The first Pacific Rim film is, by my estimation, a missed opportunity. Giant robots battling giant monsters for the fate of the world? Yes please sign me up! Unfortunately, despite some dope action sequences and an interesting take on "mental strength being the key to heroism," I found it to be a bit of a slog, a deadened and generic traipse through tropes we've seen a bunch of times before. But that never stopped the initial idea from being worth exploring, which is why I loved the sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising, so much more. The exponential level of growth …