I saw Pacific Rim at a theatre complete with DX seats (they move with the noise of the film) and in 3D. I like the director Guillermo del Toro and his Pan's Labryinth so my expectations were pretty high. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the film.
Imagine Transformers mated with Godzilla and you have a pretty good idea of the premise of Pacific Rim. The script seems geared for pre-teen boys and there was not a lot of depth. IMDB states that Del Toro was "inspired by the anime and tokusatsu" of his youth. Maybe that was the problem. Lots of time was spent on effects and not as much care into a script.
After a long expository opening (an extended version of what you see in the trailer) where we are primarily give a history lesson of the world against the monsters from beneath the sea, the Kaiju. We finally learn that to fight them, gigantic mechanical Jaegers are created which are operated by two people who must become the right brain-left brain of the fighting beings. One of the best of the Jaeger pilots (Raleigh Becket) lost his brother to the Kaiju and is brought back to help man one of the last of the Jaegers in a final attempt to stop the Kaiju.
If you've seen any Godzilla or Transformers movie you have a pretty good idea where all this heads.
One of the scenes that did bring a smile to my face was a "St. Crispin's Day's" speech (Henry V) by the head of the Jaeger program, ending with a heart-felt: "Armagedden stops here."
The two main characters, Charlie Hunnam (Becket) and Rinko Kikuhi as Mako Mori, are attractive actors but not given much depth. Charlie Day (from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Horrible Bosses) and Burn Gorman (of Torchwood) become the comic relief as scientists with opposing theories who become the savoirs in the end.
The film goes exactly where you expect it to go, but one of the surprises is that for a film where the fights between the mechanical Jaegers and the Kaiju monsters are of prime importance, the action is often unclear and in closeup.
Pacific Rim (2013) ** see the film on DVD.
Imagine Transformers mated with Godzilla and you have a pretty good idea of the premise of Pacific Rim. The script seems geared for pre-teen boys and there was not a lot of depth. IMDB states that Del Toro was "inspired by the anime and tokusatsu" of his youth. Maybe that was the problem. Lots of time was spent on effects and not as much care into a script.
After a long expository opening (an extended version of what you see in the trailer) where we are primarily give a history lesson of the world against the monsters from beneath the sea, the Kaiju. We finally learn that to fight them, gigantic mechanical Jaegers are created which are operated by two people who must become the right brain-left brain of the fighting beings. One of the best of the Jaeger pilots (Raleigh Becket) lost his brother to the Kaiju and is brought back to help man one of the last of the Jaegers in a final attempt to stop the Kaiju.
If you've seen any Godzilla or Transformers movie you have a pretty good idea where all this heads.
One of the scenes that did bring a smile to my face was a "St. Crispin's Day's" speech (Henry V) by the head of the Jaeger program, ending with a heart-felt: "Armagedden stops here."
The two main characters, Charlie Hunnam (Becket) and Rinko Kikuhi as Mako Mori, are attractive actors but not given much depth. Charlie Day (from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Horrible Bosses) and Burn Gorman (of Torchwood) become the comic relief as scientists with opposing theories who become the savoirs in the end.
The film goes exactly where you expect it to go, but one of the surprises is that for a film where the fights between the mechanical Jaegers and the Kaiju monsters are of prime importance, the action is often unclear and in closeup.
Pacific Rim (2013) ** see the film on DVD.
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