Go See Pacific Rim this Weekend!
(not a full review)
So, I’ve really been rooting for this movie. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m rooting for it more than ever. So you guys get a little reminder to take you into the weekend.
In a summer of sequels, reboots, and remakes, Pacific Rim stands as the lone megabudget action movie that’s actually based around an original story. Guillermo del Toro is a nerd favorite, sure, but that’s because he’s a man with a crazy amount of passion for everything he does, whether that be a dark art film or a massive summer tentpole.
Pacific Rim will give you your money’s worth like no other blockbuster this year. I can’t guarantee you’ll like it, of course, but I can nearly guarantee you won’t see a movie more loved by its creator this year. Nor will you find a more fully-realized world than Pacific Rim’s 2020 A.D. Nor will you see a more outrageous action scene than its Battle for Hong Kong.
This movie is MASSIVELY entertaining.
Seriously, go see it.
Already set aside my Saturday afternoon for it. Massively excited for this movie 🙂
“actually based around an original story” Sadly even what appears to be an original story isn’t…see Evangelion
Still it’s not a remake/sequel so it has that going for it.
@lubz –
Del Toro has specifically said they built the world, mechanics, etc out of the needs of the story, as opposed to consulting outside material. Sure, there are similarities to other entries in the mecha genre (Evangelion seems to be a commonly quoted one), but from what I can tell it’s more akin to how Lucas made his own version of Flash Gordon with Star Wars than it is a direct ripoff.
But, from an industry standpoint, the most important thing is that it’s an unproven property. It’s not a “safe” choice. This is the kind of movie that might determine whether or not studios are willing to take narrative risks for a while.
I saw the midnight showing last night in IMAX 3D. The 3D was horribly jarring as usual, but I won’t bitch much about that because we all know that 3D is a horrible gimmick. This movie had some awesome giant monster fights! Like, really awesome! The giant robots were great; each one varied from the last, they looked and felt and moved like giant robots, rather than the tangled mess of pipes and gadgets that maneuvered with more agility than humans in transformers. The monsters were also pretty amazing. I had hoped for a little more variety once the “secret” of the monsters was revealed, but they were pretty spectacular. One monster in particular had a moment that took my breath away. Idris Elba was pretty great, and I enjoyed Charlie Day’s side story.
BUUUUUUT
Literally everything else in this movie was monumentally stupid. I know, I know, it’s a giant monster movie, and it’s based on Evangelion, which makes it part anime (Del Toro had originally been signed up to do an Evangelion movie, but that fell through so they made this) so I really shouldn’t expect much. I liked that the movie didn’t bother to explain a lot of the science stuff because honestly, who cares? But there is an hour long dip in the middle of the movie where we don’t get monster fights. I don’t want to bitch about anything specific because most people haven’t seen the movie yet, and I guess specific things are spoilers. But there really isn’t anything about the story that can be brought up that doesn’t make me groan.
Charlie Hunnam has an awful american accent. I don’t know if it sticks out in Sons of Anarchy as badly as it does here, but why not just make him British? The whole movie is about the world coming together to fend off these monsters anyway. I guess we’re required to have an American hero. His acting in general was pretty goddamn suspect in this movie.
It felt like there were two totally different movies happening. One where Idris Elba and Chahhhlee Huhhnaahhmm (named Rahhhlley never figured out if it was Riley or Raleigh) are shouting important, serious things like “BRACE FOR IMPACT” and “WE NEED THIS DONE NOW!” And then there’s a second movie going on where Charlie Day romps around the city stammering things like “WOW is THAT the pod of a KAEJU rectopopolis?!?!” or “WHAT in the WORLD am I-I-I supposed to dilly with THAT willy WHOaAOoAoA!!!” I preferred the Charlie Day movie, even though it could have been cut completely and not much would have changed.
Ultimately the movie would have benefited a lot from being a little more campy, and a lot less dramatic. The story and dialogue both call for a movie that takes itself much less serious. All that being said, however, I did really enjoy the movie.
watching it tomorrow! the trailer looks great, but trailers have let me down before, so seeing a positive review here just makes me go *squeee*
“Ultimately the movie would have benefited a lot from being a little more campy, and a lot less dramatic.”
Exactly what I was thinking.
More campy? Dude, it had a rocket in its elbow to punch with. An elbow rocket! Not to mention it used a goddamn ship as a baseball bat. That’s pretty freakin’ camp. As far as the overall tone, we’ve all seen super-campy monster vs robot fighting movies. What we haven’t seen is a serious one of quality, and GDT pretty much gave us that for the first time in America.
Del Toro was clearly full of shit when he said they didn’t consult outside sources (maybe HE didn’t, but someone did) since there is Eva all over this thing and the music often sounds like it literally came out of a Godzilla flick. Doesn’t take anything away, and neither does the fact that the science is garbage at a few parts. It was AWESOME.
Very seldom does a movie make me feel 7 years old again, and this was one of those. I was already planning to see it again in the theater before it was even half over and I haven’t seen a film twice theatrically since Jurassic Park.
I hate how fanboys/supporters are just giving the movie a pass because awesome punching robots you guys! Way to be stereotypes. Because, what, were you expecting Shakespeare/Oscar winning material?
There’s a lot of room between “waiting for the bad dialogue/plot to end so I can see more robots punching” and “greatest western playwright/godfather.”
It’s okay to expect better.