Sfdebris.net

They did a lot better then I was expecting. I was expecting either a convoluted mess, or a string of pointless action scenes. This is neither.
The best part is how this is not trying to be a rehash of the first film, it uses elements of the film to excellent effect and builds on a lot of details in a way that makes sense.

SPOILERS

Why did they have to kill Mako Mori? I liked having her in the background as a mentor but why did they have to kill her? Her clue does not even do much to move the plot sense we never find out what was so important about that facility. They could have just killed the drone in Sydney and the plot would have went along much the same.

Although, Amara Namani is a perfect successor!

My other complaint is the Kaiju and Mt. Fuji. I don't mind that is there plan, but wait; there was one breach right? and it did not move, right? So why do you have kaiju attacking all these different cities? Wouldn't they always just follow exactly the same course?

All and all, this movie is awesome and i hope there will be more giant-robot movies in the future.

Spoilers

I'm very glad they used a lot of the scaffolding from Del Toros scripts for the second movie (Newt's role, the New Jaegers and what not) so I was pleasently surprised of the overall uniqueness of the universe and the plot felt pretty intact in the transition to a more "frachisable" sort of movie. That said the Mako part stuck in my craw a bit as it did feel... like a bit of a weak end of it. She was literally one of the main draws from the first movie and I know the shift to a new protag (who, being Boyega, I love in this role. He adds great energy and humor all his own while still being a compelling lead) but it felt like a purely business move to help the movie expand. Can't say I liked how it was handled though.

Amara is quite good. She was great fun as well.

Yeah, the Mt Fuji part, while a great genre in-joke (I literally crackled when I heard that line having some Cave Johnson Flashbacks) it does call into question the overall logic of their plan. I mean, were the monsters going the long way? Or was it more of the idea that the monsters around the coasts were looking for pretty much any volcano they could get to and Fuji was the one that those 3 particular ones who got out were close enough to get to.

(Though, if I was to pick at it I would wonder why didn't they just got for geothermal vents or just make a bee-line to Hawaii, the most active volcano in the world right in the middle of the ocean.)

I enjoyed this move immensely. I didn't enjoy it in the same way as the original and it certainly felt very different a flavor (more cookies and cream as opposed to Moose Tracks I guess) but it was a flavor enjoyable all its own.

Also, if they are rumoring well that this is a CU starter then I am glad that ID4: I flopped like it did because this movie series feels like it could deliver a lot better on the basic premise without having to go galactic and just finding more interesting premises and mirco-premises (Like, you could hijack like the entirety of the premise from Real Steel and make it about Jaeger scrappers fighting illegal arenas and I'd love that to bit)

I honestly can't wait to see where this'll go. It won't be a great literary work but dang if I'll pass up on grabbing some popcorn for Robots fighting Monsters.

Spoilers;

The impression I got was that volcanoes was likely not the original plan. Rather, Newt saw Herman's research on using Kaiju blood as rocket fuel, and the plan to complete the terraforming through Mt Fuji came from there. Even then, they likely intended to fight it out with a Kaiju invasion force. Newt crippled most of the Shatterdomes with his drones. There would have been nothing to stop them if they could have gotten all those Kaiju through. But the new breaches were sealed, killing most of the Kaiju coming through. An invasion force of 3, even 2 Cat 4s and a Cat 5, isn't going to be able to win. But, if they can start a nuclear winter by jumping in the nearest convient active Volcano, well then the Precursors win, and can open a new breach from their end at their leisure.

BunBun299 wrote:Spoilers;

The impression I got was that volcanoes was likely not the original plan. Rather, Newt saw Herman's research on using Kaiju blood as rocket fuel, and the plan to complete the terraforming through Mt Fuji came from there. Even then, they likely intended to fight it out with a Kaiju invasion force. Newt crippled most of the Shatterdomes with his drones. There would have been nothing to stop them if they could have gotten all those Kaiju through. But the new breaches were sealed, killing most of the Kaiju coming through. An invasion force of 3, even 2 Cat 4s and a Cat 5, isn't going to be able to win. But, if they can start a nuclear winter by jumping in the nearest convient active Volcano, well then the Precursors win, and can open a new breach from their end at their leisure.

It could be that it was simply an evolving plan. The kaijus met minimal resistance until the met the jaegers, the progenitors focused on taking out the jaegers and almost won but then the breach is sealed.

So what they learned is that they can fight humanity piece-by-piece because there are too many to deal with and with enough time humans can devise counter-measures to any of their plans. So the next attempt to take over Earth they would have to destroy all human civilization in one stroke and do so quickly. Hence the plan to start a nuclear winter and why they made extra sure to take out the jaegers first.