PACIFIC RIM Review


Anyone that knows me knows I’m the ‘Godzilla guy.’ I grew up on all things kaiju, seen all the Godzilla and Gamera movies. Not too long ago I got into the Ultraman series. You could imagine my excitement for Pacific Rim, a film directed by Guillermo Del Toro. (Whom is responsible for the critically acclaimed Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hellboy movies.) Kaiju fans like myself were the main ones hyped for the film, but thanks to careful marketing and various interviews, the general public started to get in on the action. It is the first American monster movie since Cloverfield five years ago. Pacific Rim had a lot of hype surrounding it. Does it live up to it? It’s definitely a movie everyone, whether you be kaiju or casual summer blockbuster fan, can sit down and enjoy.

By now the story is well known, so I’ll keep it brief. In a world where monsters appearing is almost normal, America and the rest of the world have built machines called ‘Jaegers’ to combat the beasts. After some years however the program is deemed not worth funding anymore. Of course, with Category Four monsters appearing out of ‘the breach,’ they may have to rethink that. The movie opens up quite nicely, with a flashback to some years ago when the first kaiju (Axe-Head, aka Trespasser) made landfall. Interestingly, the film doesn’t explore how the Jaeger program came to be and first sightings of kaiju, all of that is done by narration in the first five minutes. The rest of the film takes place years later when monsters appearing is a normal thing. (If you are interested in seeing more of the time taking place before the movie, check out the prequel graphic novel Tales from Year Zero.) After the fantastic opening, (the scene with Trespasser destroying the bridge is how you want a movie to start) the film introduces us to Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his brother, Yancy Becket. (Diego Klattenhoff.) Pacific Rim has fantastic cinematography and amazing fight scenes, the movie’s slight weak point is some of the characters.

Raleigh isn’t a bad character, he’s a solid protagonist. At first when he’s teaming up with his brother in the Jaeger Gypsy Danger against kaiju Knifehead, he’s portrayed as extremely cocky. But when Knifehead almost eradicates Gypsy, his brother is lost and his character is slightly changed. Now he doesn’t treat everything as a big game. While he doesn’t get the most development, he’s pretty solid. If you are expecting character development in the movie, you can expect some but not much. Mako Mori is the other focus, portrayed by the lovely Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi. Judging by the trailers and marketing, she looked to be a strong female character, which is always good to have in a movie. Interestingly, the film took a more emotional side with her. Her backstory was briefly shown during the ‘neural link’ between her and Raleigh. She’s not fragile, just perhaps not the Ripley-like character people might have been expecting. She’s still one of the best characters.

Idris Elba has a very strong presence as the leader of the Jaeger program, Stacker Pentecost. His speech as seen in pretty much all the trailers goes down as one of the most motivating speeches of all time. There are a few secondary characters, the most awful being the duo of Dr. Hermann Gottlieb and Geizler. The primary negative of the movie is Gottlieb, whom sadly gets some focus. He is the comic relief, the one the audience is supposed to laugh at. The problem is he’s written so cartoonishly bad, it’s beyond cringe worthy. “2,500 tons of awesome.” While the film has a pretty good atmosphere, Gottlieb brings the tone done whenever his scenes are played. Ron Perlman portrays Hannibal Chau. He’s one of the most unique characters of the whole thing, whom also gets the funniest scene way later in the movie.

The thing Pacific Rim succeeds most in is its visuals. The kaiju are beautifully designed, extreme props to Del Toro and the designers for such unique creatures. The destruction is unparalleled, if you thought the climax of The Avengers was amazing, you haven’t seen anything yet. A slight negative I felt were the Jaegers and their representations. Each one is supposed to represent a different country, but you never really got that feel, if anything you would think all of them represent America. Onto the primary reason why you’re watching, the destruction and fights. There’s plenty of monster destruction, classic city-busting. This is the first American monster movie to show what monsters are truly capable of by destroying buildings like toothpicks. The fight with Gypsy and Knifehead was awesome. Not only is it brutal, but it shows Del Toro didn’t just make the kaiju to be ‘cannon fodder’ to the Jaegers. While this scene was great, the best was definitely the huge fight between Otachi, (the flying Rodan one) Leatherback (the big gorilla-like one) against Crimson Typhoon, Striker Eureka, and later Gypsy Danger. Before this huge sequence the film was starting to lose its touch, but when this happened, it quickly picked up. It’s intense, smart, (Gypsy uses a boat as a weapon and Leatherback a wrecking machine) and just fun.

The soundtrack is pretty solid. Some themes stood out, such as the one that played when Otachi revealed her wings. It sounded very much like an Akira Ifukube (who worked on many of the classic Godzilla movies) theme. I’m not sure whether or not that was intended, but it was still great to hear. The climax isn’t as exciting as the city fight. It’s not bad, but underwhelming when compared to it. They made a big deal out of the ‘Category 5’ kaiju, yet it didn’t get to do much. I was hoping personally for a big final battle, but oh well. While the film is light on the tone, don’t think it doesn’t become grim. There’s at least one unexpected death. And also it was pretty cool to see a kaiju actually eat someone. (It’s not too gruesome.) You’d be surprised to hear that kind of stuff actually hasn’t been shown too much in kaiju movies. (It actually doesn’t happen in almost all the Godzilla films!) Of course, the monster-eating scene is rendered moot way later…but it was still an unexpected and awesome thing.

Overall, Pacific Rim is definitely the most fun summer blockbuster this year. It features amazing visalus, destruction, and epic monster/robot fights. Longtime Godzilla/Gamera/Ultraman and kaiju fans in general will have a blast with it. What’s great is that it’s also for the casual movie watcher looking for a fun sci-fi movie that’s better than all three Transformers movies combined. It’s not a strong character film like Man of Steel, but it’s fun. I’m happy to see Hollywood embracing the kaiju genre, bring on GODZILLA!

4/5


Daniel is a huge fan of all things kaiju. His favorite monster from Pacific Rim is Otachi (followed closely by Knifehead) and you can follow him on Twitter: @Destroyer_199