******SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!******
As I have mentioned more
than a few times here and on Facebook,
I was extremely excited about Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific
Rim.
I’m not a Kaiju freak on quite the same level as Professor Morté
or Johnny Danger, but I have always loved Godzilla and been very
interested in all of the various media depictions of the King of
Monsters; as well as the many, many
knock-offs and homages. Because let’s face it – watching giant
monsters kick the crap out of one another in the middle of a
sprawling, metropolitan area is awesome.
I had so much faith in
this movie that I went ahead and bought CrimsonTyphoon
and Knifehead
the first time I found them on the shelves (and haven’t seen them
since, which stinks because after reviewing them I decided I need
Gipsy Danger, as well). Guillermo del Toro has never let me down.
While some of his movies are certainly more low key than others –
Cronos
versus Blade
2, for
instance – I have loved everything he’s done. If there was ever a
man that was going to make the perfect giant robots versus giant
monsters movie, it was del Toro.
I went in thinking the
movie would show the initial assaults, the creation of the robots,
the ensuing war, and the eventual success of humanity in repelling
the monsters. It did show all of that, but in the opening fifteen
minutes or so.
I’m going to start with
the visual effects here because if those hadn’t worked the film
wouldn’t have had a chance.
They worked. I thought
that the Kaiju, Jaegers, cities, battles, and destruction looked
fantastic. There wasn’t one moment in the whole movie where I was
taken out of the narrative by anything that looked false. Well,
that’s not entirely true – Ron Perlman’s shoes were pretty
unbelievable. But everything from the outward appearance to the
movement to the scale and weight of the creatures and robots felt
very real and present. When Gipsy Danger grabbed one of the later
Kaiju by its horn to hold its head in place so she could deliver a
right hook – all of those movements had weight and impact. Nothing
about the sequence looked fake or flimsy or too computerized. It was
like watching Ivan Drago clobber Rocky Balboa.
The level of detail in
the Kaiju and Jaegers was phenomenal. The monsters were all teeth and
scales and claws, with every bit of their anatomy having bulk and
muscle. The Jaegers looked like massive robot versions of Star Wars
vehicles. They were covered in wear and weathering. None of them were
shiny and new – they had all clearly been through some wars.
Additionally, the design of the Jaegers makes sense. They aren’t
just some thrown-together jumble of armor plates and gears and
cool-looking stuff. You can see the functionality of each part.
The story was solid.
There wasn’t anything fancy about it, but there didn’t need to
be. We were all there to see giant robots fight giant monsters. There
were a few clever devices - like the origin of the Kaiju and the way
that the humans piloting the Jaegers had to interact. The latter in
particular added a lot to the movie. It was a way of characterizing
the humans and building relationships without having to have people
stand around and talk a whole lot. There were a few pieces of subtext
here and there – a comment against pollution and what I took as a
suggestion of governments helping big corporations over helping
citizens – but nothing so blatant or preachy that it overshadowed
the action of the movie.
Idris Elba led a cast
that was both fun and amazingly adept at representing what I took to
be the anime stereotypes of lead characters. Elba played the grizzled
veteran in charge with a secret vulnerability. He owned every scene
he was in and absolutely radiated wisdom and authority.
Rinko Kikuchi was the most
amazing live action anime girl I have ever seen. From her petite
features to her haircut – complete with blue tips – to her voice;
there was no denying what she was. But she wasn’t a giggling
airhead – she was a strong character with a good backstory.
Charlie Hunnam did a
great job as the strong, quiet guy. He lost his brother early in the
movie and played the tragic angle quite well. There was always a
sense of loss to his character, but it wasn’t mopey or weepy. Much
more of a subdued thing.
Charlie Day and Burn
Gorman handled the comic relief like champs. Their roles as competing
scientists were some of the most memorable of the movie and I
thoroughly enjoyed Day’s part of the plot. I was afraid he might be
grating or out of place in such a high-stakes flick, but every scene
he was in was a pleasant change of pace. Burn Gorman played the
repressed, uptight nerd perfectly. You could just see his irritation
for Day’s character seething under the surface.
Clifton Collins, Jr. was a supporting
player and was tremendous – this felt like a real breakout role for
this guy. The dude looked straight out of anime and was in some of
the most powerful scenes of the whole film. He had the kind of
presence where you know he’s a secondary character, but when he’s
on screen you’re happy he’s there doing whatever it is he’s
doing.
Ron Perlman… well, he
was Ron Perlman. You just need to see the movie.
The rest of the cast all
did their thing well. The other Jaeger pilots all had very stylized
looks that totally worked for the anime vibe of the flick. The
Australian father and son team were the only ones that got any sort
of character development, and they had their own, easy-to-digest
little subplot. It would be hilarious to find out that there were
different cuts of Pacific
Rim for
different regions that featured the Russians and Chinese more. I’d
actually like to see those cuts.
The music was powerful.
The score really captured the anime/Kaiju battle feel. There were
several points where I couldn’t help but think of music from the
Godzilla movies. As well as the score fit the film, the best thing
about it was the subtlety. Not once did the music become the star of
the movie. It was always there as support and punctuation, if that
makes any sense. Very often in modern movies the action on the screen
seems to get drowned by some sort of awful modern rock soundtrack.
That did not happen here.
I can’t wait to see
Pacific
Rim
again. As a matter of fact, I think I’m going to take the family
tomorrow. I want Lil’ Troublemaker to see it very badly, but there
is some bad language. It was pretty unnecessary – a couple of
“shits”, some “Hells” and “damns”, and a “GD” or two.
But I really think this is a movie that will amaze him and really be
a standout experience of his young life. It just won’t be the same
if the first time he sees it is at home. So we might just have to
deal with some bad words; which he’s probably already heard from an
older friend of his anyway. The point is that this is the first movie
I’ve felt like this about. From beginning to end it is an exciting,
unforgettable spectacle.
5
out of 5
Before I end, I want to
address some of the criticisms I have read; many of which are couched
as reasons that Despicable
Me 2
and Grown-Ups
2
outperformed Pacific
Rim at
the box office this past weekend.
Like many online
criticisms, from the tone of a few posts I read I got the feeling
that the commenters hadn’t actually seen the movie and were making
assumptions. One such post labeled Pacific
Rim as
formulaic. I have seen the word “formulaic” used as a pejorative
over and over again and that doesn’t make a bit of sense to me.
Yes, there is a formula. Everything
is a formula. You take different elements and combine them. If you’re
trying to say “derivative” then say that, because Pacific
Rim is
certainly derivative - but in the best possible way. I don’t think
del Toro has done anything but be absolutely open about his love of
monster movies and anime. And every second of Pacific
Rim is
about taking the very best elements from both of those things and
creating an all-new experience.
Of course, I can’t
actually explain why the above two movies did better. I took Lil’
Troublemaker to see Despicable
Me 2
last week. I was actually more excited about that one than I was
about Monsters
University.
I shouldn’t have been. Despicable
Me 2
has plenty of laughs, but I found the story to be uninspired and so
predictable I thought it had
to be a swerve. It wasn’t. If the plot had been more clever the
anticlimax of the reveal of the villain and his plans might still
have been exciting. Instead, my reaction was to be utterly flummoxed
that there was no more engaging story at hand than that the guy that
seemed to be the bad guy was the bad guy. It was like watching an M.
Night Shyamalan movie when you already know the ending. I was so
underwhelmed by Despicable
Me 2 that
I didn’t bother with a review.
I
simply have no interest in Grown-Ups
2. I
loved Adam Sandler when I was younger and I don’t have the Kevin
James hate that many do, but I tried to watch the first Grown-Ups
and felt like I was watching a pale imitation of the old Sandler. The
whole thing just felt watered-down and lame.
As
to why the American public chose those two movies over Pacific
Rim;
I’m just not sure. My best guess is that Rim’s
Jaegers were just a bit too reminiscent of the robots in the
much-derided failure Battleship
and Michael Bay’s much-derided mega-blockbuster Transformers
movies. The resemblance is bad on both counts because to be related
to Battleship
is just bad, but to be compared to Transformers
but without a license isn’t much better.
I
dunno, but I hope in the long run Pacific
Rim
does well. It’s not so much that I want a sequel. The ending
provided a satisfying conclusion and while there is certainly the
possibility for further installments (and I’d love to see them),
Pacific
Rim is
a complete work. I was just hoping for a smashing success so that del
Toro could be in position as one of those directors with carte
blanche to do what they wanted. Because Hellboy
3 needs
to happen already.
-Phantom
Hello again. Yeah, I agree with you on Despicable Me 2... the storyline felt too simple and even perfunctory (which is never something you should say about the core of a movie), and I felt that the movie wasn't so much a sequel as it was a promotional vehicle for next year's Minions movie.
ReplyDeleteI still enjoyed though. Minions!
Yeah, that sounds about right. I'll still go to see a Minions movie, though.
DeleteMy wife and I just got back from Pacific Rim. That movie was great fun. Also, the theater we saw it in was almost full, so I hope it keeps getting money trickling in over the next few weeks to turn a good profit.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand a lot of the negative reviews I've seen. It's like they were written by people who didn't know they were about to see a movie about giant monsters fighting giants mechs.
Anyway, overall this was definitely worth the $8, and about as much fun as I've had watching a movie this summer.
I took the family to see it about a week after I wrote this and our theater was pretty full. I just want enough interest to get toys of all the Kaiju. I'm not sure how likely that is with NECA only producing one per wave.
Delete