Pacific Rim: Uprising (in cinemas March 22) is faced with an impossible task: live up to the success of its predecessor (directed by Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro) and stand out from the crowd of massive sci-fi blockbusters of the last five years.

The 2013 original was well received, particularly overseas, grossing $US411 million ($532 million) worldwide and returning a solid 77 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Uprising, set 10 years after the happenings of the original, is an entertaining effort, thanks mostly to the charisma of lead actor John Boyega, but is ultimately unremarkable thanks to overly long, CGI-laden fight scenes and a lack of higher purpose or deeper meaning.

Writer and director Steven S DeKnight told The New Daily the filmmaking process – from writing to filming – was “incredibly quick” and, unfortunately, you can sort of tell.

“Usually a movie like this takes three-plus years to mount but because of the release date and actors’ schedules, we had to do it in a truncated period of time. Literally it was a two-year sprint,” DeKnight said.

Slow and steady wins the race in this case.

Watch our video review below to get the final verdict