The jaegers were impressive technological beasts with an array of weapons available in the first Pacific Rim. However, the trailer for Pacific Rim: Uprising showed off a collection of new toys the cast will get to play with in the sequel. According to John Boyega, the best weapon in the new Pacific Rim is actually just an upgrade from the first movie, the plasma sword. Of course, it helps that in the sequel, there's now more than one sword. The actor says...
The plasma sword is big; when you swing that, it's not just your strength coming out, it's also the robot's. And if you've seen the trailer, you'll notice we've got two of those babies. When I saw the first film, I was like, 'Why don't they put in another one?'
In the original Pacific Rim, the first battle fought by Mako Mori and Raleigh Beckett very nearly ended in disaster as the Kaiju they were up against was able to withstand every weapon at their disposal. That was until Mako Mori brought out a brand new weapon that Beckett wasn't aware existed, a sword. The blade became the Voltron-like Kaiju killer and a key part of the human victory over the monsters.
In Pacific Rim: Uprising we see that the sword has received an upgrade from being a metallic object to one made of energy. Also, the blade has been added to the other arm. John Boyega tells Yahoo that he thought the Gypsy Danger should have had two blades in the first movie. This time around, that's exactly what happens.
Of course, John Boyega is something of an expert when it comes to science fiction melee combat weapons. He's swung a lightsaber in addition to a plasma sword, and the newest trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi shows him armed with a First Order riot control baton, a weapon capable of blocking the swing of a lightsaber.
Pacific Rim: Uprising shows off a lot of interesting weapons in the trailer, and we can't wait to see how they all get used, as well as what cool items might be getting held off-screen in order to give us a big reveal in a future trailer or in the film itself. It does seem clear that fans of the first Jaeger vs. Kaiju movie are likely to get more of the action they loved in the sequel. Pacific Rim: Uprising will be in theaters March 23, 2018.
