Before Legendary
Pictures released Pacific Rim Uprising,
I joked to my friends that I would walk out of the theater if Mako Mori died.
Well, I wussed out when that horrible moment came, but know this: I walked out
in spirit. When Mako’s helicopter went down, my hopes of enjoying the
long-gestating sequel to one of my favorite movies fell with it. Even in a
story full of baffling decisions, it was conspicuous.
Here was one of
the breakout characters of Pacific Rim
(and arguably its central protagonist), a fiery but filial mechanic and
co-pilot of a giant, sword-swinging mech. In the increasingly crowded field of
2010s action heroines, she still stands tall. You’d have to be possessed by a
Precursor to kill her off in the first act just for a lead-in to the next
action scene and a fleeting moment of sadness for her brother. Who among the
movie’s higher-ups was so afflicted? And did she get booted out of Scrapper’s
cockpit at the end so Jing Tian could steal the spotlight?
