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I have been looking forward to this movie above the rest of the summer movies this year. All I have to say is IT IS ABOUT DAMN TIME! I have had a really lousy June with regards to movies in the theater, and I even skipped going to the movies last week because I really did not feel like watching the Lone Ranger movie, when I can just watch Pirates of the Caribbean at home. I needed this to be a good movie. And wouldn't you know it, Guillermo Del Toro delivered! Pacific Rim is a throwback to old Japanese monster movies, namely the likes of Godzilla, Mothera, Gamera (who is friend to children), Rodan, and the like. The monsters are even called kaiju, which translates into “giant monster.” They were very popular in Japan in the old days, and since I was born in Asia, they were a staple of my early childhood. But this movie also pays serious homage to more than a few giant mecha TV shows. What with the heavy emphasis on giant robots. Put the two together and you have the recipe for one hell of a ride.
The movie starts off in flashback to when the very first Kaiju makes its appearance in San Francisco. After a few days of using traditional methods to combat the beast, it finally died; but at a very heavy cost in both human lives and collateral damage. So the world bands together, pooling its resources to find a solution to the new Kaiju problem. Their solution is the Jaeger program, or as I like to call them giant ass robots! The Jaeger are piloted by two people, due to the fact that trying to control a Jaeger solo is very taxing on the human mind. The solution to this is to link the two minds together, making the two minds act like separate hemispheres of a brain. The pilots share thoughts, memories, but still retain their individual identities. One pilot controls one arm, while the other pilot controls the other in a process called Drifting. The Jaeger program is very successful at first, allowing for new hope for survival, and propelling Jaeger pilots to rock star celebrity status. But as the years pass, the Kaiju seem to be getting stronger, and the once promising Jaeger program seem to be failing, leading for it to be on its way to being scrapped. The powers that be send the four remaining Jaegers to Hong Kong. While there, the commanding officer for the Jaeger program Stacker Pentecost, prepares one final gambit, to attack the dimensional rift that allows the Kaiju to enter their world.
The movie is everything a good summer blockbuster should be. It is gigantic in scale, visually stimulating, and a lot of fun. The story is solid for a summer blockbuster, and the performances are good. The CGI Kaiju and Jaegers are a visual delight, and watching the two fight on the big screen was a wonderful experience! This movie has come a long way from the days when these fights were done by actors in rubber suits and the cities were tiny models. While those movies do still have a special place in my heart, this movie managed to up the ante on the combat, giving us gigantic brawls of giant robot and monster fun! Some might dismiss this as being too “Michael Bay-ish” but since that is the one thing Bay is actually good at, that does not hurt this movie. And while there are very large parts of the movie that are CGI, the movie still had plenty of practical effects. Which is to be expected with Guillermo Del Toro at the helm, who is known for getting as much of his movie as he can done using practical effects and latex make up. Just ask Doug Jones or Ron Perlman (who by the way, has a role in this film). The movie also carries a lot of the production design characteristics you would expect from some of Del Toro’s movies. The costumes for many of the characters as well as the Hong Kong sets and buildings I could easily see showing up in the labs of the Hellboy movies. I can also see influences of other summer blockbusters in this movie. First off the movie does try and go for a few comedic beats here and there just like The Avengers and there was a big final speech before the final fight just like in Independence Day. And of course you can’t talk about giant robots in a summer blockbuster without discussing Transformers. Yes this movie has giant CGI robots like Transformers. Unlike Transformers, there are very few unlikeable characters. There is no Shia LeQueff in this movie, the female lead has a personality and depth to her character. The side characters like the two rival scientists are quirky, weird and funny and not unbearable or annoying. And the humor in this movie does not feel out of place. Though I will admit Joss Whedon did a better job balancing humor and action. Either way this movie was a lot of fun.
If you did not like Transformers and want to see giant robots on the big screen, see this movie. If you did like Transformers, you should still see this movie. If you were a fan of TV shows like Gundam, Evangelion, or Macross you should see this movie. And if you are like me and grew up on old Japanese monster movies, then this movie is a must see. So far this movie is the most fun I have had at the movies so far, and so far is the best movie of the summer.
I have been looking forward to this movie above the rest of the summer movies this year. All I have to say is IT IS ABOUT DAMN TIME! I have had a really lousy June with regards to movies in the theater, and I even skipped going to the movies last week because I really did not feel like watching the Lone Ranger movie, when I can just watch Pirates of the Caribbean at home. I needed this to be a good movie. And wouldn't you know it, Guillermo Del Toro delivered! Pacific Rim is a throwback to old Japanese monster movies, namely the likes of Godzilla, Mothera, Gamera (who is friend to children), Rodan, and the like. The monsters are even called kaiju, which translates into “giant monster.” They were very popular in Japan in the old days, and since I was born in Asia, they were a staple of my early childhood. But this movie also pays serious homage to more than a few giant mecha TV shows. What with the heavy emphasis on giant robots. Put the two together and you have the recipe for one hell of a ride.
The movie starts off in flashback to when the very first Kaiju makes its appearance in San Francisco. After a few days of using traditional methods to combat the beast, it finally died; but at a very heavy cost in both human lives and collateral damage. So the world bands together, pooling its resources to find a solution to the new Kaiju problem. Their solution is the Jaeger program, or as I like to call them giant ass robots! The Jaeger are piloted by two people, due to the fact that trying to control a Jaeger solo is very taxing on the human mind. The solution to this is to link the two minds together, making the two minds act like separate hemispheres of a brain. The pilots share thoughts, memories, but still retain their individual identities. One pilot controls one arm, while the other pilot controls the other in a process called Drifting. The Jaeger program is very successful at first, allowing for new hope for survival, and propelling Jaeger pilots to rock star celebrity status. But as the years pass, the Kaiju seem to be getting stronger, and the once promising Jaeger program seem to be failing, leading for it to be on its way to being scrapped. The powers that be send the four remaining Jaegers to Hong Kong. While there, the commanding officer for the Jaeger program Stacker Pentecost, prepares one final gambit, to attack the dimensional rift that allows the Kaiju to enter their world.
The movie is everything a good summer blockbuster should be. It is gigantic in scale, visually stimulating, and a lot of fun. The story is solid for a summer blockbuster, and the performances are good. The CGI Kaiju and Jaegers are a visual delight, and watching the two fight on the big screen was a wonderful experience! This movie has come a long way from the days when these fights were done by actors in rubber suits and the cities were tiny models. While those movies do still have a special place in my heart, this movie managed to up the ante on the combat, giving us gigantic brawls of giant robot and monster fun! Some might dismiss this as being too “Michael Bay-ish” but since that is the one thing Bay is actually good at, that does not hurt this movie. And while there are very large parts of the movie that are CGI, the movie still had plenty of practical effects. Which is to be expected with Guillermo Del Toro at the helm, who is known for getting as much of his movie as he can done using practical effects and latex make up. Just ask Doug Jones or Ron Perlman (who by the way, has a role in this film). The movie also carries a lot of the production design characteristics you would expect from some of Del Toro’s movies. The costumes for many of the characters as well as the Hong Kong sets and buildings I could easily see showing up in the labs of the Hellboy movies. I can also see influences of other summer blockbusters in this movie. First off the movie does try and go for a few comedic beats here and there just like The Avengers and there was a big final speech before the final fight just like in Independence Day. And of course you can’t talk about giant robots in a summer blockbuster without discussing Transformers. Yes this movie has giant CGI robots like Transformers. Unlike Transformers, there are very few unlikeable characters. There is no Shia LeQueff in this movie, the female lead has a personality and depth to her character. The side characters like the two rival scientists are quirky, weird and funny and not unbearable or annoying. And the humor in this movie does not feel out of place. Though I will admit Joss Whedon did a better job balancing humor and action. Either way this movie was a lot of fun.
If you did not like Transformers and want to see giant robots on the big screen, see this movie. If you did like Transformers, you should still see this movie. If you were a fan of TV shows like Gundam, Evangelion, or Macross you should see this movie. And if you are like me and grew up on old Japanese monster movies, then this movie is a must see. So far this movie is the most fun I have had at the movies so far, and so far is the best movie of the summer.