The first trailer for the upcoming Pacific Rim: Uprising has been released by Universal.
From Steven S. DeKnight, one of the show-runners on Netflix’s Daredevil is taking over for Guillermo del Toro (who’s gone on to make Shape of Water, a film that made out top ten list of movies still coming out in 2017 that we can’t wait to see.)
The story takes place ten years after the events of the first Pacific Rim, with the Jaeger program — aka the big Transformer-like robots that the humans control — having evolved to become an incredibly power defense force. This next generation of Jaeger pilots are training to fight Kaiju — who suddenly appear, bigger and more dangerous than ever before.
John Boyega is playing Jake Pentecost, the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first film. His character is an ex-jaeger pilot who is given a second chance by his adopted sister Mako Mori — a returning star from the first film, played by Rinko Kikuchi. The film will also see newcomers Scott Eastwood (Clint Eastwood’s son, also appeared in The Fate of the Furious) and Adria Arjona (True Detective), as well as welcome returning veterans Burn Gorman and Charlie Day as the two bumbling scientist.
As far as we know, Charlie Hunnam will not be reprising his role.
The trailer features lots of footage of the new Jaegers and Kaiju. Apparently the pilots are now expected to jump, flip and kick along with the machine. And they got an upgrade too — as one of them is handling a whip, another with chainsaws, and a third rocking something that looks to resemble a giant wrecking ball.
The Kaiju are also bigger than ever — with some pretty cool creature design behind them that seems to mimic del Toro’s work on the first one.
Overall, it’s a fine trailer. Nothing to write home about, and the film definitely runs the risk of becoming too over-the-top with everything. We don’t want to see this franchise turn into Transformers, that’s all. But it’s enough to get us mildly excited for the film, and DeKnight directing has promise as well.
The film is slated for release on March 23, 2017. Watch the trailer here, and let us know whether you’re excited for Pacific Rim: Uprising or not in the comments below.