I was so excited when this film was announced because the original Pacific Rim is one of my favorite movies of all time, plus this would be starring one of my favorite actors, John Boyega. However, it just can't hold a candle to its predecessor. I'm all for sequels exploring a new cast of characters, but I really think this film needed one or more cameos from the first film to anchor the franchise. Out of the two who did return, one was killed off pretty quickly and the other was made the villain. This movie could've been great, especially with the concept of a new generation of Jaeger pilots. However, it was just missing that GDT touch.

I was very hopeful that this would be another excellent, entertaining Kaiju film like the first one but sadly... it was not. While there were still more monsters to be fought, the story and stakes were not presented as well in the first film. While not bad, the characters were much more forgettable than the first film, and it feels like less time was spent getting the audience acquainted with them and their motives. The action of course was still exciting, but you could feel like the goal was to outpace its predecessor, with shoehorned, sudden moments of action. Overall, I wouldn't watch it again, but do not necessarily regret watching it in the first place. If you're wanting an action packed kaiju movie, it was acceptable.