Pacific Rim
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Robert Kazinsky, and Ron Perlman.
Backstory
Giant robots vs. giant monsters. That right there is all the reason I needed to go see this movie. Of course, there were a few other selling points, like it being from the makers of the Hellboy movies, but come on. Giant robots vs. giant monsters. All I need to know. All I needed to go.
Plot
In the not-to-distant-future, an interdimensional rift opens up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and giant monsters called kaiju start crawling out of it. When conventional weapons prove ineffective, the governments of the world create the Jaegers, giant robots to fight the monsters. But the kaiju attacks start growing in frequency, and Jaegers are no longer effective. The governments decide to pull the plug on the program, opting instead for a giant wall around all the countries of the world to keep the monsters in the Pacific. But, before the Jaeger program ends, all of the remaining Jaegers are brought together in Hong Kong for one last bombing run to try to seal the rift. Our hero is Beckett, the pilot of the American Jaeger known as Gypsy Danger. His co-pilot — his brother — was killed on one mission, and he’s since walked away from the program. But, with this final mission here, Beckett is called back into action. Will he and his new co-pilot Mako be able to fight the kaiju, plant the bomb, and save the world?
What I Liked
GIANT MONSTERS VS. GIANT ROBOTS! The robots are cool, the monster designs are cool, it’s just so awesome. And there’s a great subplot with the scientists who are studying the kaiju, and it leads them to a black market kingpin who deals in kaiju body parts which is rather wacky. Just…just great giant robots and giant monsters.
What I Didn’t Like
Like all giant monster movies, the plot does drag quite a bit while you’re waiting for the giant monster fights to break out. The plot is quite cliched. It follows the maverick fighter pilot formula quite carefully. And watching the climax, I started thinking to myself, “Wow. This is just like Independence Day, with giant monsters being the aliens’ weapon of choice.” And I know this is done to make the CGI easier to do, but staging all the giant monster attacks at night in the rain makes it tough to follow the action.
Final Assessment
It was good, but I’m not geeking out as much as the Internet is.