As with all articles I write prefacing a movie———-SPOILER WARNING——————

If you haven’t seen Pacific Rim, STOP! Go watch it, then come back. It’s worth the watch.

Ok, I’m assuming since you’re still reading this you’ve caught up on your pacific rim. If not, shame on you. So, as the article name implies the following are my expectations, dreams, and the reality of them being right. First up: Expectations!

Normally I start this section with some sort of sarcastic joke about how much I detest a character or tropes of a franchise. Unfortunately, there is no Jar-Jar (at least not so far…) and if you’re watching this type of movie, then you’ve already resolved to enjoy the tropes (i.e. giant robot punching giant evil alien monster thing while being completely devoid of compelling plot, but instead filled with epic fight scenes, cool effects, and awesome music.) Instead, I’m just gonna power up my Jaeger and get to work. There’s no doubt in my mind that there are going to be stunning graphics, I mean come on- Giant Robots fighting giant versions of the Demogorgon from Stranger Things… that’s some pretty cool visuals. Plus, when you look at the trailers you get to see the cool new weaponry (that’s actually going to be used consistently, unlike a certain sword attachment…) that is doing all sorts of logic defying things (like turning into a mace-cannon thingy) I also expect that this movie will try to focus in on the elements that the first one missed the boat on, like plot, or why they couldn’t just put auto-sentry versions of the jaegers right outside the giant hole in the ground to blow the monsters heads off as soon as they poked out, you know, just minor things. My final expectation: to walk away feeling awed at the scale of epic monstrous monster fights I just witnessed.

The biggest dream I have for this movie is for, at some point, puppy jaegers fight stuffed kaiju in a miniature puppy city. Wait, that’s a reality already? Check it out! (seriously, it’s on YouTube!) So, honestly my dreams for this movie start simple- all I want is a little, tiny, miniscule nod to Star Wars 7. Like, Finn (I mean John Boyega) giving a jaeger a thumb up and it uses it’s weapon to return the gesture. Something subtle, but clearly an homage to the series that really shaped Sci-Fi. I also want there to be real stakes, like rogue one (but less of all characters dying, and more of just a few key ones dying). This is a movie about giant space alien monster things attacking the world to bring about its doom, that’s pretty much life or death- it should feel like it. Don’t just kill off the main character’s brother, or some random jaeger pilots, kill a main character. Make there be a consequence for the actions of the movie- not just some minor character deaths and the inevitable death of the president from Independence Day, I mean Marshall Pentecost…’s son. My biggest dream is for this movie to do one thing, and not do another. I want it to do well at the box office (over take a marvel movie kind of do well at the box office). What I don’t want to see is the movie concluded with a character making some sort of final sacrifice (like blowing his jaeger up or suicide rushing the hole) in the same way the first one ended. Be creative! Have them ride a kaiju into space, then throw it back down to earth to plug the hole, throwing themselves into the depths of space to save the rest of the world. A survivable final fight with real stakes. That’s all I ask for.

Last, but not least, the realities of what we are about to receive. We’re gonna get a monster vs robot movie on a grand scale, both cinematically and visually. We’re gonna get epic fights and huge stakes. We’re gonna get everything we’re hoping for… right? Well, maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see. If I had to guess, we won’t get a romantic subplot for the main characters (we already got that), or the leader doing the self-sacrifice bit (see every one of this genre (literally any of them)). We will get to see the inevitable inspirational leader speech before the final fight that, of course, will tip in favor of the heroes right when it seems like they’ve got no hope left. But in reality, what we’re gonna get, is the first big budget rock’em sock’em robots movie of the summer. So, what does that mean for all the fans? Get excited! I’ll see you at the theaters tomorrow for opening night of “Pacific Rim: Uprising”