Guillermo Del Toro’s 2013 original (well, first, anyway) Pacific Rim was a genre love letter. The sequel is an exemplar, a big-budget actioner that goes about its bang-up business with skill and speed. (The only thing more breakneck than the pacing is director and co-writer Steven S. DeKnight’s frequency of cutting, at least in the more personal parts. Maybe he’s afraid you’ll get bored as you wait for more giant robot action. Pity, that.) It’s been ten years since giant-robot pilot Stacker Pentecost gave his life to save the world from interdimensional monsters, and his son Jake (John Boyega) has long since stopped trying to follow in Dad’s footsteps, opting instead for the life of a tech-savvy black marketeer. But a tangle with a clever war orphan lands him back in the neural saddle, and just in time, too: it seems that for some folks, the first kaiju invasion never ended. What DeKnight’s movie lacks in heart, it makes up for in fun. And what it lacks in visual brilliance, it makes up for in clarity. Maybe a sequel wasn’t necessary, but at least it’s successful on its own terms. (2018) — Matthew Lickona
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