Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim, the latest film by master filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro is the epitome of a blockbuster, tent pole, popcorn summer movie. It is escapism at it's finest, and even though the Black guy dies (as usual), it's a forgivable sin in my book. Because this movie transports you to another time and place in such a fantastical way, I give Pacific Rim four huge buckets of Killer Korn (with extra butter and a free refill).




Honestly, I had no desire to see this movie when I first heard about it. That was until I saw the trailer and heard Idris Elba who plays Stacker Pentecost tell the gathered masses that "Today, we are canceling the apocalypse". Since I am a huge fan of Idris Elba's work (I think he would be an amazing Bond), I was suddenly curious. Then I saw Guillermo's Hellboy II again and I was sold. Hellboy II was the last film he directed and his imagination was on full frontal display. After remembering how amazing that movie was, I was suddenly itching to see Pacific Rim. This was the perfect vehicle for his wild, over the top imagery and imagination. Giant monsters, known as Kaiju who come to earth through a portal in the Pacific Ocean who fight the  giant robots mankind has built, known as Jaegers doing battle for the planet? That's a project tailor made for Del Toro's talents. Starring alongside Idris is Charlie Hunnam, from Sons of Anarchy fame playing Raleigh Becket, a Jaeger driver who tastes a serious defeat and loses someone close to him in the process. He runs and hides for a few years only to turn up as a construction worker. Stacker has developed a plan and needs Raleigh back, he tracks him down and lures him back to the front lines against the Kaiju.

The rest of the cast is quirky if not entertaining. Rinko Kikuchi plays Mako Mori, a young lady that means a great deal to Stacker. Charlie Day, from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia fame, plays the annoying Dr. Newton Geiszler, Burn Gorman plays the equally annoying Gottlieb, Max Martini play Hercules Hansen, Robert Kazinsky plays his cocky son Chuck, Ron Pearlman plays Hannibal Chau, and Clifton Collins Jr. plays Ops Tendo Choi, he basically the third operator of Hunnam's Jaeger, he just does what he does while safely ensconced at base. Stackers plan is to use the last remaining Jaegers to close the portal and since Raleigh needs a co-pilot, one that can "drift" with him and develop the neuro-handshake. That is where both members can connect to each other through their  thoughts, get a sense of each others fighting techniques which can help them fight the Kaiju better. This is made easier if one's co-pilot is a family member or someone is so vapid that it makes linking up with them a piece of cake.

Stacker has called in all the last remaining Jaegers for this plan of his, the Germans, the Japanese and so forth. While getting them prepared, Dr's Geiszler and Gottlieb fight over whether or not Geiszler should try to drift with a Kaiju's partially damaged brain. Needless to say he does, and because the brain is damaged, Geiszler only gets snapshots and images of what the Kaiju is all about. He then goes nuts about drifting with an actual intact Kaiju brain because he feels it will just help the mission so he seeks out the man making a financial killing in selling off Kaiju artifacts, Hannibal Chau. Due to Geiszler's drift however, two Kaiju come through the breach and seek him out because he knows more than he should.

My only complaint about this film is that most of the action takes place at night, while it's raining, or completely underwater. I personally would've liked at least one action sequence in daylight. That would have been geektastic, but alas that never happened. Del Toro said he grew up on monster movies while growing up in Mexico and that Pacific Rim was his homage to those movies that thrilled and entertained him as a child. I don't know if there's a kid in Mexico that's going to see this movie and want to pay homage to it when he, or she gets older but they WILL have been entertained, I just don't know if they will have been inspired. The score by Ramin Djawadi will not blow you away, he's done better work on Game of Thrones, but his music hearkens back to those old monster movies and their heroic themes. The cinematography, by Guillermo Navarro was elementary, there was nothing special about any of the shots, nothing that took my breath away, but the movie was captured in frame nicely. The few flaws in Pacific Rim are forgivable because this movie will sweep you up into it, it's unabashed and fearless in almost every way, especially it's campiness. See it and you'll see what I mean. The question now is, will Pacific Rim break even at the box office? It cost a reportedly $190 million dollars to make which means it will need repeat business and while I loved it, I am on the fence as to whether or not to see it again, and I am sure I am not alone there. Check it out, let me know what you think and I'll see you at the theater.