael is unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that carries life and death stakes for himself and his fellow passengers.
My thoughts: Okay, I'm not going to lie to you and say that this is some new earth shattering performance from Liam Neeson, it's not. It's basically a retread of what he's been doing since the first Taken film came out but you can do a lot worse than this flick even though it's terribly predictable.
Final verdict: 3 dead Liam Neeson plots out of 5.
