'Pacific Rim Uprising' Trailer Breakdown: Going Through The New Footage Frame-By-Frame

The Pacific Rim Uprising trailer dropped at New York Comic-Con this weekend to mixed reactions from fans of Guillermo del Toro's 2013 original. With a brand new cast led by John Boyega, a brand new director in Steven S. DeKnight, and shiny brand new robots to fight a bigger apocalypse than the last time around, it certainly feels somewhat divorced from the original. And with fast cuts, lots of explosions, and a stirring hip-hop soundtrack, it does feel somewhat overwhelming to watch the visually stimulating trailer.

So let's take a deep dive with a Pacific Rim Uprising trailer breakdown, where we'll break down the trailer frame-by-frame, and find out exactly what is going on 10 years after the events of Pacific Rim.

The trailer opens with a crowd fleeing from a series of fiery explosions at a military base, with newcomer Cailee Spaeny witnessing what looks two fighting Jaegers. As the sirens blare, it's unclear whether the Jaegers are fighting the Kaiju as they are designed to — or fighting each other. One of the Jaegers destroys an incoming military aircraft, so it's safe to say that at least one Jaeger has gone rogue.

Spaeny's character Amara, a 15-year-old Jaeger hacker, wears a bright orange windbreaker — perhaps reminiscent of Mako Mori's (Rinko Kikuchi) signature baby blue coat that she wore when she was saved by Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba).

We spend a lot of time lingering on Amara's experience, with her shocked eyes becoming the first face to fill the screen of this trailer — a bold move for a sequel to a movie that was a modest (domestic) hit in the first place.

"We were born into a world at war," Boyega's character Jake Pentecost narrates, as Jake runs to see the wreckage of a city attacked by the Kaiju. It's unclear if this takes place immediately after the events of Pacific Rim — though this is probably not Hong Kong, the scene of the biggest battles in Pacific Rim — or if this is Jake at the time that Uprising takes place.

Jake looks scrappy and younger here, so I'm assuming this is during his time when he fell into the criminal underworld after rebelling against his father Stacker and leaving the Jaeger program.

The Kaiju are back! This likely takes place long after the original battle over the Breach in the first Pacific Rim, when the invading Kaiju seemed defeated. This unknown Asian city looks fairly undamaged and repaired, so it probably will be ground zero for the new invasion.

Jake Pentecost arrives with an unknown blonde woman at the military base where the Jaegers are housed to re-enter the program. "Between the monsters who destroyed our cities and the monsters we created to stop them, we thought we had sacrificed enough," Jake continues in his narration.

So it looks like I was wrong in my initial assessment of the trailer, and Kikuchi's Mako Mori does make an appearance. It looks like that's her, in a sleek military uniform and with her blue hair streak gone, gazing over the Jaeger base.

Three new Jaegers, plus Gipsy Danger, stand lying in wait for their new pilots. And their docking platforms are outdoors now!

LEGACY.

Here is Amara again, still aghast at some huge monster or machine attacking the crowd, who flee past her.

Well, here is a twist to the movie. Once you get past this Asian commander's horribly overwrought facial expression, you notice that the Jaeger seems to be attacking this command center, which again plants the seeds of the rogue Jaeger plot. Are the Jaegers themselves rebelling? Is it a former pilot gone bad? Does he have vendetta against this guy's haircut?

This looks like Jake and his band of thieves looking for Jaeger or Kaiju scraps to sell on the black market, before Jake is caught and given the choice of punishment or returning to the life of a Jaeger pilot.

He may have a tattered coat and criminal friends, but at least he has a dream.

More Kaiju action, rising up from the sea — perhaps from the same underwater breach that Stacker, Mako, and Raleigh supposedly closed?

Jake Pentecost found better, less criminal friends! Here is our first introduction to the new generation of Jaeger pilots, including Jake's former rival and co-pilot Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood), Amara, and one other Asian pilot. Yes, I got Power Rangers vibes too.

Jing Tian strides onto the military base in an all-white power suit, with Charlie Day's Dr. Newt Geiszler by her side. The Great Wall and Kong: Skull Island actress looks like a high-powered businesswoman, but her character Liwen Shao may actually be a Jaeger pilot judging by a later shot in the trailer.

But there's no reason she can't pull double duty, as she seems to have employed Dr. Newt, if his snazzy wine-colored suit and smirk are anything to go by — a big career leap for the Kaiju-obsessed scientist who once rigged himself up to a Kaiju brain to attempt to drift with the monsters themselves. But his attempts saved the world...and seemingly saved his bank account.

"The only thing standing in front of the apocalypse is us," Jake says, wrapping up his empowering monologue to the rest of the Jaeger pilots, as they prepare to suit up. Like father, like son.

Gipsy Danger, the Jaeger that Mako Mori and Raleigh first piloted in Pacific Rim, back in action.

This looks like Amara comandeering a Jaeger. She's not wearing the requisite suit, and her hair and appearance are disheveled, making me think she got into this Jaeger in a hurry. And the Jaeger itself is bursting out of its warehouse walls, collateral damage be damned, so it's fair to say this is Amara hacking the Jaeger.

Degrassi: The Next Class.

Also shout out to that Brienne of Tarth look-alike on the far right.

Is Charlie Day wearing eyeliner?

I'm hoping that this scene is Dr. Newt and Burn Gorman's Dr. Herman Gottlieb staring lovingly at each other after being separated for 10 years, before Gottlieb smirks and awkwardly half-hugs his best friend forever.

Jake and Nate presumably showing the new class of Jaeger pilots how it's done.

Okay, I wasn't sure if that was Boyega in the brief shot of Mako Mori gazing out from the hangar, but it looks like it was him judging by his suit — so that previous scene was of Mako giving her estranged brother a tour of the Jaeger base.

Jaegers. They're robots. And they're pretty cool!

"This is our time, this is our chance to make a difference. Now let's get it done!" Jake says, continuing his inspiring monologue to the new Jaeger class again.

The return of the three-pilot Jaeger, which we first saw in the first Pacific Rim courtesy of the Wei Tang triplets. This Jaeger is not piloted by siblings, but by three seemingly unrelated people, including Amara, who the male pilot is making eyes at. A love triangle? Well, that's complicated.

All four Jaegers: Gipsy Avenger, Saber Athena, Guardian Bravo, and Bracer Phoenix, in flight.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Dr. Newt says, back in his familiar nerdy vests but not giving up his eyeliner, it seems.

One of the crowning moments of Pacific Rim was the moment when Gipsy Danger opened a rocket in its elbow so that it could punch a Kaiju harder. It was a classic "Oh god, that's so awesome!" moments. This is one of those moments.

Also: this is the third blockbuster in so many months that has whips. Wonder Woman, Kingsman: The Golden Circle — whips are in. It's too bad Whiplash in Iron Man 2 was a few years ahead of the game.

There seems to be some street-level fighting this time around, with more snake-like Kaiju attacking the streets while Nate desperately shoots at them.

The plot thickens! What is this rogue Jaeger attacking Gipsy Danger? This looks like a turning point in the story, judging by Jake's shocked face as he and Nate narrowly avoid the attacking rocket.

"They've evolved," Dr. Newt explains of the new attacking Kaiju, still wearing his eyeliner.

Bigger and badder kaiju wreaking havoc on Hong Kong (?) again.

And here's Jing Tian in her Jaeger pilot suit, injured and fleeing from something terrifying.

"And they can wipe out all life," Dr. Gottlieb finishes, giving a dire warning about the new Kaiju. Or maybe...he's talking about the rogue Jaeger?

It's Gipsy Danger's single sword against the rogue Jaeger's double sword! Unlike the first movie where the heroes made sure to evacuate everyone in Hong Kong, it seems like there will be a huge loss of human life in Uprising, as the two Jaegers fight to the death in a crowded, still-occupied city.

The battle between Gispy Danger and the rogue Jaeger continues in a deserted, snowy mountainscape. Perhaps to avoid more casualties, Gipsy fled the city in an attempt to draw the rogue Jaeger away from the massive populations. Or perhaps this is a second battle after which Gipsy Danger lost the first one.

Burn Gorman's cheering face is A+.

Amara is Jake's new co-pilot? "I think I could get used to this," she says smugly to Jake as they pilot their Jaeger. This asks a big question: What happens to Nate? Does he die in the first fight with the rogue Jaeger? Or does he have his own malicious motivations? Maybe he's the one in the rogue Jaeger?

Another, "Oh my god, so awesome! You have to see this!" scene. Hey, it's robots versus monsters, and an homage to the surge of mecha anime in the '80s and '90s. Of course it's cool.

The Jaeger pilot who was Amara's former co-pilot going Scarface on a Kaiju. I'm guessing she's going to become a new fan-favorite.

More havoc wreaked on the city by the Kaiju, as the Jaegers ready themselves to attack. But it's all building up to the real Big Bad.

It's the Indominus rex moment of Jurassic World, the scene where the rousing hip-hop song finally goes silent, and the Jaeger pilots stare in awe at the biggest Kaiju they've ever seen. Category: Unknown.

"Well, he's pretty big," Nate says timidly, as the shadow rises to engulf all four Jaegers.

Go, go Power Rangers!

All four Jaegers gear up to fight the Mother of all Kaijus.

I'm guessing there will actually be two climaxes to Pacific Rim Uprising. The first: the huge Kaiju who almost devastates all four Jaegers. The second: a sudden but inevitable betrayal by a rogue Jaeger, who nearly finishes the job. Because Eastwood's Nate is still here to see the giant Kaiju and gear up for the fight with Jake, it seems like this will happen first in the timeline.

The trailer ends as the four Jaegers are about the clash with the giant Kaiju, and the Kaiju is about to emit a dangerous blast against them and the city buildings standing in its way.

Pacific Rim Uprising hits theaters on March 23, 2018.