Pacific Rim Review

*Promo Poster for Pacific Rim in IMAX Theaters*

Pacific Rim is not your average run of the mill rock 'em sock 'em robots vs. monsters beat 'em up smash fest as you may be lead to believe. On the contrary, Pacific Rim aims to set the standards for all monster films to come by raising the bar, as well as attempting to fuse influences from all over the blockbuster universe into a coherently nasty piece of summer fluff. Does it succeed?

WARNING: There may be some spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film, so just a heads up. In order to accurately review this film, it may be necessary to talk about some key moments.

Right from the get go we are thrown into the future, a world that has seen the reality of monsters rising from the deep and attacking our shores. The human race created Jaeger's to battle these giant creatures deemed "Kaiju"translated from Japanese to mean "Strange Creature". The film wastes no time plucking away in the opening moments at the notion that the creatures may not be caused by man's mistakes, (therefore taking the burden of borrowing too much from Godzilla away from the films list of inspirations) but does thrust the soon to be failures of man onto the main story line, which see's the first failed attempt at taking down a Kaiju without casualties in years result in our protagonist Raleigh's brother, his Jaeger co-pilot, being killed in action. Now depending on how familiar you are with sci-fi elements in movie's or how you'll absorb the breakneck speed of events and information in the opening segment, you'll either get completely how a Jaegar is piloted by two people based on their compatibility or simply give into the film's second option: watch the fight.

This is common throughout the whole film. It goes through the motions, however, it makes sure to give it's audience what it wants: plenty of monster vs. robot battles. About a quarter to halfway through the film you should know everything you need to know in order to understand how the Jaegars and their pilots function, as well as have an understanding about each character and what drives them. Needless to say, they are not as deep as they appear. Monster movies are not noted for being brainy excursions into the depths of humanity, more like a sci-fi nuts equivalent of monster trucks. Pacific Rim however is to monster movies, how the Dark Knight is to comic book films, it seeks to offer something a little bit deeper, while still providing the audience with enough eye candy and special effects to rival that of the transformers franchise (only much more tolerable).

But sadly, the character development is sorely matched against the core of the film. You can't help but feel you should know more about Mako, Raliegh's love interest, Stacker, the commanding officer for the Jaegar program, Dr. Newton, a screwball blue collar scientist who idealizes the kaiju, and Dr. Hermann, an eccentric brainiac who fights science with wisdom and logic rather than heart and hope. Dr. Newton's character helps provide the comedy relief for the film and also shares the most screen time with Ron Pearlman's character Chau, a black market dealer for Kaiju parts. Their moments onscreen progress the story, however, most of their impact is lost through the humor in their conversations, and unfortunately at times, poorly placed plot twists they encounter. Dr. Hermann by the end of the film, feels ironic as a character in his desire for self importance vs. his lack of screen time outside a singular moment of redemption towards the end of the film. He is clearly overshadowed and out performed by Charlie Day as Dr. Newton. Herc and Chuck Hansen feel like those characters that are thrown into a film to give the main story line a break when it is thought to be overwhelming to the viewer, but overall their uninspired and lacking in development beyond the idea of their involvement in the film. Chuck finds conflict with Raliegh that seems shallow, forced, and unprofessional for the environment they are in, and at times can even make you question how someone who acts the way he does hasn't been killed taking on a Kaiju yet.

Stacker's character is the slow burn reveal type, where mystery and pain hides behind his thin veil. It's too easy to know that his decisions are being made from an emotional place rather than a stoic and arbitrary loyalty to the cause. He consistently bats away all attempts by his subordinate Mako to pilot a Jaegar despite her overwhelming connection levels with Raleigh. When he finally gives in, we are introduced to a scene where Raleigh and Mako are connecting to pilot the Kaiju. During this time Mako relives perhaps her most horrific and traumatizing memory of being present during a Kaiju attack growing up, in which it is revealed that Stacker becomes her father figure; rescuing her from the battle torn city street after silencing the beast. Mako's character fails to run any deeper than this moment, and most everything related to her is tied down by this event, making her interactions with both Stacker and Raliegh seem more bound by necessity than natural interactions. This makes her relationship with everyone seem strained and controlled, with high expectations and little payoff. Her pain felt throughout the film is made more painful when the movie ultimately chooses to give the lead over to the action, and play up to standard summer movie fare.

This standard fare is no more evident than when a fallen Kaiju is discovered by Dr. Newton to be pregnant, starting a momentary string of comical events that although unexpected can't help but feel in bad taste. For anyone who had seen the 1998 remake of Godzilla, when her offspring ran rampant in NYC, it should have been noted at that point that monster babies are a no-no, as I have yet to meet a person who enjoyed the direction the film took once that story arch became a reality. Though this is a momentary encounter, as if almost a nod to the remake, it was perhaps the biggest face-palm scene in the movie. 

Lastly, there's Raleigh. Raleigh is a hard character to talk about, cause his character is both synonymous with the film and pointless in it's existence. For everything he lacks as an interesting character, he makes up for through much bruising and bashing of monster bodies. This makes him both the best and worst thing about this film, without him, there would be no anchor for everything that goes down around him, and no hero figure to play up, however, the emptiness he puts forth in comparison to all the other characters supporting him also makes him about as deep as the mindless action sequences. I don't fault the writing, I don't even fault Charlie Hunnam for playing his part, he just doesn't come off as a good fit for the character as any emotion that was intended to be conveyed through his glaces, and his body language appeared sorely lost during many of the films key scenes, and a lacking in creative and witty dialogue mine as well have been the nail in the coffin. 

As stated earlier, the film borrows from a few already existing films, and are really easy for any frequent movie goer to spot. The movies big twist *big spoiler* that the Kaiju are actually the front line assault for a massive intergalactic takeover by an alien civilization looking to rob Earth of it's natural resources, sounds vaguely familiar...Independence Day anymore? Even the alien's themselves at the end look just like the one in the 1996 blockbuster. The special effects previously mentioned as well are in competition most shamelessly with any Transformer's movie after the first, in terms of completely unrecognizable yet intricate details of everything on screen colliding all at once. Obviously it is a Guellermo Del Toro film, but the creatures are so distinctly Del Toro, that if I ever watch Pan's Labyrinth again, I may just imagine a Kaiju preventing the horrible ending from happening. 

All this aside, the movie is a good watch. If you're a fan of monster movies, don't pass this one up as mere summer fluff, but bare in mind that it is no Inception, no thinking man's monsters vs. robots. It's perhaps the closest any movie of this kind has come to being somewhat intellectual, but a monster movie would never truly be a monster movie without the action sequences, and this is something they get right in the end more so than they don't. If you can forgive this film for succumbing to the unforgivably low standards of summer movies in terms of story line, shallow dialogue, and predictable character development, as well as borrowing much source material, then you may be able to lose yourself in it's charm. Also, pin this up against just about everything coming out right about now (Grown-Ups 2, R.I.P.D); why would you not pick giant monster's fighting huge mechanized robots?

Check out the trailer for Pacific Rim right here if you haven't seen it yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag

Review Score Card:                                                                                                                        

Storyline:          Thin; been there before; predictable with some plot holes. 

Characters:       Entertaining at the least, not much growth, supporting cast more interesting than main.

Pacing:             Could be much worse, didn't drag much, but slow at times.

Interest Level:    It's robots and monsters, man!

Overall:           8 out of 10 - A solid over-the-top monster movie, not the best, but far from bad.