Pacific Rim was excellent, definitely greater than the sum of its parts. CGI monster fights don't make for good film—I inevitably feel as though I'm watching someone else play a video game. But here, the CGI works. And there's much more to the film too. Things you've not heard.
In the very near future, perhaps next week, giant monsters called kaiju emerge from a gash under the ocean and attack cities. These monsters have codenames like Knifehead, Tresspasser, Fat Amy, and Leatherback. Ordinary military weapons are all but useless, so the world comes together to create giant piloted robots called jaegers. The machines are so complex that a single pilot cannot handle them, so pairs of people do it—most of them are related, as this allows for smoother neural connections. Then the monsters get more powerful, as though they are evolving, and the jaegers begin to lose. The governments of the world attempt to build a giant wall around the cities of the Pacific Rim...and this is all in the first five minutes!
Pacific Rim has a hero, and the hero has a problem: his older brother and robot "Gipsy Danger" co-pilot was killed in an altercation with a kaiju, and so he gets a job helping build the giant wall around Alaska. You might think they'd use giant robots to build a giant wall, but no, it's just a bunch of chumps with rivet guns. Anyway, it hardly matters, because a monster smashes through the Australian wall and everyone except Big Government realizes that the wall idea is stupid. A new team of jaeger pilots must be recruited, but after the failures of the previous regime, who would dare sign up?
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That's right, an international, multicultural team of badasses.
Our hero has no co-pilot, though! There are many candidates, but can he really work together with the typical recruit? No! He's an individual, who cannot help but stand out due to his quirky attitude and past trauma. In one of the more gripping scenes, he runs through several wannabes in pitched battle!
And yet, a damaged woman with whom there might just be some romantic tension approaches him in their dingy industrial digs—can they work together to save the world from giant monsters? Maaaaybeee...
The power of titanium! Armor that is...
Soon they will be put to the ultimate test. There are several jeager teams that have come out of retirement as part of an audacious plan to nuke the breach from which the kaiju are coming. But the kaiju are still evolving. One can spew deadly acid!
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And one, in an amazing cinematic moment, reveals that the worst possible moment that it can fly!
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But the batte is not just between the jaeger and the kaiju—there are inter-jeager conflicts as well, thanks to a lot of chest-beating from the cocky Australian jaeger team:
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There is heroism, and mass destruction, and heroism, even from the brash young Australian who sacrifices himself for the sake of all humanity:
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And in the end...you know what? Thanks to teamwork, collaboration, and skill—and a stunning critique of both the state and unregulated capital—the kaiju are defeated and the world is saved. Everything's going to be all right:
It's not about the money
Pacific Rim has it all. When watching the final credits, I thought to myself. o O (How can the studios see this and not let del Toro do whatever he wants from now on...even a musical!) The world of the film feels lived in despite the fantastical premise, the visuals are astounding, and the score is intense. Who can listen to the ending credits song without feeling the rage of the kaiju, and the righteous fury of the jaeger-pilots? What did you come to the movie for anyway?
At the very end, we learn that the film is dedicated to Ray Harryhausen and Ishirō Honda. An exquisite and thoughtful final touch to a movie that is virtually...pitch perfect.
Go see it!
In the very near future, perhaps next week, giant monsters called kaiju emerge from a gash under the ocean and attack cities. These monsters have codenames like Knifehead, Tresspasser, Fat Amy, and Leatherback. Ordinary military weapons are all but useless, so the world comes together to create giant piloted robots called jaegers. The machines are so complex that a single pilot cannot handle them, so pairs of people do it—most of them are related, as this allows for smoother neural connections. Then the monsters get more powerful, as though they are evolving, and the jaegers begin to lose. The governments of the world attempt to build a giant wall around the cities of the Pacific Rim...and this is all in the first five minutes!
Pacific Rim has a hero, and the hero has a problem: his older brother and robot "Gipsy Danger" co-pilot was killed in an altercation with a kaiju, and so he gets a job helping build the giant wall around Alaska. You might think they'd use giant robots to build a giant wall, but no, it's just a bunch of chumps with rivet guns. Anyway, it hardly matters, because a monster smashes through the Australian wall and everyone except Big Government realizes that the wall idea is stupid. A new team of jaeger pilots must be recruited, but after the failures of the previous regime, who would dare sign up?
That's right, an international, multicultural team of badasses.
Our hero has no co-pilot, though! There are many candidates, but can he really work together with the typical recruit? No! He's an individual, who cannot help but stand out due to his quirky attitude and past trauma. In one of the more gripping scenes, he runs through several wannabes in pitched battle!
And yet, a damaged woman with whom there might just be some romantic tension approaches him in their dingy industrial digs—can they work together to save the world from giant monsters? Maaaaybeee...
The power of titanium! Armor that is...
Soon they will be put to the ultimate test. There are several jeager teams that have come out of retirement as part of an audacious plan to nuke the breach from which the kaiju are coming. But the kaiju are still evolving. One can spew deadly acid!
And one, in an amazing cinematic moment, reveals that the worst possible moment that it can fly!
But the batte is not just between the jaeger and the kaiju—there are inter-jeager conflicts as well, thanks to a lot of chest-beating from the cocky Australian jaeger team:
There is heroism, and mass destruction, and heroism, even from the brash young Australian who sacrifices himself for the sake of all humanity:
And in the end...you know what? Thanks to teamwork, collaboration, and skill—and a stunning critique of both the state and unregulated capital—the kaiju are defeated and the world is saved. Everything's going to be all right:
It's not about the money
Pacific Rim has it all. When watching the final credits, I thought to myself. o O (How can the studios see this and not let del Toro do whatever he wants from now on...even a musical!) The world of the film feels lived in despite the fantastical premise, the visuals are astounding, and the score is intense. Who can listen to the ending credits song without feeling the rage of the kaiju, and the righteous fury of the jaeger-pilots? What did you come to the movie for anyway?
At the very end, we learn that the film is dedicated to Ray Harryhausen and Ishirō Honda. An exquisite and thoughtful final touch to a movie that is virtually...pitch perfect.
Go see it!